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At Last: Pollard Outlasts 25 Cars, Lengthy Rain Delays to Net First Blizzard Series Victory in Season Finale

By Chuck Corder

Twenty-six Super Late Models came to Pensacola for one last foray around Five Flags Speedway before the 46th running of the Snowball Derby in December.

If the Buddy’s Home Furnishings 125, which started Friday night and dipped into early Saturday morning, lasted any longer the teams could’ve started booking rooms on Pensacola Beach for that first weekend in December.

It was a caution-plagued Blizzard Series season finale for the opening 75 laps.

Making matters worse was Mother Nature plaguing the evening with a nagging series of pop-up showers that hovered above the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

Bubba Pollard backed up his sweep of four Blizzard poles this season with a dominant run despite the unforeseen circumstances to keep an important streak alive.

“The main thing I was worried about was we’ve won here every year for the past four or five years now,� Pollard said sheepishly. “I didn’t want that to end. But, in a way, it was good because it made us prepare that much more to give 110 percent for tonight.�

Daniel Hemric, the 22-year-old Kannapolis, N.C., driver, gave an effort Friday that certainly reached close to that benchmark.

Already the owner of a win and a pair of fourths in the Buddy’s Homer Furnishings Blizzard Series this year, Hemric sealed up the SLM track championship with a runner-up finish Friday

“We worked hard so hard and the (team-owning) Carswells have been in the business so long,� Hemric said. “It feels great to deliver their first track championship. It’s special for me and it’s special for this team.�

Pollard, the fast qualifier at 16.340 seconds — two-tenths off his track record he set in May — started third after the dice-roll invert, but quickly assumed the lead on Lap 2.

“I really don’t have a secret except we’ve run a bunch of races,� Pollard said after qualifying.

And that experience proved invaluable, as he endured eight cautions prior to the 10-minute competition yellow at the 75-lap mark that preceded those pesky drizzles and delayed the 125 lapper for more than 40 minutes.

When track officials decided to make a go of it, Pollard — the leader at the time the competition yellow flew — again rolled and this time set a six-car invert.

That put Kyle Benjamin, who won the last Blizzard race in July courtesy of a mid-race invert, P1.

But Pollard was taking no prisoners. He drove the wheels off in spectacular fashion to reclaim the lead on the second lap following the restart.

“We had a whole different setup for tonight,� Pollard said. “You know the track has changed, so we decided to change with it. I had my spotter talking strategy during all the rain.�

And just when everyone inside Five Flags thought they were in clear air, the clouds opened up with a bit more force than the initial showers.

The field only managed six laps before this weather stoppage, but it only lasted 5 minutes.

“We spent a long time outta the racecar,� Pollard said. “I was getting tired. You get focused when you get back in. I felt like I was completely prepared for anything.�

To say the least.

From the drop of the opening green, aggressive driving was a must.

Eighteen-year-old Austin Theriault, who won a PASS event in his native Maine earlier this year, started on the pole after a three-car invert. Theriault’s No. 29 is part of defending NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation.

Hemric came into Friday holding healthy leads over John Hunter Nemechek and Pollard in the Blizzard standings.

Starting second, Hemric passed Theriault on the opening lap before Pollard took control of the race.

Ross Kenseth, the son of current Sprint Cup Series points leader Matt Kenseth, had a fine run, giving chase in second to Pollard for most of the night before finishing fifth.

Of the 25 cars that started Friday’s finale, two drivers hailed from north of the border. Lonnie Sommerville made a long 30-hour drive down from New Brunswick, Canada while Jerry Artuso of Sault St. Marie, Ontario, had a 20-hour trek

“There were a lotta good cars here,� Pollard said. “This was one of the best (SSS races) they’ve had. The (No.) 98 (Hemric) and (No.) 29 (Kenseth) were on it. They’re gonna be tough come Derby time.�

The toughest, though, remains Pollard’s No. 26.

