Jenkins qualifies pole, finishes fourth at Irwindale

PORTLAND, Oregon – Scottie Jenkins had a good feeling about last Saturday night’s race even before he fired up the engine in his #51 E.F.I. / High Point Racing stock car. His goal: nail down the fastest qualification time and get the pole position. Jenkins’ lap time of 18.988 accomplished exactly that, though unfortunately the random inversion shuffle moved him back to the sixth position for the start of the race - with all of his teammates ahead of him.

“I knew I had to make some strong moves early in the race if I wanted to get into the fight for first place,” explained Scottie. “But a race isn’t something you can plan and I was stuck behind the #89 car for the first half of the race, even though I was sure I had the faster car.”

Jenkins saw his opportunity after a restart about lap twenty-seven; car #89 drifted a little high and Scottie dropped low for an inside pass to fifth place. With only ten laps left to go, things heated up on the track as drivers aggressively jockeyed for position. Teammate Jace Meier and another car took high lines side-by-side on turns one and two, so Jenkins headed to the bottom of the track and went for the pass.

The cars roared out of the turn three abreast and bumped against each other all the way down the straight and into turns three and four, where Jenkins completed his pass to take second place behind High Point Racing team owner Tim Huddleston. Then the yellow flag came out again with just a few laps to go.

“I decided to really go for it on the restart, thinking it’s what Tim would do,” said Scottie. “So I left everything on the track and went for the big pass, but it didn’t work and two cars got by me. Rather than risk a wreck, I backed off and pulled in a solid fourth-place finish. We’ve definitely got a GREAT team and we’ll get ‘em next time!”

An environmentally-conscious racer and businessman, Scottie Jenkins is the Plant Manager for Environmental Fibers International, Inc., a family-owned and operated recycling company located in Portland, Oregon. For more information about Scottie Jenkins and valuable sponsorship opportunities, visit scottiejenkins.com or contact: Scott Jenkins Motorsports, 4325 N. Commerce Street, Portland, Oregon 97217 (503) 737-2100.