Bowles held off fierce challenges from Eric Holmes and Jim Inglebright in the closing laps to score his first win of the year in NASCAR Camping World Series West competition.

Although Holmes was able to edge alongside in the final two-lap dash to the finish, he could not make the pass on Bowles, who was prepared for the challenge. “I was worried,” Bowles said. “I knew he was going to race me clean, but I knew it was going to be tough to hold him off. I did all I could. He didn’t get into me. It’s going to come back and I’ll pay him back with that same favor one of these days when he’s leading and I’m in second.”

Anticipating he would need a strong car at the end of the race, Bowles had tried to not abuse his No. 22 Sunrise Ford entry early in the event. “The car was pretty good, for sure,” he said. “I was saving it for as long as I could. I saved for probably the first 80 percent of the race, just to make sure if I had to go hard in the last couple of laps I could. But I don’t think I saved it quite as much as I should have.”

In addition to the threat from Holmes and Inglebright, Bowles had another concern in the closing laps. He had opted to pit early, on lap 19, for fuel and not change tires. That strategy helped him get out front by lap 31 and avoid much of the slam-bang action that eliminated some of his competition, but it left him running low on fuel in an event that was extended by four laps because of a late-race caution.

“That last lap, the fuel pressure gauge read zero the whole lap,” Bowles said. “I’m glad we didn’t have another green-white-checkered or I would have been in big trouble.”

Knowing he might run low on fuel, Bowles had been trying to conserve during the caution laps by shutting his engine off and coasting around portions of the track. “I had the motor off for 50 percent of the cautions,” he said. “I thought he (Holmes) had his off, because I turned mine off and I couldn’t hear anything behind me.”

Bowles of Ontario, Calif., crossed the finish line with a margin of victory of .350 seconds to win $11,550 in prize money and posted awards. Taking second was Holmes, who had won the Coors Light Pole Award in qualifying his No. 20 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota on Friday with a lap of 91.805 mph. It marked his third pole of the year and the eighth of his career. Inglebright of Fairfield, Calif., was third in his Jelly Belly Chevrolet – followed by Tom Hubert of Cottonwood, Calif., in the No. 25 Sunsweet Growers/Red Line Oil Ford and Ken Schrader of Fenton, Mo., in the No. 53 Federated Auto Parts Dodge. Rounding out the top 10 were series rookie Jamie Dick, Austin Cameron, Kyle Kelley, Mike David and Jeff Barkshire.

The leaders were among the few that managed to avoid being body-slammed, booted off course or spun at some point during the race. The wild action resulted in 12 cautions and two red flags. The final yellow was for the most dramatic incident, when Jeff Jefferson’s car launched off the curbing in Turn 7 and barrel-rolled several times. Jefferson quickly scrambled out of his crumpled car.

The win was Bowles’ first victory of the season and the third of his career. It gave the second-year driver a victory on the only road course where he did not win in 2007, having encountered mechanical problems in last year’s race at Infineon Raceway.

“It’s nice to get back on top here,” Bowles said. “We struggled here. We had some mechanical problems and some crashing problems. Just a number of things went wrong. I’m glad we could get back in victory lane here, because it’s the one we didn’t get last year.”

The win also secured him a spot in the prestigious post-season NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.)

Holmes’ second-place finish, meanwhile, gave him a slight lead in the championship standings over Mike David, who battled back to ninth after being spun by another car. Holmes, who won the 2006 championship, leads defending champion David – 971 to 969. Bowles moved to third in the standings, with 905. Cameron is fourth with 874 points, followed by Barkshire with 867. Completing the top 10 are Inglebright at 864, Moses Smith at 795, Mike Gallegos at 777, Jefferson at 738 and Jamie Dick at 736.

Despite being involved in the initial caution, which left him with a crumpled car, Barkshire was able to continue on for a 10th-place finish and retain his lead in the challenge for this year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. He has 55 points, followed by Jason Patison and Jim Warn, with 49 each. Close behind is Jamie Dick with 47. Trailing them are Wes Banks with 25, Lloyd Mack with 22 and Ryan Philpott with 15.

FONTANA, California - Jason Bowles scored his second straight road course win in the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series with a victory in the California 125 at California Speedway on Saturday.

The win by the 24-year-old series rookie gave his car owner, Bob Bruncati, a sweep of the three series road course events this season – with David Gilliland driving a team entry to victory at Sonoma in June and Bowles taking the win at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah in July prior to his California quest.

