POTTS – “Stockton is definitely my favorite track.”
Greg Potts will be making his first Spears Srl Southwest Tour Series start since 2015, when the series heads to The New Stockton 99 Speedwayon August 18th. The “SPEARS Southwest Tour Series 125 presented by 51 FIFTY Energy Drink” will be sixth championship event of the season, and the first at the New Stockton 99 Speedway since August of 2015. The event marks the 28th time the series has visited Stockton, and will be the 31st career SRL start for the driver out of Mirada, CA. “99”is not only Potts’ home track, it is his favorite track.
“Stockton is definitely my favorite track, as I live only seven or eight minutes away in Mirada”, Potts told the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series. “I’ve been racing there for 45 plus years, so I know just about every crack in the asphalt. I know it is one of the roughest tracks on our tour, but you can run two-wide there, all day long, if you have people you can trust.”
In Potts’ last start at Stockton, he was very competitive, challenging for a top five finish until late in the event. He did eventually finish with his 13th top-ten effort with a ninth place result.
“The last time the ‘Tour’ ran Stockton, was the last time I was in the ‘Tour’ car”, Potts began. “We actually did really well. We were top-five on the speed charts, at the end of the last practice, and we were running fifth with less than 10 to go, and got turned. But we had a really, really fast race car.”
If Potts has a fast car on Saturday, August 18th, he feels like he will be very competitive, with the full field of drivers expected for the event.
“I think you are only as good as the car. If we have a good car, we will be fine. I raced the Fourth of July race, in our Late Model, and we had a really good car. We were running fourth, with about ten to go, and got caught up with a lapped car. We went 74 laps straight without a yellow, and I was thinking ‘I need a caution, I need a caution’. I was running fourth, getting ready to pass for third and I ended up being part of the caution.”
“It will be all about the car. And with the level of competition in the ‘Tour’, let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic”, Potts accessed.
The veteran driver is excited to participate in the SRL’s only stop in Stockton this season, but is hopeful to make an additional event or two, before the SPEARS Southwest Tour season is complete.
“Right now we have the Madera Speedway event on our schedule (September 29) if everything goes well, and we don’t tear up the car. I’ve got a lot of laps there to, and I think it’s a lot of fun. We have a question mark behind this, but I’d really like to go back to Las Vegas, if things work out. I’m at that point in my racing career that I better hit a bunch of these tracks, because in a couple of years, I won’t have that option. I’m just borrowing the car (from his son Colby Potts) for now”, Potts chuckled.
Come out to the New Stockton 99 Speedway, on August 18th, to see Greg and several other Central Valley racers take on the regulars on the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series. Greg will be competing for the $5,000 winner’s share of the purse, thanks to our friends at McGunegill Engine Performance. Greg would like to thanks Nascimento Motorsports, Economy Signs and David’s Racing Products for their continued support.
