Herrera avoids late crash, posts victory in shootout

Friday, March 1, 2002 | 10:26 a.m.

Johnny Herrera, running his first Pennzoil World of Outlaws race for NASCAR Winston Cup crew chief Bill Wilburn, took advantage of a late-race crash Thursday night and won the first preliminary feature of the Silver State Shootout at the half-mile dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Herrera was in third place when race leader Craig Dollansky got caught up in lapped traffic and spun, then was hit by the second-place car of Danny Lasoski. The leaders were knocked out of the race and Herrera inherited the lead with four laps remaining in the 25-lap event.

Herrera had pulled out to a five-car-lengths lead when Jeff Hodgson crashed into a tire barrier on the final lap, bringing out the fourth red-flag period of the race.

Under WoO rules, a race must end with two consecutive green-flag laps and Herrera held off Sammy Swindell and Daryn Pittman for his first victory in more than a year.

"You've got to have a little luck to win in Vegas and we were just lucky in the right spot at the right time," Herrera said.

"It's probably one of my more exciting wins. After not getting (a win) last year and having such a bad year last year, this is a great way to start this year."

Herrera's win came in Bill Wilburn's first race as a car owner; Herrera and Wilburn, who is Rusty Wallace's crew chief in the Winston Cup Series, did not compete in the first two races of the season last week in California.

Wilburn, who had a primary sponsorship deal fall through before the season started, said he has enough funding to field Herrera in about 50 of the 66 WoO races this season.

Dollansky, who led the first 21 laps, had to settle for a 19th-place finish. Lasoski, the reigning WoO champion and points leader coming into the race, was 20th.

Steve Kinser, who won the fourth heat race and took fourth in Thursday's A-feature, now leads Swindell by eight points in the series standings. Lasoski slipped to third, 14 points behind Kinser.