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Gas And Go: David's Gamble Pays Off

By Jason Christley, NASCAR
April 11, 2008 - 12:07am

AVONDALE, Ariz. – A new car and a big gamble paid off for Mike David.

A week after taking delivery of a new chassis, David drove the No. 2 Bennett Lane Winery Toyota to victory in the Jimmie Johnson Foundation 150 at Phoenix International Raceway. It was the seventh career victory for the defending NASCAR Camping World Series West champion.

“It’s great,” said David of his first win at the one-mile flat track. “It’s kind of a relief, too. This track has a lot of history. To bring home the trophy is important.”

David outran runner-up Nick Lynch (No. 29 Mr. Gas Dodge) on a green-white-checkered finish that concluded the event at the scheduled 150 miles. Jeff Jefferson (No. 42 MJ2 Racing/Gran Prix Imports Chevrolet) edged Brett Thompson (No. 61 PetsBest.com/Windmill Inn Chevrolet) for third place. Rookie Jeff Barkshire was fifth in the No. 46 Centennial Batteries/SPE Dodge.

David caught a break on lap 87 when race leader Eric Holmes ran out of gas. This allowed David, who hadn’t pitted yet either, to come in and fill up.

“They were hollering at me on the radio, ‘Save gas!’” David said. “I was rolling off the gas – letting off way early and just trying to save as much as I could.”

As Holmes coasted to a halt on the back stretch and brought out the caution, David and Co. knew they got lucky. Crew chief Mario Isola estimated they were a lap and a half away from having to come in for a green-flag pit stop.

“Basically it’s one of those deals that you do what the leader does,” Isola said. “Fortunately for us, the leader ran out of fuel. We just stayed out and hoped for the caution and it all worked out for us.”

Holmes, who won the first race of the season, wound up 23rd. He led twice for a race-high 58 laps. Marc Davis led four times for 45 laps. He pitted early and lost the lead on a lap 133 restart on old tires. Davis, who finished second at Phoenix last year as a rookie, suffered a late-race flat and wound up 17th.

David led 24 laps, including the final 12, to take over the points lead. He has 350, followed by Moses Smith with 301, Jefferson with 295 and Holmes with 294.

David finished third in that first race March 29 in a Ford. But car owner Randy Lynch elected to run a spec engine on the bigger tracks on the schedule and switched manufacturers for the race. The chassis arrived following the first race and the team spent the week working all hours to get the car done for the race and install the spec motor.

“We put it in there and built this thing in seven days – from the ground up basically,” Isola said. “It’s kind of unbelievable. We thought there was no way we’d get this done. But once we got going, we didn’t have a choice.”

With the victory, David joins Holmes as having earned a secure spot in the postseason NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown in January of 2009.

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