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Grill Wins another for GARC

Chuck Corder

Augie Grill is quite the company man.

His Grand American Race Cars had dominated the last 10 Super Late Model events coming into the second Blizzard Series race Friday at Five Flags Speedway.

Nothing changed for the Papa John’s 100. And it only got better for Grill.

The Five Flags fan favorite held off a late charge from Grant Enfinger to snatch his first checkered flag in Pensacola this season, making it nine consecutive Blizzard wins for cars coming out of the GARC shop.

The father-daughter battle between Donald Long and NASCAR trucks rookie Johanna Long never materialized.

The pair did battle each other several times, but it was in the middle of the pack, never contesting for the lead at any point. Johanna Long finished ninth while her 48-year-old father finished 11th.

“It feels really good to outrun one of my customers,� said Grill, referring to Enfinger. “It’s one of the tracks we race a lot at, so I better be good or I’ll lose my ride.�

Grill, of course, was joking. The way the two-time Snowball Derby winner drives his No. 112, he is in no danger of surrendering his seat.

Grill was terrific on each of the five restarts he led of the six cautions Friday. The one restart he struggled was when he trailed Donnie Wilson for the lead on Lap 59.

Grill spun his tires, but by the time the leaders reached Turn 4, he had forced a three-wide scenario with Wilson and T.J. Reaid. Grill, the meat in the sandwich, put the hammer down and assumed a lead he never relinquished as they completed 60 laps.

“I about knocked the nose off with all the bumping that was going on, so I decided to go,� Grill said.

Grill started the feature ninth, but methodically began picking off fellow drivers one by one until he made that aggressive move.

Enfinger, who was the fast car in qualifying but started 10th on the dice invert, failed to get by Grill after getting a couple of quality looks.

“If we could’ve nailed the restarts,� he surmised, “I think we could’ve got in front of (Grill) and held him off. We tried to go at the end, but it was a little too late.�

Enfinger’s best look came on the restart with 83 laps complete. Grill chose the inside as he did all night. Enfinger got nose to nose until T.J. Reaid bumped him.

The pair slid all over the track, but amazingly managed to not crash. It cost Enfinger valuable position and he never got back to Grill’s bumper.

That’s when the action after the action got interesting.

Enfinger visibly was upset with Reaid, who finished third. As the top three got out to accept their trophies, Enfinger jumped out of his No. 82 and darted for Kyle Busch’s No. 51 Reaid drives.

Enfinger put his finger inside the window while his and Reaid’s crews started pushing and shoving until local sheriff deputies separated the groups.

“I’m not one to say anything, but if I get somebody out of shape, I let them straighten out,� Enfinger said. “He did it three times, and I didn’t appreciate it.�

Neither did the car's maker.

Grill wasn’t fazed too much by the post-race extracurriculars, though.

He was busy appreciating his win.

Papa John’s 100 Results—1. Augie Grill, 2. Grant Enfinger, 3. T.J. Reaid, 4. David Rogers, 5. Chris Davidson, 6. Bubba Pollard, 7. Mike Garvey, 8. Clay Alexander, 9. Johanna Long, 10. Donnie Wilson, 11. Donald Long, 12. D.J. VanderLey, 13. David Odell, 14. Gary Sullivan, 15. Jeremy Pate, 16. Thomas Praytor, 17. Ryan Crane, 18. Allen Karnes, 19. Scott Carlson, 20. Casey Smith, 21. Travis Kittleson, 22. Dwayne Buggay

Modifieds

Jake Moore was content to see all the beating and banging happening in his rearview.

With plenty of action behind him, Moore just cruised around the half-mile asphalt oval like it was a Sunday drive on the Gulf Coast.

The Mobile native got his first win in the Modified series while Bubba Pollard and Brandon Howell finished second and third respectively.

Pollard and Gerald Wilkerson took a couple of shots at each other until Pollard spun Wilkerson on the back straightaway.

“Gerald cut us off front straightaway and nearly pushed us into the inside wall, but we let up,� Pollard said. “He got sideways on the back, and I got into him. I couldn’t help it.�

Modified 25-lap Feature Results—1. Jake Moore, 2. Bubba Pollard, 3. Brandon Howell, 4. Todd Jones, 5. Nathan Davis, 6. Steve Buttrick, 7. Gerald Wilkerson, 8. James Patrick, 9. Kevin Peel, 10. Scott Lopez, 11. Nathan Ingersoll

 

Sportsman

Stevie Mercer thought about retiring before this season.

Good thing he didn’t. Mercer made it two trips to Victory Lanes in two straight Fridays, running another dominant race once again from the front row.

However, he was stripped of the win in post-race technical inspection, pushing Randy Thompson to the win.

“I love starting on the front row,� Mercer said. “It happened last week and worked out well. I like racing, too. I’m sure this year we’ll trade some paint.�

He didn’t have to worry about that too much this Friday. Thompson challenged him a few times after a pair of cautions.

Thompson tried to go the long way around and the outside groove wasn’t kind. It worked for a while before Thompson burned the tires off.

Each time, Mercer had an answer for Thompson and pulled away.

“I’m out here to win every race I can,� Mercer said. “Hopefully the car can stay together, the driver stay together and we’ll have a good year.�

A disqualification, though, is sure to put a damper on things.

Sportsman 20-lap Feature Results—1. Randy Thompson, 2. Bubba Winslow, 3. Marty White, 4. Chris Nielsen, 5. Brannon Fowler, 6. Jim Pokrant, 7. Bo Resmondo, 8. Charles English, 9. Tina Davidson, 10. Johnny Greene Jr., 11. Thomas Faddis, 12. Jimmy Goodwin, 13. Justin Babb, 14. Mike Goraum, 15. Daniel Fleming, 16. Wayne Burkett, DQ. Stevie Mercer, DQ. Michael Couture

 

Bombers

Curtis Faircloth certainly was all smiles Friday at Five Flags.

But the Pace driver knew he got a lot of help to get his fourth win in five races this season.

“This would not have been possible without Leonard Craig Jr.,� said Faircloth, who extended his points lead with another trip to Victory Lane. “We blew a motor and he helped us out so much.�

Brandon Burks finished second, but, like all the Bombers this year, he was admiring another dominant performance from Faircloth.

“That (No.) 7 car sure is fast,� Burks said.

 

Bombers 20-lap Feature Results—1. Curtis Faircloth, 2. Brandon Burks, 3. Kenny Williams, 4. Tally Warrick, 5. Gary Goodwin, 6. James L. Beal III, 7. Tracy Soles, 8. Leonard Craig Jr., 9. David Johnson, 10. Sam Mellema, 11. Thom Crosslin, 12. Courtney Rodrigues, 13. Robert Balkum, 14. Hunter Ward, 15. Bobby Jones

 

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