Evergreen Speedway doesn’t feel exactly like a home track to Jeff Barkshire.
Although he’s one of just two drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Series West from Washington state, Barkshire doesn’t have a lot of experience at the Monroe speedway.
“I’ve joked it’s not really my home track … I’ve got three races there total,” Barkshire said Monday from his shop in Puyallup, Wash. “The West series guys have more laps than me there.”
The Auburn, Wash., native will run his fourth race at the track this Saturday when the Camping World Series West returns to Evergreen Speedway to take part in the Washington 500.
The 150-lap Camping World main will be one of four races, with the American Speed Association Northwest Tour and Evergreen Speedway’s own NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Super Stocks also going for 150 laps, and Evergreen’s Bombers racing for 50 laps.
This year’s race competition holds special significance as it marks the 50th visit by the NASCAR Camping World Series West to the historic Evergreen State Fairgrounds track in Monroe.
Dick Bown won the first race on April 19, 1964. Since then, 29 different drivers have recorded a win at Evergreen Speedway.
Annual NASCAR Camping World Series West races at Monroe between 1985 and 1993 were 500-lap events and attracted some of NASCAR’s biggest stars, including Bill Elliott, Geoffrey Bodine, Sterling Marlin, Harry Gant, Ken Schrader and the late Davey Allison. Two top West Coast talents, Derrike Cope and Chad Little, were also winners.
Little will be the special guest for Saturday’s anniversary event. The Spokane, Wash., native is currently NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour director, and has raced in the Cup, Nationwide and truck series.
Little won the West series events in Monroe in 1986, ’88 and ’89, and he holds the record for most laps led at Evergreen Speedway, staying out front for 1,183 circuits.
Front gates open at 1:30 p.m., with qualifying from 2:30-4:45 p.m. and the first race at 5 p.m.
All of Saturday’s action will be on the speedway’s five-eighths mile oval, which suits Barkshire fine.
“It’s big enough to where it’s easier to race and pass,” he said. “A lot of these short tracks in the West series, it’s impossible to pass without crashing someone. At Evergreen you can race side-by-side with people.”
Barkshire took part in two races at Evergreen Speedway while racing with the NASCAR Elite Series — the predecessor to the Northwest Tour — and he finished seventh in last year’s Camping World race in Monroe.
By comparison, Jeff Jefferson, who is originally from Naches and is the other Washington racer in the West series, has visited Evergreen Speedway numerous times while racing in the West and NASCAR Elite series for the past decade.
Also expected to compete Saturday are defending West series champion Mike David, current points leader Eric Holmes, 2007 rookie of the year Jason Bowles and veteran racer Johnny Borneman of Ramona, Calif.
For Borneman, who won the West series race at Evergreen in 2006, returning to Monroe is always special.
Borneman was just a few days older than 1 when his father, John Borneman, won the West series race at Evergreen on July 3, 1978. It was John Borneman’s only victory in the series.
“That was the only one my dad ever won,” Johnny Borneman said. “(It was) kind of nice to repeat somewhere he’d been.”
Like Barkshire, Borneman likes the racing at Evergreen Speedway, which has a certain reputation among West series drivers.
“It’s rough, it’s bumpy, the track’s wore out and there’s no grip,” Borneman said. “It makes racing fun.”
Borneman enters Saturday’s race ninth on the points list, riding a small hot streak after finishing second in Roseburg, Ore., on July 11 and third at Irwindale, Calif., on July 4.
But Barkshire has been almost as hot, finishing fifth in Roseburg and fourth in Irwindale. Barkshire has started all eight West series races this season, recording seven top-10 finishes and four top-fives.
He enters Saturday’s race fourth on the series points list, and as the top rookie.
“We’ve been rookie of the race six out of eight races,” Barkshire said. “We’ve been pretty fast and had reasonably good luck. A couple times we didn’t get the finish the car deserved … had a flat tire or we were spun out.”
NASCAR’s Camping World Series — there are West and East divisions — are one step below the national series made up of the Craftsman Trucks and the Nationwide and Sprint Cup stock cars.
Many of today’s drivers began their NASCAR careers in the Camping World Series, including Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday Jr., Brendan Gaughan and Martin Truex Jr. Joey Logano, who recently made his Nationwide Series debut for Joe Gibbs Racing, won the East series title last year.
Making the leap to a national series is something Barkshire has given some thought to.
“The goal is within the next couple of years — there isn’t an exact timetable ¬— the goal is get all the way to the trucks or Nationwide series,” Barkshire said. “Eventually to Cup, that’s my goal.”
Although he may not consider Evergreen Speedway to be his home track, Barkshire is counting on having a strong contingent of fans to cheer him on.
“I’m real excited … because I think we’ll be real good and we’ll have a bunch of people in the grandstands,” Barkshire said. “Our sponsor, Centennial Batteries, is going to come out and finally get to watch us race.”
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