Woodside Has Series Title Within Grasp

Sean Woodside of Saugus is facing a double-edged sword in the Coca-Cola 500 NASCAR Winston West series race when the green flag drops at 7:30 PST on Friday at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan.

Woodside must finish 28th or better to clinch his first Winston West championship after finishing second his first two years in the series, which would dictate a conservative strategy.

He also wants a strong finish, since owner Bill McAnally of Roseville decided in mid-October not to renew Woodside’s contract for 2000.

“I’m going to get the car real comfortable, not make any mistakes, wait for a couple of cars to drop out and then go racing,” Woodside said.

McAnally and Woodside said the decision was made for business reasons.

McAnally’s primary sponsor is NAPA Auto Parts, which also sponsored the Dale Earnhardt-owned entry in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series driven by Ron Hornaday Jr.

According to McAnally, NAPA wished to maintain its presence in the Craftsman Truck series while continuing to sponsor Hornaday, who is moving to the NASCAR Busch series.

McAnally claimed the only way he could field both a truck entry and a Winston West entry was to join forces with another owner.

The best deal was offered by Michael Gaughan of Las Vegas, whose son, Brandon Gaughan, is in contention to be Winston West rookie of the year, which left Woodside out even though McAnally will be majority owner and NAPA will be primary sponsor of the new team.

“It was a very tough decision to make for myself and NAPA,” McAnally said. “It was a tough decision for me to tell [Sean] and it was a tough phone call for me to make.”