Dotter cruises to victory

IRWINDALE, Calif. - Winning NASCAR Winston West races has not been easy this year.

Bobby Dotter made it look a bit easier Saturday night. The 39-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., won the pole for the Home Depot 250 at Irwindale Speedway, took the lead for good with 50 laps to go and won the race going away before a crowd of 6,490 people, the largest crowd since opening night.

Dotter is the first double winner in the series this year. He won the last race, at Laguna Seca.

Dotter, running in third place, went side by side with Steve Portegna and leader John Borneman II on lap 200. Exiting turn 4 on lap 202, Dotter, who raced in six NWWS races and was the crew chief for Sammy Potashnick last year, got by both drivers for the lead. When the yellow flag came out on lap 213 when Borneman hit the turn 3 wall with a flat right-front tire, the cars bunched up, but the race was essentially over.

On the restart, Dotter pulled away from second-place finisher Brendan Gaughan - the series points leader - and won the race by the length of a straight. Rookie Mike Duncan finished in third place and Kevin Richards was fourth. Irwindale Super Late Model points leader Greg Voigt - in his NWWS debut - finished fifth.

There were nine caution flags waved. They were primarily for cars that hit the wall because of flat right-front tires. Only five of the 26 cars failed to complete the race.

Dotter earned $6,585 for the victory.

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