All Out War in Concord for Race WIn, Series Title and Rookie Title
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Story by: Corey Latham/RACE22.com
An all-out war. That's what we wanted to see. However the stats were in the point leaders favor heading into the last race of the season at Concord Motorsport Park. Jake Crum went in 35 points over Alex Yontz for the series title and Darrell Wallace Jr was 72 up on Brandon McReynolds for the 2008 rookie title. But as is the case always in racing, there is a reason we run the actual race, it's unpredictable, it's full of drama. At Concord we had all of the above, and the points turned into some of the tightest battles in the history of the series. Oh yeah, there was also a race to win ... "Full of surprises" would be an understatement for the night.
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?
With the combination of the last race of the season and the Concord track, there are always some surprises showing up. the biggest surprise was a UARA regular, but one who had been suspended for the remainder of the year. Roger Lee Newton was reinstated for Concord after serving a 1-race suspension for actions for his actions at Greenville-Pickens. Another driver coming back after a lay-off was 2007 UARA champion Ross Furr. Furr won the season opener at Concord, but the next few races were horrible for the #25 team, and the tumbling economy put them on a limited schedule for the rest of the year. Two-time Hooters Pro-Cup Series champion Clay Rogers decided to come play with the UARA, and was one to watch, he was fast in every practice heading into qualifying.
The Ragged Edge
Concord has been scaring drivers for years, it's odd shaped and unbelievably speed keeps even the best wheel men, up on the wheel. The UARA boys tested the track to the max in qualifying, many nearly wadding it up in the outside wall. None did and the Hooters champ, Rogers, took home the Sunoco Pole award with a quick time of 16.18. Matt DiBenedetto rolled off second, and Corey LaJoie who had former NASCAR National champion, Dexter Canipe helping with the car rolled off 3rd. The series point contenders were tight also, with point leader Jake Crum rolling off 7th and Alex Yontz starting 6th. The rookie point contenders weren't that close, Brandon McReynolds starting 3rd and Darrell Wallace Jr. went with a provisional at 27th. Wallace went in with a 72 point lead and only needed to finish 21st or better, but as things would go this became a problem and Wallace nearly didn't win the championship.
GO
Clay Rogers took the lead on the start and looked as if he would be a car to contend with the for the full event. That would soon end by lap 12 as Rogers would blow the engine in his Hess house car giving the lead to DiBenedetto, and he would not give it up all night. Matt would find out who his closest competition was in the early going, as he and Brandon McReynolds would set a blistering pace around the 1/2 mile track. Yontz would go up to third early and looked comfortable, as the point leader Crum would fall back to ride in the 8th spot.
Bad Luck
The other driver who had been the one trying to knock Crum from the standings for the second half of the season was Richard Boswell II. Boswell had lost second to Yontz at Greenville-Pickens with overheating problems, but was looking to finish the season on a high note at Concord. It went South before it even started, after qualifying 11th Boswell pulled to the inside of the track at the green flag, a broken axle would end his night. He was looking to do well especially here, as he really doesn't know if he'll be in the #72 Jr. Motorsports ride for 2009. Clay Greenfield left his good luck at home also, as he was one of the faster cars in practice, but the race was not kind. Greenfield got put to the outside early, and became a pinball for cars to hit. On lap 35 he finally gets Chase Austin to finish him off into the turn 2 wall, collecting Darrell Wallace Jr. in the process.
Wallace would make repairs and continue, but his night of trouble was only starting. Thomas Hartensveld had been beating on the back of Joey Coulter for some time now, and on lap 66 he finally sends the #02 around coming off turn 4. As Coulter sat in the middle of the track, it closed up quickly, as Ryan Robertson, Shaun Mangum, Kyle Grissom, Andrew Carlsen, Jamie Yelton, Kyle Moon and Darrell Wallace Jr. all pile in. After this accident, the #76 of Wallace went off on the wrecker and his rookie title hopes looked in jeopardy. But the team scrambled and got him back out, 19 laps off the pace.
Lap 75 1.DiBenedetto 2.McReynolds 3.Yontz 4.Chad Mullis 5.LaJoie 6.Caudill 7.Paddy Rodenbeck 8.Crum 9.Ross Furr 10.Roger Lee Newton
Un-Happy Campers
As we go into the second half of the event, three cars look to be on their way toward the front. Chad Mullis has charged to 3rd, and Ross Furr and Roger Lee Newton have hooked up and seem to be gaining ground on the leaders. Furr disposes of Hartensveld and two laps later Newton does the same thing. Going down the front stretch a few laps later, Newton gets turned head-on into the outside wall at the flag stand. Newton got out and showed his displeasure for the bump, and everything seemed to calm down, which was probably a good thing for both drivers with Newton having been just released from a two race suspension after serving only one. Furr had his own problems, and it just happened to be with the point leader, Crum.
