Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Martinsville, VA(October 6, 2009) -- Another Sunday passed and another historic Bailey's 300 down in the record books.

The people with the Bailey's company have been long supporters of this event and racing in general and this years race at Martinsville was their last due to government restrictions going into effect for 2010. So it was only fitting they were honored in the best way possible, going out with a bang after the 42 car field presented the most exciting Bailey's 300 on record. There were lot's of faces at the front of the field throughout the day, but when it was all said and done the best car was not in victory lane, but the best driver, as Jake Crum got up on the wheel like never before and made the 2009 Bailey's 300 his own.

As the day starts at Martinsville for the event, the 25 lap heat races are usually a dream for anyone that loves carnage,as It's a "go or go home" event, either you finish in the top five or you pack it up. The top 22 were set in qualifying, with five cars from the four heat races advancing to make up the 42 car field. And, this year qualifying was the tightest ever, as the top nine cars broke the track record previously held by Davin Scites. The rest of the field was no slouch, 11th to 60th were separated by two tenths, and the entire field of 85 cars was under one second, simply amazing.

To everyone's surprise, even with the competition being so close, the heat races went off without hitch, well, all but heat race #2. A lot of torn up race cars and hurt feelings came from that one, with Andy Loden taking the win after starting ninth. Other heat winners were CE Falk, Paddy Rodenbeck and 2-time Bailey's 300 winner Tony McGuire, after McGuire and Jamie Yelton had a torrid battle going side-by-side the last 10 laps of their race for the win.

It was now time to go and everyone was on edge, as was the drivers, and it was evident in the first 100 lap segment. The front row was the same as it has been the previous two years, with Davin Scites and Philip Morris leading them to the green. Morris would get the good jump and shoot to the lead and for the first 27 laps it looked as if the race would go "green" for a while..........but we all knew better than that.

Matt McCall was the first victim of the day, as the #23 erupted in a cloud of smoke, but kept running, the engine was not hurt, but a loose oil line would end his day. Brandon Butler had put himself into second by then and he would be a force for the rest of the day as the pole sitter Scites, would have his day to continuously go south.

At every Bailey's 300, the veterans of the Late Model Stock Car world shine through, as the youth movement can't ever seem to find the knack to the paper-clip shaped track. This day would be entirely different though, as the vets would run into bad luck one after another and it started with the ensuing restart after the McCall caution.

Morris leads the field to the green but suddenly his car cuts off, almost wrecking the entire field behind him. He manages to get his car running again, but his problems wouldn't stop there. Jimmy Mullins then goes for a spin and young Paddy Rodenbeck is sent to the garage after losing a plug out of his rear end putting fluid on he track. The next restart claims Frank Deiny and Martinsville rookie, Ryan Wilson, as Deiny makes hard impact with the inside wall. Morris also catches a piece of the accident ending his day, but it was ending anyway, as he could not keep his car running and the crew couldn't figure out why.

As we get back to racing for just a bit, Alex Yontz and Brandon Butler assert their selves to the front of the field, and begin to pull away from the rest. Good battles are raging behind them, as Matt DiBenedetto, Richard Boswell, Nick Smith and Davin Scites are having a war. But that comes to an end also as Smith gets turned around in turn four collecting Scites just a touch, but enough to break a sway bar and and his hopes at the victory. Eddie Johnson and Chad Harris are also collected and have their days ruined Three years in a row on the pole, two consecutive track records and nothing to show for it, Scites was obviously dejected.

Tommy Lemons Jr. has a drive shaft break ending his day as the field is under caution, and the attrition of the "big dogs" in the first 75 laps is starting to boggle the mind. All the incidents are concerning the veterans of Martinsville, could the youth movement be underway? We had no idea then, but it was in full effect for the rest of the day.

We think that we may get to halfway without any more carnage, but that goes out the window quickly as Jamie Yelton gets airborne off turn 4 and makes hard contact with the turn 4 wall, so hard that it damages the safer barrier. Yelton would get out OK, well, pretty OK, as he had a broken front tooth and a split molar. I'm telling you, this could have been the hardest hit at Martinsville since the fatal Charlie Jarzombek accident in 1987, it was scary. It goes to show how far the safety of the cars have come with time, and we are all thankful of it. Jamie did have fun the rest of the race showing off his new smile.

As we get just past the 75 lap mark, nearly every car past 10th spot has considerable damage, some not enough to affect the performance, but sheet metal replacement for sure. The two cars of Yontz and Butler are clean and slick though, as they put on a good battle up front with Butler tucked right up under the rear of the Yontz machine.

