USAC Midget/Sprint Car

Faas, who has an excellent season underway for California-based Western Speed, rolled into the event with a slim point lead. Western Speed utilizes a 166-ci in-line four-cylinder Toyota engine in USAC Western Midget car competition, prepared by Ed Pink Racing Engines.

Faas was particularly optimistic entering Ventura, because he won three times in 2007 USAC Focus competition, which is a developmental series in which he was the 2007 California Dirt Series champion. But the Californian driver ultimately finished a frustrated 16th in the Ventura feature event after tangling with another car.

"We started out the night OK, and finished third in our qualifying heat," he explained. "Our car was a little bit tight, but we had worked through that and felt pretty good about our chances in the feature event. We started seventh, and around lap 10 I was challenging for fifth when I got tangled up with another car. It was just a racing incident, more bad luck than anything. We weren't able to restart and that was the end of our night.

"But the Toyota powerplant was awesome all night, and was really strong," he added. "We didn't get the finish tonight we wanted, but we'll shake this off and move on to Bakersfield next week."

Faas slipped to second in the USAC Western Midget Car standings, amid tight competition at the top of the points chart. Three drivers -- Faas, Scott Pierovich, and Robby Josset -- find themselves in a three-way fight at the top, separated by less than 10 points. When the standings were updated following the Ventura race, Pierovich slipped one point ahead of Faas at the top of the charts.

The season is still relatively young for the series, with just over a third of the races in the books for 2008. The next outing is next weekend (June 21) at Bakersfield, Calif.

USAC WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
2 Nic Faas, Huntington Beach, CA Western Speed No. 40 (-1)