Furr had been coming to the front in a hurry and Crum had been struggling. Now it was lap 100 and Furr is up on the back bumper of Crum. They dive into turn one and contact is made and Crum goes spinning in front of the field. Somehow, Crum gets away mostly unscathed, but does have to pit for a look around and maybe a few adjustments by his crew. A bullet dodged for sure, but now Crum is in the back of the pack, and by all calculations Yontz is the point leader at this point.
Fast Up Front
As the point race was tightening in the pack, Matt DiBenedetto was just smoking them up front. The Steve DeWalt owned machine looked to be in a class by itself, he had now moved away from second place McReynolds, and he had his own problems with Chad Mullis. Mullis had turned the wick up and was wanting to catch DiBenedetto, but he had to pass Mcreynolds first. As the leader came up on Kyle Moon, the lapped car moved up the track nearly making contact. The second place battle was now on up to Moon and once again he stayed in the racing groove, allowing Mullis to go 3-wide and make the pass on McReynolds to take over the 2nd spot.
DANGER!!!
As in every close championship battle, there are many factors in the last event. Dodging cars has always been at the top of the list. Crum had already been spun around once, and as he was circling the track on lap 128, Paddy Rodenbeck loops it around in turn 4. Crum goes into the corner and by the time he sees him it's too late, the #1 smashes into the #81 with the left front fender. The damage is minimal, but the fender could come loose under green flag conditions, warranting a black flag, killing his championship hopes. If he does pit though, he only has 20 laps to make up the positions on the track to put him back where he needs to be. A very hard decision, but crew chief Nick Hutchins makes the call and tells Crum to stay out.
For All The Marbles
We take the green flag with 16 laps to go and immediately Mullis rams into the back of DiBenedetto entering turn 1, knocking the #44 completely sideways. In what could be the highlight of the year, DiBenedetto never lifts off the gas, drives it sideways entering the dogleg and hangs onto the lead. Behind them, Yontz has done all he can, and settles into the 3rd spot for the finish. Even further back is Crum, and he has to be fast and at the same time take care of that left front fender. With 4 to go the fender finally lets loose, and is dragging beside the car. Will they throw the black flag? It is never displayed and Jake crosses the line, finishing 14 points ahead of Alex for the championship. A wild night of racing indeed.
Celebration
DiBenedetto dominated the race, Crum held on to win the championship, by a very slim margin, Wallace took a bad night at a track that he hasn't yet figured out and made the most of it to keep a strong performing Brandon McReynolds from getting the Rookie of the Year title. Once the checkered flag fell, Crum commenced to doing one of the greatest celebrations I've ever seen, smoking up the entire front straight away of the track as DiBenedetto did a polish victory lap around the track and meanwhile Wallace attempted to do a burnout, but something in the transmission kept the youngster from being able to put up a little smoke of his own. Wallace and Crum planned going in that if each of them was able to hang on and secure the respective titles that they would go nose to nose doing a burnout in celebration, but with Wallace's problems were unable to do so.
As the celebrations continued and flash bulbs began popping, DiBenedetto was excited hopping from the car and giving his car owner his first win of the season and DiBenedetto's second, meanwhile Wallace was all jacked up climbing from his car as the Rookie of the Year, but Crum delivered the biggest celebration as he became the youngest champion in the history of the UARA-STARS Series at the age of 17. Crum climbed from his car jumped up on the roof and then leaped into the arms of one of his crew members. Crum had arrived and he wanted the world to know it.
Racing Doesn't Always End at the Checkered Flag
Soon after all the celebrating had slowed down the top finishing drivers as well as Crum and Wallace found their way to the tech area and on this night that proved to be a whole new story. For the first time in at least two years a race winner found himself in jeopardy of being disqualified. The RC3 Chrysler block in his Dodge was the part in question, it seemed to have been shaved making it lighter and the UARA officials not being completely
Official Finish:
1 - Chad Mullis #9
2 - Brandon McReynolds #28
3 - Alex Yontz #55
4 - Corey LaJoie #71
5 - Jamey Caudill #50
6 - Owen Kelly #88
7 - Chase Austin #11
8 - Shaun Mangum #5
9 - Jake Crum #1
10 - Joey Coulter
11 - Ryan Robertson #31
12 - Terry Brooks #23
13 - Scott Turlington #48
14 - Kyle Moon #19
15 - Andrew Carlsen #98
16 - Clint Mills #77
17 - Darrell Wallace #76
18 - Paddy Rodenbeck #81
19 - Ross Furr #25
20 - Jeff Melton #6
21 - Thomas Hartensveld #36
22 - Roger Lee Newton #33
23 - Kyle Grissom #32
24 - Jamie Yelton #8
25 - Clay Greenfield #84
26 - Richard Boswell #72
27 - Clayton Rogers #52
28 - Matt DiBenedetto #44 (DQ)
Team Crum works hard on Jake Crum's car during practice for the 150-lap season finale at Concord.