The "big one" has yet to happen, so only fitting that it keeps up with the rest of the first half of destruction, it comes on lap 80 and does some real damage. Jerame Donley gets crossed up off turn 4, comes down the track and makes contact with Clay Rogers, sending him back up in front of the entire field at the start/finish line. Garrett Campbell, Tony McGuire, Rodney Cook, Butch Hamlet and Mullins are collected and amazingly they all had hard contact with the spinning car of Donley, that particular car is done ...... maybe forever. Dustin Rumley, Andy Loden and Dennis Setzer are forced to pit road also after receiving damage in this incident.

After a red flag to clean up debris on the track, debris that you could almost build a complete car with, we go back to racing briefly before the halfway break. Yontz continues to hold off Butler, and Brennan Poole flexes his muscle going into 3rd passing Brandon McReynolds after hounding him for several laps. Jake Crum has moved up nicely into the 5th spot from his 11th place starting position, and Matt DiBenedetto has came from 18th to sixth in his brand new Marlowe machine.

At the halfway break most drivers were preaching patience, as they had not showed their full deck of cards yet. One such case was Brandon Butler.

"We were just riding there, I could have passed Alex but he would have only wanted to run back by me so I didn't see the point," said Butler. "He looked to be burning his stuff up pretty good, so I feel good about it. We aren't touching a thing, just some new tires, go ride, and go with about 40 laps to go" said Butler. Little did he know the car he had been following and laying back from the entire first half would be involved with him much more later on.

The field had a top 5 invert, putting Jake "The Snake" Crum in the lead, with Martinsville rookie Brennan Poole right behind. Poole had been fast in every practice and qualifying, and Crum ripped one off out of nowhere in time trials to put him near the front at the start. This segment would begin one of the most exciting battles ever had at Martinsville, and between drivers who had little to no experience here.

Crum gets away on the start, and since it is double-file restarts always, McReynolds takes second as Poole is pinned to the outside. Poole waste no time on working McReynolds for the spot back and completes the pass bringing Yontz with him to third. All the while, Crum has been pulling away as the rest of the field fights, but his mirror will soon fill up with the kid from Texas.

Lap after lap, Poole reels Crum in a little closer and finally he catches him and makes the pass. He caught him and passed him, he must be faster, he should pull away right? Crum wasn't this close to give it away, and he immediately starts to apply the pressure back to the rear of Poole. Crum gives a nudge to take the lead, only to have Poole do the same in the next corner to take it back. As so it continued like this, one of the best battles we have ever seen at the track, but there was someone else, as Alex Yontz didn't look to be left out.

We get to 30 to go and Crum is in the lead once more, but now the top three of Crum, Poole and Yontz are nose to tail. Poole nudges alongside Crum and takes the top spot off the corner, allowing Yontz to follow through on the inside, but Crum tries feverishly to fight him off, to no avail. Yontz has been the talk of the town the entire weekend with his practice times, so it was no surprise he was fighting for the lead inside of 30 laps to go.

As crazy as this race had already been, it gets even wilder as Dennis Setzer makes a rare mistake as the leaders are overtaking him and gets in the middle of a battle between Matt DiBenedetto and McReynolds with DiBenedetto punting Setzer into the inside backstretch wall.

Another double file restart and more trouble for the leaders with 19 laps to go. On the restart as the cars dive into turn one, contact ensues between McReynolds and Yontz shooting Yontz into the outside wall collecting Butler in the process, destroying both cars. This caution will also serve as the mandatory caution with ten to go, and the tension is very high now.

Crum and Poole pull away, with McReynolds in second. It looks to be a cakewalk for Crum to the finish, but alas, the 11th caution of the day comes when Wayne Ramsey, defending winner Jason York and Dustin Rumley wreck hard on the frontstretch destroying the cars of Ramsey and York. The day has been a car owner's nightmare, and a car builder's fantasy, as the garage area looks like a junkyard at this point. It all comes down to this...........GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED.

As they take the green Crum has the advantage going into turn one, but McReynolds comes out of nowhere and makes a banzai move to the inside as the leaders battle off turn two. Crum gets the advantage as McReynolds is now trying to hold off a hungry Poole in third as they take the white flag. McReynolds takes one last surge towards Crum for the win but to no avail and Crum wins the 2009 Bailey's 300.

On the cool-down lap after the race, McReynolds makes hard contact with Crum ripping his right front fender away and things would get even more heated later but this is another story that you will see later this week. This day belonged to Jake Crum and even though he didn't look to have the best car there, he showed flashes of driver skills of days gone past, as he compensated what he didn't have in the car, making up for it in the drivers seat.

They are going to be talking about this one, for some time to come and for good reason. Thanks to the whole field and especially to Jake Crum on the win, they provided the fans with something they rarely see in the upper levels of racing, hard-nosed, no holds barred, pure skill racing.