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Adams conquers Bristol’s high banks for first-ever UARA victory
By Robert Walden
BRISTOL, Tenn. (Sept. 24) – The United Auto Racing Association-Southern Touring Auto Racing Series made its inaugural visit to Bristol Motor Speedway last fall, bringing grassroots late model racing to the famed high-banks.
Saturday night under the lights for a return primetime engagement at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” Josh Adams of White House, Tenn., passed Deac McCaskill for the lead on lap 135 racing off the fourth turn, then held off challengers on two green-white-checkers runs to the finish to win the Food City 150 presented by Frito Lay, his first-ever UARA victory. While racing full-time with the series in 2004, due to a lack of sponsorship the Food City 150 marked Adams’ only appearance in competition this year.
“Oh man, winning here at Bristol Motor Speedway is awesome,” said the smiling Adams after climbing from his No. 37 Town & Country Ford Taurus in victory lane on the front straightaway following his $15,000 victory in the Food City 150. “I really like this place, and we had a good run up here last year. Even though we didn’t qualify as well this afternoon as we would have liked, we knew if we just used our head in the heat race and got into the feature – we’d be a contender.
“We started fourth and won our heat, and I told the guys once we got back in the pits that we had a car capable of winning. I knew early on I needed to be patient and not abuse the tires, then in the last 50 laps see where we were running and then make a run to the front. I hated getting into the back of (Deac) McCaskill there when we made the pass for the lead, but I was running quicker than he was as we raced off the fourth turn and I just barely got into him. Once we got into the lead we pulled away some. I sure didn’t want to see those last cautions come out, because I knew in a green-white-checker shootout it might get interesting. But we held on, and winning here at Bristol is something I’ll never forget.”
With the fastest four qualifiers locked into starting positions for the 150-lap event based on time, Frank Deiny Jr. of Mechanicsville, Va., toured the concrete-surfaced .533-mile oval quickest at 15.935-seconds (119.230 mph) to pocket $1,000 for winning the Sunoco Pole Award. Joe Buford of Thompson Station, Tenn., nailed down the outside front row starting berth with a fast-lap of 15.951. Earning starting spots in the second row were Denver, N.C.’s Matt McCall, who entered the Food City 150 leading the UARA point standings, and Mark King of Gatlinburg, Tenn.
Four 20-lap heat races transferred the top-six finishers into the feature lineup, with Jason York of Reidsville, N.C., winning the first heat over Jamey Caudill, Marty Ward, Bo Miller, Vic Hill and Steve Pendergrass.
McCaskill, of Raleigh, N.C., captured the win in heat two over Keith Stiltner, Andy Johnson, Lee Tissot, Leister Lesneski and Steve Blackburn.
Adams won the third heat over Danny O’Quinn, Ross Furr, Jackie Buckner, John Freeman and Scottie Hicks.
Nick Hutchins of Columbia, S.C., recorded the victory in heat four over Wade Day, Dennis Queen, Kyle Grissom, Mike Giessen and Alex Yontz.
The final four starting positions in the field were UARA provisional berths, awarded to R.A. Brown, Robert Elliott, Tony Grady and Ashley Huffman.
With the huge crowd on their feet for the start of the Food City 150, Joe Buford won the race into the first turn to grab the lead over Frank Deiny, Mark King, Matt McCall and Jason York. With cars strung out back through the field, the top-eight in the running order were setting a blistering pace around the high banks in the early going.
King slipped high racing into turn three on lap 10, allowing McCall, York, McCaskill, Adams and Hutchins by before he could get back down in the lower groove. With a deflating right-front tire, King headed into the pits on lap 13 to the attention of his crew. The event’s first caution waved on lap 18 when Leister Lesneski spun down the backstretch, coming to rest against the inside pit wall in turn three. Back under green on lap 22, it wasn’t long before the caution waved again, as Keith Stiltner broke a right-front wheel and slammed the outside wall in turn four, resulting in significant front suspension damage to his Monte Carlo.
