Bubba Pollard Takes ASA STARS National Tour ECMD 150 Wednesday At North Wilkesboro
Story By: NORTH WILKESBORO SPEEDWAY – NORTH WILKESBORO, NC – An action-packed tripleheader of late model racing on Wednesday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway saw Bubba Pollard, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and Augie Grill collect victories in the opening races of NASCAR All-Star Race week.
Pollard held off NASCAR stars William Byron and Chase Elliott over the final 40 laps of Wednesday’s nightcap, the ASA STARS National Tour ECMD 150, to score an emotional win.
The owner and driver of the No. 26 Ford had Byron, Elliott, Sammy Smith and Daniel Suarez staring him down as the thrilling 150-lap feature drew to a close. None of the NASCAR quintet were Pollard’s equal on Wednesday night, though, as the Senoia, Georgia, native sped to the point, negotiated lapped traffic and never looked back.
Byron was second with Elliott, Smith and Suarez completing the top five. Caden Kvapil, Casey Roderick, Cole Butcher, Derek Thorn and Ty Majeski rounded out the top 10.
BUBBA POLLARD, NO. 26 POLLARD MOTORSPORTS FORD (RACE WINNER): “We took off there and we were pretty good, but I let William (Byron) by me for a while to see if he was any better. We started the race tight – I wanted to start the race tight – but we made the right adjustments on the last break (at Lap 100) and after that, we were good. It’s so great to be here with the history of this place and with it coming back, I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 ANTHONY CAMPI RACING CHEVROLET (RUNNER-UP): “I had a lot of fun out there. The race track was abrasive on tires. You could feel it through the wheel and how the tires just didn’t grip the road. … It’s fun any time you can race with Bubba (Pollard). He’s probably the best in these cars. I thought Chase (Elliott) was maybe the best on old tires – he had a lot of grip – but when we put tires on, Bubba was the best. I didn’t have anything for him. We’d get to lapped cars, but I couldn’t really catch him. He was good. … It’s going to be interesting on Sunday. The facility looks amazing and the place is really cool. The atmosphere here is pretty perfect for an All-Star Race.”
