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Morris Returns To Victory Lane

By Jason Christley, NASCAR
August 31, 2008 - 12:59am

Harris Maintains Overall NWAAS Lead

RADFORD, Va. - Philip Morris celebrated his return to the familiar asphalt of Motor Mile Speedway Saturday night with his 10th win of the season at the Radford, Va. .416-mile oval.

Morris won the pole and led every lap of the Valley Settlement/Old Virginia Real Estate/Star Country 150.

"Man, I'm so pumped up it's like I have a fire in my chest," Morris said. "It just feels good to be back on top. And it's just a lot of encouragement for the rest of the year."

Unofficially, Morris moved within one point of first-place Brian Harris in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national points standings. Harris finished fourth in the Fountain Transmission Late Models feature at the .500-mile flat clay oval of West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway. Harris, who was second Friday night at Farley (Iowa) Speedway, has 927 points to Morris' 926. Marty Ward entered the weekend tied with Morris at 907, but his home track of Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C. was off Saturday.

"We're not in a bad position," said Harris, who races Sunday at Dubuque (Iowa) Speedway. "We are ahead. It just depends on what the other guys do down South. We have a couple other chances to get some points. We've got to take advantage of those, or it's going to slip away."

All points totals are unofficial pending review by NASCAR Membership & Points, and complete updated standings will be released Wednesday. 

Points total is based on a driver's top 18 finishes for the year at any NASCAR-sanctioned track. Morris has 10 wins and 19 tops fives in 23 starts, while Harris has 16 wins and 31 top fives in 33 starts.

With an open night in the schedule at Motor Mile Speedway last weekend, Morris took his quest for a second NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national title to Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. However, Morris' gambit went for naught with finishes of ninth and 18th.

Back at Motor Mile, Morris won the pole with a lap of 16.12 seconds. He barely edged out Forrest Reynolds' 16.13. Morris got the jump at the start, but was hounded by Reynolds through the opening stages of the race. Davin Scites got into the mix when he challenged for second, and Reynolds and Scites had their night end when they got together. From there, Morris finished off the win by beating runner-up Jerame Donley and third-place Kelly Kingray.

"We had a lot of people that came from all over," said Morris of the field of more than 25 cars, which included a visit from David Roberts from Greenville-Pickens, who entered the weekend eighth in the nation.

The 55 points for the win allowed Morris to drop the worst of his top 18 finishes - a 36-point, runner-up finish at South Boston (Va.) Speedway from March - and gain 19 points.

Harris gained five points with his second-place finish Friday.

Saturday, however, he started 10th in the field and could get no closer than fourth. Tommy Elston took of a late slip-up by Andy Eckrich - after Eckrich had taken the lead with five laps to go in the 25-lap feature - to earn the win. Eckrich was second, followed by Todd Davis and Harris. Because the the 44 points for the fourth-place finish was less than the worst of his top 18 races, he was unable to improve his total. Harris, though, did move closer to clinching the track title. He has a 46-point lead over Nick Marolf (13th) and 48-point lead over Kurt Kile (sixth) heading into the final points race of the season next Saturday. If Harris starts the race, Harris would have to finish last and have Marolf or Kile win in order to not take the track championship.

"It was a kind of weird night for track conditions," said Harris, adding that after the heat race, they elected not to go with their regular set-up for the feature. "We didn't expect it to get that slick. We missed the setup pretty bad. We didn't get tight enough and as the track started to go away, it was just getting worse and worse.

"We still have something to work with tomorrow, and we'll have to talk about it on the way home."

Harris has three scheduled features remaining: Sunday at Dubuque, and next Saturday (West Liberty) and Sunday (Dubuque). Morris has two races (Sept. 6 and 13) remaining at Motor Mile. The deadline for results to count toward the championship is Sunday, Sept. 14. Harris' worst finish is 45 points, while Morris' is 44. Ward has twin features remaining Sept. 13 at Greenville-Pickens, and his worst finish is 44 points.

Connecticut's Keith Rocco entered the weekend fourth in the points standings. He finished 23rd at Thompson International Speedway on Thursday, second at Stafford Motor Speedway Friday, and had twin features fogged out at the New Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday to leave him at 869 points. Fifth-place Jeff Strunk of Grandview Speedway in Bechtesville, Pa., finished second Saturday night and has 868 points.

Under the points structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, the race winner will receive two points for every car in the event up to 25 cars. Second place will receive two fewer points, and so-on through the field. For example, if there are 25 cars, the winner receives 50 points, second gets 48 and third 46. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 30 points, second gets 28 and third 26. New this year, drivers receive five bonus points for a win.