Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Asheboro, NC(December 20, 2009) -- 2009 was supposed to be a break out season for Garrett Campbell on the UARA-STARS Series tour after winning a non-UARA sanctioned race at Caraway Speedway in 2008 and running competitively week in and week out in the tour races.

2009 didn't turn out to be what everyone had predicted for Campbell, but he was able to come away with a sixth place points finish with the strength of nine top tens and three top five finishes. However his season was a roller coaster ride that left him winless in the 2009 season despite having a strong car in nearly every one of the 16-events in the UARA-STARS Series season.

Campbell's season started off slow as did everyone of the guys that we've done a review on so far from tenth to sixth place in points as the young Asheboro, NC driver finished 11th after qualifying 23rd at Bristol Motor Speedway. A slow start if you're running for a championship, but one position outside the top ten wasn't a bad way for Campbell to start his season. He backed that 11th place run at Bristol up with a ninth place effort on the biggest track that the UARA-STARS compete on, Rockingham Speedway, a one-mile facility.

One of Campbell's sore spots so far in his UARA-STARS Series career has been Concord Speedway, which is the closest track in proximety to his home in Asheboro, NC and the first stop on the 1/2 mile speedplant wasn't much different. However, Campbell only tied his worst finish of the season to date with an 11th place finish, which was a good effort by Campbell considering his struggles on the big, fast Concord, NC track.

A month later when the series headed to Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, NC and he looked like he might be headed toward his worst finish of the season as he qualified a disappointing 19th. Campbell, though wasn't about to let his starting position dictate his finish as he rallied during the late stages of the race and climbed to a fourth place finish. It was Campbell's first top five and he was looking to continue this kind of momentum as the tour hit the Dillon Motor Speedway in Dillon, SC.

After starting in ninth position on the 4/10 mile narrow track, Campbell simply took his time to make his moves toward the front and in the end of the 150-lap race he was able to climb to a fifth place finish. With two top ten's in the books back to back on the UARA-STARS Series tour, Campbell was ready to continue his streak as they hit the tight confines of the 3/8 mile high banked, Orange County Speedway.

Orange County seemed to be right up Campbell's alley as the young driver qualified a strong sixth and looked to be headed to another top five finish, but late in the going of the race a couple of drivers running just ahead of him made contact. When they both started wrecking, Campbell was too close and simply went along for the ride despite trying his best to make it through and nearly doing so. Campbell's car was trashed and he was left with his worst finishing position of the season in 18th in a race that could have helped propel him inside the top three in points.

Things only got worse for him as the series took to Hickory Motor Speedway a few weeks later as he left the 3/8 mile track with a 19th place finish, one spot worse than at Orange County and leaving Campbell in a downward spiral around the halfway point of the season. At Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, VA the following week it was a story of bad then good as he had what he thought was an engine problem on Friday during testing and drove over four hours back home to Asheboro, NC before finding out what there problem was and driving all the way back to Coeburn for the Saturday race.

Now that Campbell's team had shown their dedication to run strong at Lonesome Pine, but now it was up to the driver to get the job done in the most adverse of conditions. Qualifying sixth lifted some of the burden off Campbell's shoulder's, but as the green flag flew and rain hit the area, the series kept the race going and Campbell along with everyone else was slipping and sliding all over the track. Campbell survived and came home with an eighth place finish and while that wasn't what he had planned, eighth was a great effort and a huge bounce back after his last two races.

Now it was back to Tri-County Motor Speedway, the site of his first top five of the season, which was a fourth place effort after qualifying 19th. So when he qualified sixth everyone was looking for this to be the breakout race for him, but as the laps clicked off Campbell wasn't going forward, but he wasn't going backward and at the end of the race he finished sixth as well. Now off to Ace Speedway for the tenth race of the season and Campbell came home with a sixth place finish after qualifying a disappointing 17th, which was a surprise to many who follow the series after Campbell qualified on the outside pole and led laps in this race in 2008.

Campbell picked up his last top five finish of the season as he qualified fifth and finished a strong third at Myrtle Beach Speedway, which was his best finish of the season. Campbell then finished his season with a seventh at Newport Speedway, sixth back at Dillon Motor Speedway, tenth at Hickory, 20th at Kingsport Speedway and a 15th back at Concord Speedway in the season finale.

For Campbell it wasn't the season he was looking for, he wants to win and he has the all the pieces, but so far he hasn't been able to get his white and orange number 12 car into victory lane. Campbell however will break through in 2009 as the young driver now has not only the talent, drive and determination he came to the series with in 2008, but now he has experience on all the series' tracks and he's getting the hang of touring to some of the toughest tracks in this region and he's quicly becoming one of the drivers to watch everywhere the tour goes.

Campbell's 2009 Season at a Glance:

Date Track Name Start/Finish
3/21/09 Bristol Motor Speedway 23rd/11th
4/18/09 Rockingham Speedway 14th/9th
4/25/09 Concord Speedway 19th/11th
5/22/09 Tri-County Motor Speedway 19th/4th
5/30/09 Dillon Motor Speedway 9th/5th
6/6/09 Orange County Speedway 6th/18th
6/27/09 Hickory Motor Speedway 17th/19th
7/4/09 Lonesome Pine Raceway 6th/8th
7/17/09 Tri-County Motor Speedway 6th/6th
8/7/09 Ace Speedway 17th/6th
8/15/09 Myrtle Beach Speedway 5th/3rd
8/29/09 Newport Speedway 9th/7th
9/19/09 Dillon Motor Speedway 6th/6th
10/18/09 Hickory Motor Speedway 19th/10th
11/7/04 Kingsport Speedway 16th/20th
11/14/09 Concord Speedway 12th/15th

Average Start - 12th Average Finish - 9th