MONROE-Johnny Borneman was a one-year-old when his dad John Borneman won his only NASCAR Grand National Division West Series race. It was July 3, 1978, and it came at Evergreen Speedway.
Twenty-eight years later, Johnny Borneman made a little history at the same track.
Borneman made a stunning two-car pass on Lap 163 and earned his third Grand National Division victory, and first since 2002, by winning the NAPA Auto Parts 250 as part of Saturday night’s Washington 500 at Evergreen Speedway. In doing so, he and his father, a member of his crew team, became the first father-son combo to win a Grand National West Series race at Evergreen since the series came to Monroe in 1971.
He was also the 25th different winner in that time.
“It means a lot to win this race,” Borneman said. “It’s been a struggle the last couple years. We just couldn’t close the deal.”
Borneman, a 29-year-old from Ramona, Calif., had been close to achieving the feat in 2002, finishing second to Eric Norris. Since then he’s been mostly a part-timer on the series while also making a NASCAR Busch Series start and three Craftsman Trucks Series starts. He finished eighth in the Grand National West Series points standings in 2003, 21st in 2004 and 17th last season.
But he certainly found the right setup for Evergreen’s big 5/8-oval. He started 11th but gradually moved up, finally making his explosive move on Turn 2 when he blew past leaders Eric Holmes and Jeff Jefferson to take the lead. The lead continued to grow, and he ended up 13 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Mike Duncan of Bakersfield, Calif.
“I knew I had the car to drive by everybody,” Borneman said.
Borneman entered the day 11th in points with two top five finishes in seven starts. His two victories in the West Series were at Stockton, Calif., in 2002 and in Tucson as a rookie in 2001. This year, he finished second at Stockton and third last week at Irwindale, Calif., but besides that, he’s done no better than 11th. His 32 starts since his last victory were the most of any active drive on the tour.
“There’s been a lot of seconds, a lot of thirds, a lot of if ands or buts,” Borneman said.
Jefferson, a Naches native and three-time series champion who has raced just twice this year and started fifth Saturday, got to second on Lap 61 and then passed Holmes, second in the points standings, on Lap 64. Both headed for a quick pit stop on Lap 75 when the race was under caution, but quickly moved back to the front of the pack.
They were aided by a couple of yellows, including one when Brian Ickler, one of four Bill McAnally Racing cars in the event went into the wall.
But neither had enough to hold off Borneman and they both faded. Instead, Duncan, who won the race last year and has now finished in the top 5 five years in a row, finished second and Steve Portenga was third.
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