WEST: Dowler takes title

Kevin Dowler won both the battle and the war as the Alberta driver drove to victory in the CASCAR Castrol Super Series West finale at Sun Valley Motor Speedway in Vernon, B.C., earning the second series title of his career. Dowler's title caps a terrific inaugural year for Goodyear in the Canadian series, one that saw new track records set across the nation. Earlier, Al Turner claimed the National title and Don Thomson Jr. was declared the winner of the East title in a tiebreaker.

After winning his heat race, Dowler came from the seventh starting spot and took the lead from Carl Harr on lap 66. The driver of the Ford Quality Care Taurus led the rest of the way, finishing 0.38 seconds ahead of Harr after 150 laps.

Harr's son Daryl, the winner at Calgary one week earlier, finished third, with Ron Larson and Dan Shirley finishing fourth and fifth.

Gary Lewis' comeback season came up short by one point in the NASCAR Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series. Lewis earned his record-tying 10th Bud Pole award in qualifying at Yakima, Wash., and had worked his way into the lead by lap 69. Thirty laps later, Garrett Evans had moved into second place, setting up a championship fight to the finish.

Things went bad for Lewis when he cut a tire on debris in the closing laps. Lewis held on the best he could, but Evans was able to drive into the lead on lap 113 and went on to lead the final laps for his first win of 2000. Lewis finished second, less than one second back, but that was enough to give the title to Evans, 2583 points to 2582.

"This team has worked hard all year long," said Lewis. "I had a good car here all night long. We caught some debris late in the race. The right rear tire had just 11 pounds left in it. We kind of fell off there at the end. We knew it was possible to finish second, especially when you are running with guys like Garrett. We won a lot of races at the end of the year, so we are telling ourselves that it was a great accomplishment for us to even get back up in the points lead."

Goodyear racer Matt Crafton finished third in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but he was able to expand his lead to 110 points over challenger Augie Vidovich and 197 over fellow Goodyear racer Doug McCoun with four races remaining.

Jeff Agnew took over the lead of the USAR Hooters ProCup Series clash at Greenville Pickens Speedway shortly before half-distance, but he was never headed again as he held off Mike Laughlin Jr. for the win in the Dan Duncan Memorial 250. It was the first series win for Agnew, who earned the championship in 1998 without a win. Hal Goodson, Lee Tissot and Mardy Lindley rounded out the top five.

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