Charlotte, Winchester preview

WINCHESTER'S "RICH VOGLER CLASSIC" SUNDAY FOLLOWING WEDNESDAY'S "MOPAR NATIONALS" AT CHARLOTTE

The Valvoline USAC National Sprint Car Series returns to the Winchester (Ind.) Speedway this Sunday after a two-year hiatus to compete in the "Rich Vogler Classic." The race should be pivotal in the battle for the series title, which will continue with races in California and Arizona in late-October and early-November.

Levi Jones leads the standings going into Wednesday night's "Mopar Sprint Car Nationals" at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C. and he will bring that lead to Winchester since runner-up Dave Darland trails by 81 points and only 74 are available at Charlotte.

Jones and Darland finished 11th and ninth respectively in the last Winchester race, in May of 2003, won by Michael Lewis, who won last Saturday night's USAC Western Sprint Car feature at Irwindale, Calif.

Former series titlist Jay Drake ranks third in the standings and he finished sixth in USAC's last outing at the 1/2-mile paved Winchester oval.

Sunday's race honors the memory of the driver who won more USAC feature races than any other in club history 170. Vogler won five Sprint and five Midget races at Winchester, which hosted its first USAC race in 1956, won by Eddie Sachs, Sunday's race will be the 132nd for USAC Sprint cars at the historic oval.

USAC VALVOLINE NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES STANDINGS
1.-Levi Jones-1,279
2.-Dave Darland-1,198
3.-Jay Drake-1,126
4.-Bud Kaeding-1,045
5.-Josh Wise-1,039
6.-Mat Neely-912
7.-Jon Stanbrough-796
8.-Jerry Coons Jr.-625
9.-Darren Hagen-600
10.-Shane Cottle-586

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