Alex Yontz(right) and crew chief, Ed Berrier debrief after a practice session. Yontz was fast all day, but would luck fall his way?
Clay Rogers was behind the wheel of the Hess house car and made his presence known sitting on the pole for the event.
Roger Lee Newton, who was suspended for the remainder of the season was able to return for the final event after series officials decided that the original penalty was too harsh.
Clay Rogers(52) and Matt DiBenedetto(44) led the field down for the greenf flag in the UARA season final at Concord.
Clay Greenfield(84) ended up turned hard into the outside wall after contact with Chase Austin in the early laps of the race.
Thomas Hartensveld(36) makes the move to the inside of Joey Coulter(02) as Ross Furr(25) tries to follow him through. Coulter a few turns later ends up spun around after contact with Hartensveld.
Darrell Wallace, Jr. had a tough night as he chased after the Melling Select Rookie of the Year award. Wallace was involved in at least three wrecks and a post race inspection issue before becoming the Rookie champ.
Jake Crum(1) and his team were on pins and needles the last few laps as his fender became ripped loose and was hanging from his car all the way to the finish.
Matt DiBenedetto(44) dominated the race after pole sitter, Clay Rogers blew an engine early in the race and drove his car to victory before a post race violation cost him the win.
Jake Crum celebrated atop the roof of his car after being declared the 2008 UARA-STARS Series champion. Crum's celebration was second to none.
Darrell Wallace, Jr. was all smiles after winning the UARA-STARS Rookie of the Year award over friend, Brandon McReynolds.
Brandon McReynolds(center) was surrounded by his mother, Linda and father, Larry after winning the Melling Select Rookie fo the Race award in the UARA 150 at Concord Motorsport Park.
Jake Crum took a moment to grab a photo with his sister, Samantha in victory lane after being declared the 2008 UARA-STARS Series champion.
Jake Crum(right) and Darrell Wallace, Jr.(left) took advantage of the situation in victory lane while posing for photos together with Miss UARA, Brittany Poe. Both drivers the youngest to win their respective titles couldn't seem to wipe the smiles off their faces all night long.
familiar with the Dodge engine parts as very few Dodge's run the series full time, they had to seek outside advice. After seeking council while at the track in the early Sunday morning hours, the series officials decided to seek more advice on Sunday after getting a few hours of rest. The results of all this work with leave DiBenedetto and the Steve DeWalt Motorsports team without a paycheck from the event after the block was declared illegal. For DiBenedetto it was a crushing blow to a great night for "America's Hottest Prospect". Unfortunately the headlines won't call out his engine builder, the car owner or anyone else involved with the illegal parts, but rather the young driver and we all know he didn't build the engine, he doesn't work on the car and he certainly had no clue the part was illegal, but I guess that's a part of the game.
Wallace also found himself in jeopardy of being disqualified during post race tech. One week after collecting his first career win, the youngster endured a tough night at Concord, but prevailed in the title hunt, but would a simple issue in tech put his Rookie of the Year status in question. Obviously I'm a reporter, not an engine man so I'm not going to try and explain it all, but in simplified terms, the heads on Wallace's car were in a UARA officials words "questionable", but after further inspection the officials along with Wallace's engine builder, Billy Banks were able to resolve the issue. It seems the heads on the car were an old style GM head, but all the officials had to go by in tech was the new style heads. Luckily for Wallace and Banks another engine builder had used the same old style heads on another car being teched after the race and after inspecting the two heads side by side it was determined that the heads on Wallace's car were legal and he was officially given the championship.
Second Place Isn't Always the First Loser
Chad Mullis has probably been on both sides of the story. Tonight he found himself the declared winner after DiBenedetto's engine issues and collected his second series victory more than two years after getting his first at Coastal Plains Raceway. Mullis didn't get to take his picture in victory lane, he was a part of the on track celebration after the race, but just the same I'm sure he'll be cashing his winners check and I don't think the trophy will say anything about DiBenedetto's disqualification and the record books already read that way too.