After notching his first career Bud Pole, Bowles went on to lead 20 of 42 laps en route to his win in the inaugural NASCAR event on the road course at California Speedway.

“This was actually the most difficult one by far,” Bowles said in comparing the three road courses on this year’s schedule. “The tire that we have to run here, due to the high speeds on the oval, is really, really hard. It seems to lose grip really, really quick. It makes it very difficult. That’s why it’s huge to take care of your equipment for so long. Some of the guys locked front tires up several times early in the race. That’s the kind of thing you’ve got to avoid and make sure it’s good at the end.”

Bowles took the lead for the third and final time on lap 33 and went on to win by 2.197 seconds over Brian Ickler. David Mayhew was third, followed by Jim Inglebright and Mike Duncan. The race featured nine lead changes among seven drivers.

Mike David saw his lead in the championship standings trimmed slightly, after finishing 11th. David leads Duncan by 95 markers – 1,848 to 1,753 – with one race remaining to decide the title.

TOOELE, Utah - Two rookies stole the show at Miller Motorsports Park, with Jason Bowles scoring his first career win in the Big O Tires 150 as the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series made its inaugural visit to the state-of-the-art road course on Saturday.

Bowles won the 41-lap event by 3.510 seconds over fellow rookie Alex Haase, who registered his best career finish.

Bowles, who started third in his Sunrise Ford/Turbo Torq Ford, raced into the lead on lap 30.

“I don’t know that I expected to win my first race in my rookie year,” said the driver from Ontario, Calif. “When we unloaded on Friday, the car was really good right out of the trailer. We just all kind of had a feeling that it might be our weekend.”

With his win, Bowles secured a spot in this year’s NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. The prestigious post-season event will be held at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway on Oct. 19-20.

Series veteran Mike David, who competed in his first road course race just over a year ago, demonstrated how quickly he has adapted to turning left and right. He won the Bud Pole Award in qualifying, with a lap around the 3.03-mile circuit at 93.225 mph in his Bennett Lane Winery Ford, and paced the field through the first 15 laps.

When David opted to pit during the third of four cautions, Bowles inherited the top spot. He relinquished the point a lap later, however, to make a pit stop. Long-time series veteran Scott Gaylord, who was making a return to the series after an eight-race absence, ran out front until Eric Hardin slipped by on lap 27. As the field cycled through pit stops, Bowles progressed back to the front. He closed in on Hardin and charged by him on lap 30 as they headed into a series of turns known as the attitudes.

Brian Ickler, who had won the last two West Series races, started the race at the back of the pack after his brakes failed in his qualifying run. Pit strategy aided his charge to the front, as he closed in on the lead late in the event. Ickler moved into second with six laps to go and ran 1 1/2 seconds faster on lap 35. Bowles responded with the fastest lap of the race and a lap later Ickler slid off the course and lost several spots. He wound up sixth.

“My crew chief said he was about a second a lap faster, so he said see you if you can pick it up a little bit,” Bowles said. “And I did.”

The win, at an average speed of 70.384 mph, netted Bowles $14,388 in prize money and posted awards. Haase charged forward in the closing laps. The 17-year-old from Las Vegas, Nev., made it to the runner-up spot in his Motorway of El Paso/Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet to secure his career-best finish. David finished third, his sixth podium finish in 10 races, to extend his lead in the championship standings. Johnny Borneman took the fourth spot, while Gaylord came home fifth. Finishing out the top 10 were Ickler, Eric Richardson, Hardin, Rick Wall and Jim Inglebright.

David leads the series standings by 114 markers, with 1,548 points. Borneman is second with 1,434. Mike Duncan, who encountered mechanical trouble and finished 14th, slipped to third with 1,418 points. Bowles is fourth with 1,406 and Ickler is fifth with 1,358. Completing the top 10 are Hardin at 1,352, Brett Thompson at 1,319, Justin Lofton at 1,312, Haase at 1,270 and Richardson at 1,217.

With his win, Bowles extended his lead in this year’s challenge for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. He leads with 82 points, followed by Richardson and Haase with 65 each, Ryan Foster with 57, Stan Silva Jr. with 42, Moses Smith with 41, Mike Gallegos with 30 and Wall with 29. Others in the rookie program include David Mayhew, Jamie Dick, Lloyd Mack, Kevin O’Connell, Brandon Riehl, Thomas Martin and Garland Self.

The next event on the West Series schedule is at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., on Aug. 4.

