(7/5/21) Sacramento, CA … The NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Cars storm into the second quarter of the 2021 campaign this Saturday, July 10th by making their second trip to Petaluma Speedway of the year for the Salute to Baylands Raceway Park.

Saturday’s event salutes the legendary speedway that was located in Fremont and featured some of the west coast’s best racing action of the 1980’s. Former promoter of Baylands, David Vodden, will be lending some insight from the booth this weekend. Petaluma will also be hosting an autograph session Saturday featuring some of the top talent to have competed at Baylands.

The NARC-KWS 410 winged sprint cars will be joined by wingless sprint cars, super stocks and dwarf cars for what promises to be an exciting evening of action. The hooked up clay of Petaluma routinely produces intense racing with plenty of hold your breath moments, especially once lap traffic comes into play.

Heading into Saturday show, Bud Kaeding has utilized a stretch of four consecutive top-5 finishes to take over the points lead. The 2017 champ has been banging on the door of a King of the West win in 2021 with 29 laps led across two different feature events, and he would love for Saturday to bring that victory.

“Obviously winning is why we’re all out there,” Kaeding said. “Getting into position to win some of those races has been a good step for us the last couple weeks.  To get this number sixty-nine car back in victory lane is something we’re all inching toward and can’t wait to make happen. We’ve been getting closer every week and been in position to win a good share of the last three races.”

The numbers say Kaeding has a great chance to win at Petaluma and extend his margin atop the standings. In his last nine series starts at the 3/8ths mile oval, the Campbell native has six podium finishes, including a runner-up back on May 22nd of this year.

“We’ve had good cars there, regardless of whom I’ve been driving for,” Kaeding said of his success at Petaluma. “It’s a fun place. It’s really fun when you start up on the front couple rows. The back couple rows can be scary.”

Winner of the most recent series race at Petaluma, Justin Sanders, will be a top competitor on Saturday. He aims to rebound after misfortune at both Ocean Speedway and Placerville last month ended potential top-5 runs. The win for Sanders in May marked his second victory on the tacky clay since partnering with Larry Antaya Motorsports, and he hopes to make it a trio of triumphs to help make up some points this weekend.

Reigning series champ, DJ Netto, should be toward the front as he looks to swipe the point lead back. He’s one of only two drivers to finish in the top-10 in all five events of 2021 and hasn’t finished worse than 7th in his last eight series races at Petaluma.

Perhaps a dark horse candidate to keep an eye on for the win is Benicia’s Billy Aton. His last four series starts at Petaluma have all been top-10 runs with a career best second place finish in July of 2019. Aton has proven his No. 26 machine has speed this year as he leads the Swift Metal Finishing Most Feature Cars Passed category. If “Wild Bill” can set himself up with a strong qualifying effort, he’ll have a good shot at parking it in NARC victory lane for the first time in his career.

The names above are just a few who will be on hand Saturday. Some other drivers expected to be in the pits are newly crowned Dirt Cup champion Dominic Scelzi, Iowa’s Austin McCarl, Tim Kaeding, Sean Becker, Sean Watts, Kyle Offill and more.

The NARC King of the West Hoosier Tire format will feature ARP Fast Time Qualifying, three 10-lap heat races, a six-lap Sunnyvalley Bacon trophy dash, and the Fujitsu 30-lap feature event headliner.

The pits will open at 2:00 P.M. with the front gates opening at 4:00 P.M. Hot laps are set to begin at 5:00 P.M. with racing at 6:00 P.M. Adult General Admission tickets are $27 while seniors will be admitted for $24. The price tag for kids ages 6-11 is $16, and kids 5 and under are free! Tickets are available now on myracepass.com for those who wish to secure seats ahead of time.

The Salute to Baylands Raceway Park can also be viewed live on floracing.com along with the entire NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Cars schedule.

Petaluma Speedway is located on the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds at 100 Fairgrounds Dr. Petaluma, CA 94952. For more information call (707) 763-7223.

The King of the West-NARC Fujitsu General Racing Series is also sponsored by Hoosier Racing Tires.  Associate and product award sponsors include Automotive Racing Products (ARP), Autometer, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bullet Impressions, FK Rod Ends, FloRacing.com, Johnstone Supply, Kaeding Performance Center, KSE Racing Products, Maxim, PAC Racing Springs, Pyrotect, Racing Optics, Saldana Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, SCI Racing Products, Swift Metal Finishing, Sunnyvalley Bacon, System 1 Ignition, Ultra-Lite Brakes, Wilwood Disc Brakes, and Winters Performance Products.

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NARC King of the West Fujitsu 410 Sprint Car Series
Championship Points Standings (After five events in 21-race series 7/1/21)

  1. Bud Kaeding, Campbell – 560
  2. DJ Netto, Hanford – 555
  3.  Dominic Scelzi, Fresno – 553
  4. Tim Kaeding, San Jose – 536
  5. Justin Sanders, Aromas – 531
  6. Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA – 524
  7. Sean Becker, Roseville – 524
  8. Billy Aton, Benicia (R) – 519
  9. Sean Watts, Clovis – 512
  10. Kyle Offill, Tracy (R) – 481
  11. Shane Golobic, Elk Grove – 453
  12. Joel Myers Jr, Sebastopol (R) – 416
  13. Mitchell Faccinto, Hanford – 412
  14. Mitchel Moles, Raisin City – 397
  15. Kenny Allen, Chico – 379
  16. Willie Croft, Colfax – 328
  17. Ryan Robinson, Foresthill (R) – 322
  18. Kyle Hirst, Paradise – 319
  19. Geoffrey Strole, Hanford (R) – 283
  20. Kalib Henry, Mather – 213

UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 17 – Ocean Speedway (Watsonville) – Howard Kaeding Classic
July 23 – Thunderbowl Raceway (Tulare) – Chris & Brian Faria Memorial
July 24 – Santa Maria Raceway – Winged Madness & Wheelie Contest

Current King of the West point leader Bud Kaeding is looking for a “W” at Petaluma. Photo by Joe Shivak