Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Wimington, NC(May 7, 2010) -- TJ Barron had been so close in the 2010 season at Coastal Plains Raceway, with a pair of second place finishes, he had just one more spot to overcome. On May 1st, he sat on the pole and looked to have a strong run, but with a handful of laps remaining he was barely a few feet out of the lead, and saw that first win of the season almost go out the window.

However, he held on and wasn't denied on this night in the Limited Late Model division. With their best car count of the year, 12 cars started the 60 lap feature and Barron hit the track from the top spot. He nearly saw his hopes get dashed as the early battle for the lead saw the top three cars, three wide into turn one on lap two, with Barron wisely backing up to third before any unn
ecessary contact was made.

The race came down to a barn burner between he and a hard charging Kenneth Mercer, as the two would trade the lead numerous times throughout the event. In one of the best battles ever seen at the track, Mercer once again took the lead away with only three to go, and looked to be on his way to victory. But coming to two to go, Barron muscled his #44 machine back to the inside of Mercer and stuck it
 

into turn one, with Mercer getting another run to the high side off turn two. It was not enough as Barron led Mercer to the checkered flag by less that half a car length.

"The car was great tonight", said a worn out Barron. "We went to Caraway to run the Late Model race earlier this year and missed an event here, but we have been knocking on the door every week since then. Tonight was kinda rough, I didn't have a radio the entire race, so no spotter, and Kenny(Mercer) was right there either on me or in front of me the entire race. We have been running some old shocks on this thing and have tried some new stuff, and have finally got it balanced out. I just have to thank my dad, my uncle, my girlfriends dad, it's hard getting help to work on this thing but we are slowly getting there. Even my mom made it out tonight so it was a good win for all of us"

Barron was especially thankful of the Jason York Motorsports team, as Barron is driving a car purchased from the York stables, the team has helped him tremendously getting it dialed in to his liking. "Eddie York stripped this car down to the bare chassis this Winter after the crash at Martinsville last year in the 50 lap Limited race, it was tore up pretty bad", said Barron.
 
"We put a new front clip on it and they came down here and helped out the first week of the year, I can't thank them enough, they have helped me more than I ever thought anybody could. Coming from the Legend cars and just me and my dad basically working on this thing, we needed some insight and they pointed us in the right direction and got us going up to speed".

Barron will continue to run at Coastal Plains for the remainder of the 2010 season trying for the season championship. Even after missing one race in the early season, he has taken over the points lead and looks to continue in his winning ways. Look for the team to make some late season big races and the always big Myrtle Beach 400 weekend.