Holmes third at Sonoma

Escalon driver keeps points lead

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SONOMA -- Victory evaded Escalon's Eric Holmes once again at Infineon Raceway. But the NASCAR Camping World West Series driver did retain his points lead by finishing third in Saturday's Bennett Lane Winery 200.

Rival Jason Bowles won for the second consecutive year, inheriting the victory when it was ruled that teammate Patrick Long had spun leader Joey Logano in the last lap.

Manteca native Ross Strmiska was 12th in the 40-car field. Modesto's Mike David finished 15th and Oakdale's Wes Banks was 26th.

It was Holmes' third consecutive top-5 finish and fifth overall on the 1.99-mile road course. He leads Bowles by 16 points (1,190-1,174), while David maintained his fourth-place standing with 1,060 points.

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Joey Logano had led 38 of 64 laps before he spun in Turn 11 due to contact from Long's car. Long, a Camping World Series East driver whose Toyota started on the pole, was penalized for the move and dropped to 23rd.

"I was just the beneficiary of some rough driving," Bowles said. "We were in the right place at the right time at the end."

David described his day as "rough" but 15th was his second-best finish in four starts at Infineon. He placed ninth last season.

Strmiska was 12th in his first Camping World West start in Sonoma. He had previously raced the smaller Legend cars there.

David Mayhew was second in the Bennett Lane Winery 200 and Sprint Cup driver Boris Said was fourth behind Holmes.