Portenga Passes Sedgwick on Final Lap

Steve Portenga slid under and passed Bill Sedgwick in the first turn of the final lap to win the NASCAR Winston West Irwindale 250 in front of 6,237 Saturday at Irwindale Speedway.

“I knew if I can get to him, I could pass him, but I wasn’t going to make my move until the white flag,” said Portenga, who is from Sparks, Nev. “This is a special win.”

It is his first win in the series.

The race looked like it was going to finish with a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series front row as Ron Hornaday was leading and Mike Wallace was second.

But with 16 laps to go, Wallace slammed into the first-turn wall, bringing out a caution.

All four drivers on the lead lap, Hornaday, Portenga, Sedgwick and Butch Gilliland, pitted. On the restart, Hornaday’s car went away from him while Sedgwick and Portenga battled for the lead.

“The only way I would have won was to wreck him and I wasn’t going to do that,” Sedgwick said. “It’s good to see the guy with the fastest car win the race and Steve had it.”

Portenga, who is in his first full season in the Winston West series, was the early race leader.

His Chevrolet led from lap 11 to 50 when the first caution came out. Portenga led a total of 89 laps.

Hornaday passed Portenga for the lead on lap 194 and was on his way to victory when the final caution came out on lap 234.

Both Hornaday and Wallace, not Winston West regulars, qualified in the back of the pack, Hornaday, 14th, Wallace 21st.

Each battled his way to the front, leading at various times in the race. There were 25 lead changes in the race and the average speed was 69.930 mph.