Pursley Pumped About Douglas County

PARKER, ARIZONA (June 3, 2009) – For any race car driver the time between races can seem like an eternity, and a visit to a track he has not seen in seven years may seem like a distant memory. But those details do little to dampen the enthusiasm Greg Pursley has heading into Douglas County Speedway this Saturday night for the NASCAR Camping World Series Toyota/Bi-Mart “150” at the half-mail paved oval in Roseburg, Oregon. Pursley hopes to make up ground in the championship hunt and knows this race will come down to qualifying and luck.

Pursley last visited the tricky and tight fairgrounds oval back in 2002 and is looking for a top five result Saturday night. “This series is really tough and history has shown if you qualify up front it is a big advantage during the race,” Pursley said. “You need to set the car up to run the bottom as Douglas County is typically a one groove track. But if you run the top you can make passes. It is just tricky.”

Racing in the NCWS has unique challenges and how a team handles those challenges will mean the difference in the race. “Tire conservation is really important,” Pursley said. “You need to take it easy over the first half to three quarters of the race to ensure you have some grip late in the event.”

Another challenge the drivers face are the double file restarts implemented in the series four years ago. “You really want to restart on the bottom, but if you are on the high side it can be an advantage if someone misses a shift. You got to be on your toes but you can gain several spots if you play it right, but then you need to get to the bottom.”

While most teams are rolling out a new short track car this race, the Gene Price Motorsports team is using a tried and true car they have used all season on the short tracks. “We like this old Hendrick Nationwide car. It just really has a great feel and why fix what is not broken.”

Through five races this season Pursley is pleased with the progress of the new team. “Gene Price has put together a first class operation,” Pursley stated. “We have a great crew led by Danny Crafton. We several guys working at the shop full-time and then our weekend pit crew. We come to the track prepared with a fast race car and that’s all I could ask for. We are still building out the shop and finishing race cars so it has been really chaotic, but we have had a great start and we are looking forward to a successful season.”

Greg Pursley in his second full season of competition in the NASCAR Camping World Series.  He has 21 career starts, one win (Thunder Hill 2009), five top five and nine 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. Greg Pursley is sponsored by Gene Price Motorsports and Star Nursery and enters this weekend’s event 5th in the point standings after five races just 53 points out of first place. The event at Douglas County Speedway will be shown on SPEED Channel Thursday, June 18 at noon PT.