Brad Leighton Sweeps Road Courses With Watkins Glen Win : Raceway Media

Watkins Glen, NY (August 15, 2004): At this time last year, Brad Leighton, driver of the No. 35 Irving Oil/Mainway Ford, had never won on a road course. Now, Leighton has achieved a feat only one other driver (Butch Leitzinger) can claim – he’s won both Busch North Series road course events in the same year.

“This place owed me one!” a joyous Leighton said from victory lane. “We’ve come so close here before that I wasn’t getting too excited until I saw that checkered flag wave!”

Leighton beat series regular Brian Hoar to the line by .211 of a second after taking the lead on lap 35. Leighton went unchallenged for most of the time he spent up front, but on the last lap Hoar was able to reel Leighton in and run nose-to-tail with the Irving Oil/Mainway Ford.

“Brian Hoar raced me like a gentleman,” Leighton said. “I couldn’t very well go to victory lane without giving everyone something to talk about!”

Leighton started the race from the 20th position after rain washed out qualifying procedures Thursday afternoon. On lap five, a shifter problem forced Leighton into the pits.

“We got a caution just before the shifter broke. The yellow flag enabled the crew to get the problem fixed and keep me on the lead lap,” Leighton said. “It could have been a disastrous situation, but a little lady luck and a lot of hard work by the crew made it workable.”

A red flag condition halted the action for more than 20 minutes as safety crews repaired a broken guardrail in turn four. Racing action resumed at lap nine with Leighton opting to pit at lap 19 under green flag conditions. Leighton returned to the track at the tail end of the lead lap, however, a caution period at lap 23 sent a majority of the field into the pits for their stops.

“We gained a lot of track position by pitting when we did,” Leighton said. “It’s always risky when you pit out of sequence, but we had a plan and we stuck with it. It certainly paid off for us.”

Leighton restarted the race at lap 27 in the third position behind then-leader Matt Kobyluck and Brian Hoar. Hoar inherited the lead at lap 30 when Kobyluck brought his machine down pit road for fuel. Caution waved again on lap 31 setting the field up for a restart at lap 34. Leighton kept pressure on Hoar before taking the lead in turn 10.

Once out front, Leighton was able to keep a commanding lead over the rest of the field – until the last lap.

“I slipped up and allowed Brian (Hoar) to catch up to me,” Leighton said. “He had his nose right in there. He could have won that race easily by pushing me out of the way, but he raced me to the line and I had the faster car. It was awesome to finally get a win here!”

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