LEWIS CAPTURES SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR TITLE

Source: Reshaw/Bill McAnally Racing
Date: 10/18/2005

ANTELOPE, California -- Andrew Lewis started his first NASCAR Grand National Division West Series with two goals. One was to finish in the top ten in the chase for the series championship and the other was to win the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title. The eighteen-year old driver of the #18 Bill McAnally Chevrolet met his goals after competing in the final race of the season at Mesa Marin Raceway.

Lewis and the team were 10th quick of the 36 cars entered for the Ford Motorcraft Parts 150 presented by 3M and only three tenths slower in time than teammate, Steve Portenga who was at the top of the board. Lewis qualified in the ninth position and started the race on the inside of row 5. When the race began, Lewis moved forward to the seventh position as the series championship point leader had to move to the back of the field in response to a NASCAR violation. When the first caution came out at the second lap, the #18 BMR Chevrolet was on the move and running in 6th. During the first 90 laps, Lewis dropped back in positions to ninth. Crew chief Duane Knorr made the call to pit the #18 BMR Chevrolet during the caution at lap 93. The team was quick to take on fresh right side tires and make only minor adjustments to the car. At the restart, the #18 was running in 12th behind his teammate, Portenga piloting the #16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet. During the final laps, Lewis made a hard charge to towards the front. Lewis and another car made contact causing the #18 to spin on the front straightway. No caution was shown as they both quickly got back underway. With less than five laps to go, Lewis needed to be the third highest finishing rookie and he was now trailing as the fourth when the #3 of Tim Smith spun on the back straightaway. The race would end with a green-white-checked finish with Lewis crossing the line in 15th. Lewis captured the rookie title by just one point over the #44 of Andrew Myers who recorded his best finish of the season in third.

“What an awesome rookie season,” said Lewis. “I can’t thank Bill McAnally and Bill McAnally Racing enough. They put together a great team. They worked hard putting the right combination of team members together starting with the NASCAR Northwest Series now three-time championship winning crew chief, Chuck Caruthers taking the lead as we prepared for the season. And then former West Series driver, Kevin Richards stepped in for our debut race at Phoenix and was there for our first top-ten finish of the season. BMR then brought in Duane Knorr who has fine tuned the team and without his guidance, I might not have met my 2005 goals.”

“We’ve had our struggles this season,” continued Lewis. “We were a new team with a new driver and crew chief. We had some ups and some downs but our hard work paid off. I can’t thank the BMR team enough. Most importantly, I want to thank my parents, Dave and Connie Lewis. They have made so many sacrifices for me to have this opportunity driving in the NASCAR West Series. They continue to go above and beyond on so many levels. I am very grateful for all the support we’ve had as a team this season. Thank you again.”

The Ford Motorcraft 150 presented by 3M will be shown in an enhanced replay on November 11 at noon PST. Check your local listings. For more information on Bill McAnally Racing and our race partners, please logon on to our website at www.billmcanallyracing.com.

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