Earl's Fast Qualifier update 2003-06-23

Drake new Earl's sprint car leader.

Jay Drake of Val Verde, Calif. is the surprise leader in the new Earl's Plumbing Sprint Car Fast Qualifier standings after his performances in last week's Mopar "Buckeye Nationals" events in Ohio. Drake parlayed first, second and fourth fast qualifying efforts for 19 total points to unseat J.J. Yeley from atop that series' Earl's standings, despite the fact that Yeley continues to lead the USAC National Sprint Car points.

Drake was the fastest qualifier at Fremont, Ohio, while other "Buckeye Nationals" fast sprint qualifiers were Yeley at Attica, Cory Kruseman at Lima and Boston Reid at Eldora.

Tracy Hines also picked up a fast time in the National Midgets at Eldora, while Tony Hunt paced the qualifiers for Thursday night's Western Sprint Car event at Madera, Calif.

More Earl's Plumbing Fast Qualifier points will be available this weekend when the Weld Racing Silver Crown Series visits Richmond (Va.) International Raceway for the "Dominic's of New York 100."

This year, each USAC National and Western Series qualifying champion will receive a $5,000 bonus from Earl's in recognition of their accomplishment. Points are earned at each USAC event based on an international system awarding the top-six qualifiers with points in the following scale: 1st-9. 2nd-6, 3rd-4, 4th-3, 5th-2, 6th-1.

The current Earl's Plumbing Fast Qualifier standings for each series are as follows:

Weld Racing Silver Crown:
1-J.J. Yeley-22
2-Dave Steele-18
3-Jay Drake & Tracy Hines-12
5-Dave Darland-7.

National Sprint Car:
1-Jay Drake-60
2-J.J. Yeley-55
3-Tracy Hines-52; 4-Boston Reid-19
5-Jon Stanbrough-18.

National Midget Car:
1-J.J. Yeley-50
2-Tracy Hines-46
3-Bobby East-36; 4-Jay Drake-14
5-Dave Steele-12.

Western Sprint Car:
1-Rick Hendrix-28
2-Tony Hunt-19
3-Michael Lewis-16
4-Jeff Gardner, Jim Waters & Brian McClish-7.

Western Midget Car:
1-J.J. Yeley-28
2-Josh Wise-27
3-Bobby East-18
4-Rick Hendrix-16
5-Dave Steele-12.

--USAC--