Pursley Notches Top Five at Miller

Gene Price Motorsports Driver Greg Pursley Makes Gains in Standings After Fourth Place Finish

PARKER, ARIZONA (August 2, 2009) – Greg Pursley, driver of the Gene Price Motorsports Ford on the NASCAR Camping World Series, continued his late season charge for the 2009 title with a strong fourth place performance at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah in round ten of the series schedule. Pursley put his Ford fourth on the starting grid for the 41-lap contest and rallied from the 15th position after pitting for fuel and tires midway through the event to notch his sixth top five performance this season for the first year team.

After practicing in the lower half of the top ten on Friday, Pursley was pleased with his top five qualifying effort. “Danny (Crafton) and the whole did an awesome job tuning on the car,” Pursley stated. “I know we would race really well but we were struggling all day Friday with getting the car to rotate better. Fortunately we found an answer and that put us up front.”

The Miller Motorsports Park 3.06-mile layout is a challenging and technical course that can baffle even the best road racers. In order to hedge his chances, Pursley participated in the track’s driving school on Thursday; and he is really glad he did. “This is a fun track to drive but very challenging,” Pursley said. “Going to the school was a big benefit as it cut my learning curve down considerably and really helped me in the race.”

Pursley wasted no time in establishing himself in the front of the field at the start of the race but front row starters Patrick Long (eventual winner) and Jason Bowles set a torrid pace that would take its toll on many of the front runners. Pursley settled into a racing groove and kept the leaders in sight for the first half of the race moving up to third by lap ten.

Pursley came to the pits under caution on lap 17 for four tires then returned the next lap to top off the tank for a run to the finish. Pursley restarted the race 15th and slowly worked his way back into the top ten. By lap 26, Pursley was in a good battle with Todd Souza for the 7th position eventually taking the position the next lap.

The caution flew on lap 28 setting up a ten lap shootout to the finish on the lap 31 restart. Pursley had moved into the fifth position by this time and waged a spirited battle with Moses Smith and Jim Inglebright with Pursley taking the fourth position on lap 35. He then set sail in order to catch third place Jason Bowles but lapped traffic impeded his progress settling for the fourth position as he took the checkered flag.

“All in all it was a great run for the Gene Price Motorsports team,” an exhausted Pursley said. “I thought we had something left to catch Bowles but we got crossed up with a couple of lapped cars late and that slowed us down a bit. This race track is so much fun to drive; it really is a driver’s track.”

The finish boosted Pursley in the standings. “We need top five finishes in order to catch those guys but we need them to finish behind us. “I am really proud of Danny and the guys and happy for Gene (Price- owner) that we are competitive and running up front. I wish this race was a few laps longer as I know we had something for the top three.”

By virtue of his fourth place finish, Pursley moved into third place in the standings only 137 points behind second place and 187 points out of first place with three races left on the 2009 NCWS schedule. In his first season for Gene Price Motorsports, Pursley has one win, six top five and eight top ten finishes in ten starts.

Greg Pursley, in his second full season of competition in the NCWS, made his NCWS series debut back in 1999 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, CA and has 26 career series starts with one win (Thunder Hill 2009), eight top five and 13 top ten performances. Pursley is the 2004 NASCAR Whelen All American Series national champion where he competed at Toyota Speedway and was a multi-time winner on the now defunct NASCAR Southwest Tour where he competed for many years. The NASCAR Camping World Series is in its 56th season of competition and is one of the nation’s oldest stock car racing series. The next event for Gene Price Motorsports and driver Greg Pursley is Saturday, August 15 at Colorado National Speedway in Erie, Colorado.