Lepage Looking to Repeat Pole-Winning Performance of '99

HUNTERSVILLE, NC - Kevin Lepage has high expectations going into the NAPA 500 this weekend. He is returning as the defending Bud Pole Award winner in the event after capturing his first career Bud Pole Award at Atlanta Motor Speedway last November during the NAPA 500 weekend when he circled the fast and furious 1.5-mile superspeedway in 28.617 seconds at 193.731 mph.

"Winning the pole there last year was a real confidence boost for our team," Lepage said. "We'd taken a few hard knocks for a couple of races before Atlanta and we wanted to finish '99 as strong as we could. We knew we had a good car in practice on Friday last year, and we thought a top-10 or maybe even a top-five was possible in qualifying. We just nailed that lap. The car felt great, JR # 95, and that was my favorite car for a while."

Lepage drove onto a 17th place finish in the race last year.

Lepage is excited about returning to one of his favorite tracks. Back in 1986 he competed in an ARCA race at Atlanta, the largest track he'd raced on at that point in his career, where he drove all the way back from as far back as last place to second in just 80 laps before a blown engine sidelined him.

"The track is fast and things happen so quickly," Lepage said. "You can't let your emotions get the better of you. You have to stay patient and wait for the race to come to you. If you have your chassis working right, you should be able to pass high, low or in the middle of the racing surface. It's really a fun racetrack, it's a driver's racetrack.

"The 1.5-mile tracks have really been our strong suit. We've had a lot of success and some good runs on tracks like Texas (fifth in '00), Vegas (11th), and Charlotte (second in No-Bull Sprint). I'm looking forward to Atlanta."

Lepage was running very well at Atlanta last March. He qualified fifth and was running in the top five for most of the race and even led five laps before a broken rear axle sent him to the garage for repairs. He finished the race in 38th position.

"We're going to work on qualifying just like we did last year, and we're looking for a top-five starting position. But this year we are going to pay particular attention to the race setup so we can have a competitive car for the entire 500 laps. We can get a top-five, maybe even a race win if a few things go our way."