Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(August 9, 2009) -- Going into round #10 of the 2009 UARA season, it was back to the most exciting finish in UARA history, ACE Speedway. Last year, 4 cars came to the finish line with a chance to take home the checkered flag, but only one prevailed, 2004 series champion Jason York. This year was more of the same, as excitement was going on throughout the field, just not for the lead, as Brandon McReynolds took care of that.

Throughout the entire day, McReynolds was the fastest car on the track, and also the sickest driver behind the wheel. McReynolds was battling a virus, and with his energy down and his throat swollen, he actually had the help of Rockingham winner Corey Lajoie, as he shook his car down some during the practice session. The #28 was super fast, but the question was if he could keep it up under race conditions.

No surprise as McReynolds took the pole award, with Alex Yontz taking the outside pole. Yontz was back with the UARA once more, but not driving his own car as in the past, but the Barber Ford #98 that has ran at Caraway Speedway for the past few years. As many in the racing world know, Yontz has had a go-round with the Caraway officials, as he has been DQ'd out of 3 wins this year, and the team vowed to never return there, and the UARA was the perfect calling for them. Championship contenders Jamey Caudill and Matt McCall rolled off 3rd and 4th, with Coleman Pressley fresh of his Nationwide series start at Iowa starting 5th.

From the drop of the green the picture was painted for everyone, the #28 of McReynolds was bad fast. So fast, he simply left the field in the dust in a matter of laps. Behind his domination, things in the field were wild to say the least as Brennan Poole, Rodney Cook, RD Smith, Matthew Godley and Lee Tissott were mixing it up like it was the last lap. And on this night, that kind of hard racing would bite half of the field.

Cook is the home track guy at ACE, and he wasted no time showing his experience there. He was down a bit on power down the straights to the other UARA regulars, but was as fast through the turns as the leader. And anybody that knows Cook, knows he Isn't going to ride behind anybody for long without getting a little aggressive. Paddy Rodenbeck was the first one to find this out, as Cook moved from his 11th starting spot to challenge Rodenbeck for 7th. As they exited turn 2, Cook gets into the back of Rodenbeck sending the #81 around, and this was only the start of his bad night.

Cook later gets under Pressley for 6th and contact is made, Cook cuts down a right front tire, and the #14 stops on the track to bring out the caution. Bad move, as the UARA frowns on that type of thing, and puts Cook 2 laps down. Back up front the top 5 have ran away from the field and each other, as the #12 of Garrett Campbell is the car on the move. Campbell had a terrible qualifying run starting 17th in the 20 car field, but towards the middle part of the event he found himself racing into the top 10. The " mini big one" was coming up next.

All night long on the restarts, McReynolds would hold the pace car speed to turn 4, then slow down drastically before takeoff, bunching the field up behind him. Disaster was avoided a few times, but a few laps after a lap 60 caution, they all waded up coming off turn 4. Somebody got into the back of somebody, somebody hit another one, Cook piles in hard with Rodenbeck piling in hard also. When it was over, Scott Turlington, Bobby Griffin, Cook, Rodenbeck, and Pressley all sustained damage, with Cook's night being done, and Rodenbeck going many laps down with repairs for heavy damage.

For the next 20 laps or so, it was a rash of cautions, fluid on the track, debris, a harmless spin, it got rather out of hand. Finally it all came to a head. Darrell Wallace Jr. had just gotten the lucky dog, but then his luck ran out. As the field took the green, another bunched up start was in play, and this time they didn't even make it to the flag stand. Wallace Jr., Brennan Poole, Matthew Godley, Ryan Robertson, Rodenbeck, Pressley, Turlington and Bobby Griffin were involved, some for the second time of the night, in a wreck that started 4 cars in front of them with Campbell getting into the back of Kyle Grissom. Most all managed to drive away with fixable damage, except for Godley and Wallace, with Wallace having the most damaged car of the entire evening.

The front cars were the same the entire event, with the exception of Jason York making a run by McCall late for 4th spot. In front of him was Jamey Caudill, Alex Yontz, and in another time zone was McReynolds, as he had opened up a nearly 5 second lead with a late green flag run. If the rash of cautions hadn't occurred, there is a good chance the race would have finished with 5 cars on the lead lap. But as most races go, cautions come at the most unexpected times, and McReynolds wasn't expecting one leaving them with a 7 lap shootout.

That's what McReynolds was faced with though, as Campbell got under Kyle Grissom for 6th, the two cars slammed into one another with Grissom crossing his car up off turn 4, never spinning but bringing out a caution anyway. McReynolds had withstood many restarts all night with no problem, this one should have been no different, but it was. As the #28 rode under caution, he picked up some debris and punctured the right rear tire. Not enough to warrant a pit stop, but enough to make a race out of it.

The green waves and to everyones surprise, Yontz is all over McReynolds for the lead. They race nose to tail for 4 laps, and Yontz really starts to apply the pressure, beating on the back bumper of the #28 and getting along side off the corners, but McReynolds would have the momentum up top, pulling Yontz into the corner entry. Yontz gives one last shot to the rear of McReynolds on the white flag lap, but it backfires breaking his own momentum and McReynolds was able to hold on for the victory.

McReynolds had won the race and we didn't find out about the tire issue until it was over. And by the looks of him, he couldn't have held on much longer anyway, as he did his victory lane interview sitting on the ground, he physically had nothing left. He had won a race of carnage, and beat a former champion by just a few feet to the checkered flag. But, in reality it was never even close ... McReynolds had put on the most dominating performance to date in the UARA 2009 season.
 
Official Results:
1 - Brandon McReynolds #28
2 - Alex Yontz #98
3 - Jamie Caudill #50
4 - Jason York #18
5 - Matt McCall #23
6 - Garrett Campbell #12
7 - Lee Tissot #44
8 - Brennan Poole #8
9 - Kyle Grissom #32
10 - Ryan Robertson #31
11 - Michael Rouse #15
12 - Coleman Pressley #59
13 - RD Smith #16
14 - Bobby Griffin #70
15 - Paddy Rodenbeck #81
16 - Ryan Gray #04
17 - Scott Turlington #48
18 - Darrell Wallace #76
19 - Matthew Godley #92
20 - Rodney Cook #14