Story by: Chris Owens/Contributor to RACE22.com
Photos by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Rockingham, NC(January 4, 2009) -- After last year's thrilling and lengthy Polar Bear 150, we returned New Years Day to do it all again. The 2nd Annual Polar Bear 150 from the beautiful Rockingham Speedway promised to be another thrilling race that would come down to the last turn of the last lap for the win. 62 cars took to the 1 mile Speedway starting three wide like only the Frank Kimmel Street Stocks do. Last year's winner Chuck Barnes Sr. was back to defend his victory from last year's slug-fest, and came once again fully loaded.

In the European style qualifying, Chuck Barnes Sr., Clint Watkins, and last year's Cherry Bomb 200 winner Brett Hudson would make up the front row, with Frank Kimmel II 4th and rounding out the top 5 starting grid would be JD Frey driving a JR Motorsports prepared car.

Barnes and Hudson along with Kimmel II would prove to be the class of the field early on. Each and every restart, those three took off like they were shot out of a cannon, the race was easily going to come down to one of those three drivers without problems, as they could easily distance themselves from the field in a matter of laps. Will Kimmel would also prove to be one of the cars to watch as he got up there early and often to mix it up for the lead.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Crew Chief Jimmy Elledge had a tough day after spinning his beautiful black #81 in turn three. Elledge was quoted as saying he "was being stupid and over drove the racecar" which caused him to get loose in turn three right in front of Wayne Locklair. Elledge would be done for the day after this incident. JD Frey, another "top dog" in his Jr. Motorsports ride, would also have trouble with his car as he was running in the top five when he pulled down pit road with less than 60 laps to go.

The hardest hit of the weekend had to be when Kyle Hadley got loose in turn 3 & 4 and got involved in one of the biggest incidents of the day. Hadley corrected the car into the wall head on and came back across the track to collect three more competitors, including Tracy Hack and Phil Gould who made heavy contact, along with alot of "spinners". Hadley and the other drivers were okay, but the same couldn't be said for their cars. This accident would bring out our first of two red flags on the day.

Lap 75 and the half was break would be a thankful time for a lot of guys with ill handling race cars. Wayne Locklair who charged through the field from his 20th starting spot was one guy that could use some adjustments to his loose race car. Tony Moore was another that was saved by the lap 75 break, and it couldn't of came at a better time. Moore who ran out of gas on lap 74 was saved by the intermission and was able to refuel his car and get back out after the break.

Like every race track with drafting, you can always expect "The Big One". That was the case once again Friday at Rockingham. Just after the 100 lap mark, the big one happened in the middle of turn one & two, a lot of good race cars were torn up in this wreck that brought out our 2nd red flag of the day, but most continued on with a select few done for the day.

In the end it was a caution that would dictate the outcome of the race. Chuck Barnes Sr. and Brett Hudson battled it out for the final laps with Barnes holding on by the slightest margin over Hudson. Barnes got the good jump and pulled out to a three car lead with two to go, but going into turn three of the final lap, Hudson was there. He gave him a bump in turn four, but not enough to upset the momentum by Barnes, as Barns would take the victory by 3/4 of a car length Hudson would come home second and Will Kimmel third.

After a successful 2nd Annual Polar Bear 150, everybody is already ready for the 3rd Annual Polar Bear 150 next year. Chuck Barnes is two for two in this race and looks to keep his streak going next year. This year's race also had two red flags that stopped the race for just under 30 minutes. 13 Yellow flags were thrown that took up just over 50 laps of racing.