Sonoma, CA., June 23 - David Gilliland watched his father, Butch, win in NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series competition at Infineon Raceway 10 years ago. It was David's turn on Saturday, as his father watched him win the Blue Lizard Suncream 200.

David's victory came three years after he won a NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series race on the twisting 1.99-mile road course and 10 years after Butch won back-to-back Grand National West Series races at the Sonoma track.

David never had the chance to tackle the challenging road course in West Series competition, because the track was not on the series schedule when he raced full-time on the circuit in 2004 and 2005. Now, as a regular in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, he was determined to take advantage of the opportunity to do double duty at Infineon and race in the companion West Series race.

"It's really neat," said Gilliland, who called Riverside, Calif., home before moving to North Carolina. "I've been coming here for many years, with my dad having big success. To be able to come back and have a day like today is just incredible. Days like this don't come around very often."

Although he dominated much of the action, winning the Bud Pole Award and leading the most laps, Gilliland faced plenty of challenges. Seventeen-year-old Joey Logano dashed into the initial lead and ran in the runner-up spot in the early stages of the race. The young Joe Gibbs Racing development driver pressured Gilliland later in the race, before dropping out with engine failure on lap 55.

Meanwhile, Gilliland and his team relied on a different strategy than most, opting to only make one pit stop for fuel midway in the race and not take on fresh tires. Pit procedures in place for the event restricted teams from refueling and taking on fresh tires in the same stop. In addition, teams were limited to taking on only two tires per stop.

"We took some tire wear readings in practice and made the plan and stuck to it," Gilliland said of their choice not to change tires.

Gilliland relinquished the lead when he made his pit stop on lap 22. Although mired at the back of the pack, he was soon up front when nearly all the leaders pitted during a caution on lap 31. Gilliland took the lead on lap 35 and maintained the top spot to the checkered flag.

After Logano's late-race challenge went up in smoke, P.J. Jones assumed second and closed in on Gilliland. Road race specialist, Boris Said, was also in pursuit late in the event. Gilliland remained focused on his task, however. "Road racing is such a thing that you have to just race the race track," he said. "As soon as you look up in your mirror and start racing the guy behind you or ahead of you, you're going to make mistakes."

Gilliland held on for the win, bringing the Sunrise Ford-sponsored Ford across the line with a margin of victory of 1.246 seconds. It marked his third career series victory and netted him $12,000 in prize money and posted awards.

Jones of Torrance, Calif., was second in the Bennett Lane Winery Maximus Ford followed by Said of Carlsbad, Calif., in the Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet. All three drivers were doing double duty at Infineon, competing also in the NEXTEL Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday.

Eric Holmes of Escalon, Calif., was fourth in the Van Dyk Baler/Groove California Wines Dodge. He was followed by Justin Lofton of Westmorland, Calif., in the Lofton Cattle/Cometic/Klotz/Eibach Ford. Completing the top 10 were Brian Ickler, Marc Davis, Stan Silva Jr., Kenny Shepherd and Tom Dyer.

The race featured eight lead changes among six drivers; Gilliland, Said, Logano, Lofton, Holmes and Moses Smith. The pace of the event was slowed by eight cautions for 22 laps.

Mike David, who led the championship standings heading into the event, saw a top-10 run slip away when he got into a tire barrier late in the race. He recovered to finish on the lead lap in 24th. The Modesto, Calif. driver maintained his lead in the standings with 1,090 points. Bakersfield, Calif. driver, Mike Duncan, who finished 16th, is second in the standings with 1,006. Third through fifth is Johnny Borneman of Ramona, Calif., with 966; Lofton with 965; and Eric Hardin of Anaheim, Calif., with 934. Rounding out the top 10 are Jason Bowles at 926, Brett Thompson at 918, Ryan Foster at 838, Ickler at 833 and Alex Haase at 825.

Bowles, who qualified fourth quickest at Infineon, but ended up finishing one lap down in 29th, continues to lead the battle for this year's Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. He tops the freshman class with 54 points. Foster is second, with 46; followed by Eric Richardson with 42; Haase with 41; Silva with 28; Moses Smith with 26, Rick Wall with 23; and Mike Gallegos with 21. Others in the rookie program include David Mayhew, Jamie Dick, Lloyd Mack, Brandon Riehl, Thomas Martin and Garland Self.

The West Series next heads to Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Ore., for the BI-MART Firecracker 150 presented by NAPA Auto Parts on Friday, June 30.