 

Super Stocks

Bubba Winslow was taking no chances this time around.

Destiny robbed the 23-year-old Pensacola driver of a second consecutive Super Stocks track championship on the final night of the regular season last when his car had mechanical failure.

No such heartbreak on Friday.

Winslow drove a rocket ship that flew from his sixth starting spot to the front in eight laps, flexing all the muscles inside his orange Trawick Motorsports No. 86 and his racing aptitude.

With Randy Thompson, his nearest contender right on his bumper for most of the night, Winslow didn’t bobble en route to his fourth win of the season and second Super Stocks title in three years.

“We had pretty good piece,� Winslow said. “Randy was coming on quick. With five to go, we knew he was on the come. He was better we were. We were able to keep him behind us.

“Everybody here on this team deserves this just as much as me.�

Winslow celebrated by lighting up the front straightaway with a few doughnuts.

Thompson, who overtook Winslow for the crown last year, got an “A� for effort. He peaked for lead in the closing laps, but never quite mustered enough of a run to get by Winslow.

“We came up just a little bit short,� Thompson said. “We were coming on strong. We got to the back bumper, but we just couldn’t get around him. It just wasn’t good enough.�

 

Sportsmen

For one Friday night, the shoe was on the other foot for the Beef “O� Brady’s Sportsmen field.

It was Brannon Fowler, who has tormented by bad luck, taking a leisurely Friday night drive to his first 20-lap victory of the season.

And on the other end of the oval spectrum, Steve Buttrick was left to pick up the pieces of smooshed No. 33 and a comfortable points lead.

“It was a good night. The car was real fast,� Fowler said. “We had some rough moments in practice, but I’ve got the best crew chief, and the best team got it fixed.�

There was no repairing Buttrick’s ride on this night.

Making the conscious choice to start tail end of the 14-car field, Buttrick suffered severe front-end damage when he collided with Dayton Sidner on Lap 22.

The two made contact coming out of Turn 4 as Buttrick was attempting to make the pass.

“I took out Steve and I didn’t mean to at all,� Sidner said. “He’s a great competitor and I hate it for him. I apologize.�

Just like the front end that was waded up, Buttrick stuffed the top half of his firesuit into a ball and slammed into the driver’s side door.

“That’s racing,� said Buttrick, who was at an extreme loss for words. “I’ll fix it.�

And he has no time to lose.

This suspense, unfortunate as it is for Buttrick, has created some spice into the Whataburger Night of Champions next Saturday — yes, Saturday.

Buttrick had an 82-point lead coming into Friday. Now with a “DNF� and a Fowler win, Buttrick’s lead has plummeted to 46.

That’s an attainable deficit for Fowler.

 

Bombers

Hunter Ward likes a challenge.

Sometimes, though, driving from the pole can be a difficult task, too.

After collecting his second Bombers win of the season Friday, Ward seemed tickled to hoist his second Bombers trophy of the season with a wire-to-wire win in the 20 lapper.

“I’d like to thank pit crew and my mom," Ward said. "It's not exactly the way we wanted to win the race, but it was fun.�

Thirteen-year-old Ryan Worsham, who won his second feature earlier this month, finished second.

Friday marked a terrific showing for B.J. Leythan, a regular at Mobile International Speedway. He worked his way to a third-place finish, managing to deftly maneuver through several treacherous cautions.

On Lap 9, the hood on Corey Pittman’s No. 34 flew up and blanketed the windshield.

A few laps later, the yellow flag was back out.

That came for a curious move by No. 6 Tracy Soles, who won five of the first seven features raced this season and dogged Ward for the opening 8 laps Friday.

Inexplicably, Soles hooked John Kevin Merritt on the back stretch and sent the No. 22 pirouetting down the middle of the track.

Merritt went looking for the youngster under the caution, speeding past the field to reach Soles’ door and dropped off some verbal unpleasantries.

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