NASCAR Cup

Fontana II: Bill Lester preview

Lester to Make NNCS Start at Home Track of California Speedway: Bill Lester has family connections in many areas of the United States: he lives near the Atlanta Motor Speedway, has family surrounding the area of the Michigan International ...

Edited: Dec 11, 2006, 4:13 AM

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Lester to Make NNCS Start at Home Track of California Speedway:

Bill Lester has family connections in many areas of the United States: he lives near the Atlanta Motor Speedway, has family surrounding the area of the Michigan International Speedway, but feels closest to home when he is on the west coast after attending college at the University of California at Berkley located in the Bay Area of San Francisco. This weekend Lester will attempt to make his third start in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series in the Sony HD 500 at the California Speedway in Fontana, California.

"This is considered a home track for me," said Lester. "Attending college in the San Francisco area and working in that same area for many years makes this a very special part of the country for both me and my family. I have always enjoyed racing at the California Speedway because it is one of those really fast race tracks. When we sat down with Waste Management early in the season to select the three events that I would compete in, California Speedway was definitely at the top of my list. I have a lot of experience at this track behind the wheel of the NASCAR Craftsman truck and I really feel like we will be good with the Waste Management / Bill Davis Racing Nextel Cup car."

Lester has competed at the two-mile California Speedway in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races with his best start of third coming in 2002 and his best finish at the speedway of 14th also coming in 2002. Lester has also competed in two NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races in 2006 at both the Atlanta Motor Speedway as well as the Michigan International Speedway. During these two events Lester has also completed more than 98 percent of the total laps.

"The Bill Davis Racing team has given me a great team and great equipment in the first two NNCS events I ran earlier in the season," said Lester. "The Bill Davis Racing team has developed a lot more technology within their program since we ran at Michigan nearly three months ago and we were able to experience a lot of that at the test session in Kentucky a few weeks ago. We feel that what we learned there will certainly transfer to California, and in turn we expect a successful weekend."

Lester's career best NNCS start came at the Atlanta Motor Speedway with a 19th place starting position and career best NNCS finish came at the Michigan International Speedway with a 32nd place finish on the lead lap. That was the first lead lap finish by an African-American driver in a NASCAR Nextel Cup race since 1963. The Sony HD 500 at the California Speedway is scheduled to take the green flag at 7:00pm ET on Sunday, September 3. The race will be televised live on NBC and broadcast live on MRN Radio as well as XM Radio -- Channel 144.

-credit: bdr

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