Atwood wins ARCA race: Winston Cup driver Casey Atwood, entered in Saturday’s Automobile Racing Club of America race at Pocono Raceway with an entry from Evernham Motorsports’ R&D team, was clearly the class of the field and won the Pepsi 200 earning a victory in his first series start. Atwood, who drives the #7 Dodge in Winston Cup for Ultra/Evernham Motorsports, held off ARCA regular Jason Jarrett by .749 seconds. Mario Gosselin was third, Bobby Gerhart fourth and Shelby Howard completed the top five. “We had a great car and was able to come back up through the field,” said Atwood, who started from the pole and led the first 46 laps before stopping for fuel. He restarted 11th after his pit stop and retook the lead on Lap 71 of 80. “It got me a little bit worried when the cautions kept coming out because we needed a long green (flag run) to be able to get back to the front,” he said. “We caught all the cautions right and I was able to make the positions up and get the win.” Series points leader Frank Kimmel challenged Atwood early and took the lead when Atwood elected to pit. However, his car lost a cynlinder soon after and he finished 13th.(ThatsRacin.com) For results see the ARCA site.(7-27-2002)