With Buford leading from the drop of the green, Deiny never trailed by more than three car lengths. After sticking the nose of his No. 4 Bailey’s Grand Prix under Buford for several laps racing off the corners, Deiny used a strong run on the bottom racing off the second turn on lap 36 to pull alongside Buford racing down the backstretch. Holding the preferred inside line entering the third turn, Deiny moved to the point.
Buford began to slow racing off the fourth turn on lap 39, and dropping to the bottom between turns one and two he slowly made his way down the backstretch and pulled behind the wall in turn three and headed to his trailer in the infield with mechanical problems, ending his night. While running in third on lap 42, York slowed off the fourth turn and headed down pit road with a flat right-front tire.
Halfway into the 150-lap event Deiny was in control out front over McCall, McCaskill, Adams and Marty Ward.
With Vic Hill, R.A. Brown, John Freeman, Robert Elliott and Dennis Queen running just outside of the top 10, Brown barely got under Hill just past the start/finish line on lap 86. Racing off into the first turn, Brown’s left-side tires dropped onto the apron and speedy-dry that had been spread earlier in the event and his car shot back to the right, spinning directly in front of Hill who was hard on the brakes. Hill managed to avoid making contact with the sliding Brown, but Freeman, Elliott and Queen all crashed, making it a four-car pileup.
Going back green Deiny had McCall glued to his rear bumper, with McCaskill shadowed by Adams. McCall had nothing for the race leader Deiny, as he quickly began to pull away. But Adams had something for McCaskill, as he rode around the high-side between turns one and two on lap 90 to briefly take away the third spot. McCaskill battled back to reclaim the position just one circuit later, as Adams settled in just ahead of Ward.
At the 100-lap mark, Deiny had stretched his lead out to right at a half-straightaway over McCall, who had a rear view mirror full of McCaskill. Racing on the bottom off turn two on lap 108, McCaskill moved under McCall for the runner-up position.
With the door open, both Adams and Ward kept McCall pinned up in the high groove to slip by into third and fourth, relegating McCall back to fifth. The caution came out after McCall hit the fourth turn wall after he had a right-front tire go down on lap 114.
Going back green on lap 118, Deiny was trailed by McCaskill, Adams, Ward and young Kyle Grissom, son of former NASCAR Busch Series champion Steve Grissom. Not coming back up to speed, Deiny also was experiencing a slowly deflating right-front tire. Between turns three and four, Deiny drifted up the banking allowing McCaskill to drive into the lead, also bringing Adams, Ward and Grissom along for the ride. Deiny worked his way back down into the lower groove and made his way down pit road on lap 123, pulling behind the wall instead of letting his crew make the tire change.
Grissom pulled to the inside of Ward racing into the first turn on lap 129 to take away the third spot. The battle for the lead was heating up between McCaskill and Adams, and it appeared Adams was riding the stronger mount.
Glued to the back bumper of McCaskill on lap 135 racing into the third turn, once back into the gas racing off turn four there was slight contact from behind. With McCaskill getting loose the door was open for Adams to charge into the lead. Once out front, Adams was comfortably cruising in the lead until the fourth-place car of Lee Tissot spun off the second turn down the backstretch, coming to rest against the inside wall to bring out a caution on lap 148.
Ready for a two-lap dash to the checkers, Adams had McCaskill, Grissom, Ward and Ross Furr lined up nose-to-nail behind him. Before one lap could be completed, Ward spun between turns three and four when he had a right-rear wheel break off to once again see the caution lights come on.
The second attempt at the green-white-checker shootout to the finish saw Adams hold off McCaskill for the win, with Grissom, Furr and Bo Miller rounding out the top-five.
Finishing sixth through tenth were Steve Pendergrass, Nick Hutchins, Steve Blackburn, Alex Yontz and Jamey Caudill.
The series’ next event will be on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Old Dominion Speedway, located in Manassas, Va. For more information, visit the track Web site at www.olddominionspeedway.com … the UARA Web site at www.uara-stars.com or call (828) 692-3833.
UARA-STARS Food City 150 presented by Frito Lay (Official Finish)
1. Josh Adams |