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Eggleston Picks Up $75k in "The RACE" at Wilkesboro
Story by: Mike Neff/Contributor to RACE22.com
44 cars hit the historic 5/8 mile oval at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday thanks to a rain postponement Saturday night. Johnny Clark led the field to the green thanks to drawing the number one pill from the bucket for the top 10 qualifier redraw. Jay Fogleman, the points leader for the series coming into the day, started on the outside of the front row with Pat Kelly, Andy Loden, Augie Grill and Bubba Pollard filling out the next two rows. When the green flew Clark took the lead with Pat Kelly following him through. Lap 49 saw Grill regain the lead from Loden as the two encountered heavy traffic. With 50 laps in the book Grill was in the lead with Loden hot on his heels, Bubba Pollard in third, Chris Eggleston fourth, and Pat Kelly rounding out the top five. The biggest mover of the first 50 laps was Jody Lavender who started 21st and was running eighth when the caution flag flew for a spin in turn four on lap 52 for Joey Doiron. The restart on lap 53 saw Loden use his outside starting spot to retake the lead while Pollard slotted in second and Kelly grabbed third postion. Lap 56 saw Pollard sweep past Loden to assume the lead for the first time in the race. Lap 62 saw the No. 66 of Brian Ickler slowed going through turns one and two while the No. 24 of Mike Rowe was spun on the front straight. Brandon Ward made multiple trips to pit lane with an ill running car.
As the field took the green and headed through turns one and two the cars of Rebecca Kasten and Kenzie Ruston got together after Kasten was bumped from behind. Both cars ended up in the outside wall with Ruston being able to drive away but Kasten with too much damage to continue. The quickest qualifier for the event Stephen Nasse took the opportunity to pit during the caution to make adjustments because his car was just not handling to his liking. As the field restarted after the cleanup Jody Lavender made a big move and got all of the way to second place behind Pollard with Grill and Loden behind them. Choquette fourth and Grill fifth. The rest of the top ten included Ross Kenseth, TJ Reaid, Ryan Blaney, Eggleston, and Erik Darnell. The race took an eight minute break to allow the teams to change tires and make adjustments. The second 100 lap segment went green with Pollard on the point. Pollard and Loden took off first and second but Lavender seemed to struggle getting going. By lap 102 Lavender dropped to sixth behind Choquette, Grill and Reaid along with the two leaders.
Lap 131 found Loden getting back past Grill as the front runners began to get into the back of the pack. Pollard continued to lead but Loden was making inroads working the high side through traffic. The halfway crossed flags saw Pollard in first for the halfway leader bonus, Loden in second, Eggleston holding down third, Choquet running fourth and Grill fifth. Two laps later Eggleston took Loden for second with a pass on the high side coming out of turn four while Pollard put the fast qualifier Nasse down a lap. After 63 laps of green flag racing to start the second segment Justin Wakefield lost it coming off of turn two and spun to the inside, bringing out the caution flag. The final 100 lap segment went green with Eggleston on the inside of Pollard. Pollard grabbed the lead at the drop of the green with Eggleston in second. Lap 276 saw Pollard get loose coming out of turn four while trying to pass Johnny Clark and Eggleston, who was right on his back bumper, pounced on the opportunity and took the lead. Lap 285 saw Rowe duck under Loden out of turn four to assume fifth position. Amazingly the last 100 laps ran caution free. Pollard was unable to make a charge over the final laps and Eggleston kept his nose clean and picked his way through the traffic to take the checkered flag. Eggleston admitted that he was confident as the race went along. "I was messing with him in the second segment and then messed up and had to run him down and pass him at the end. With the sun going down it really tightened up but I could see it tightened him up too. He had so much wheel in it that I was getting more forward bite. I just had to pick and choose my opportunity and when I saw it I had to jump on it and make it happen." Third place finisher Jeff Choquette spent most of the third segment in no man's land, too far behind the leaders to contend for the win and far enough ahead of fourth and fifth to not have to worry about them. "I could have pushed it to run up there with those guys but I don't think I could have beaten them if I got there. We were running the same lap times but I was out of touch. If I pushed it to get up there I would have used up my stuff and not been able to pass. The car came home in one piece and I'm happy I got the chance to run for these guys."
Second place Pollard, who won the award for leading the most laps was very thankful to the organizers for putting on the event. "I'd like to thank Tom Mayberry and PASS for putting on this race. No one else has the guts to put on a show like this. This was my first time here and this is a neat track. I hope I get the chance to come back." Website Designed, Hosted & Maintained by RACE22.com Welcome to RACE22.com ... The Home of Super Late Model Racing ... RACE22.com |