---

Print This!

Chuck Corder

Augie Grill had an important question for his crew.

“Do y’all wanna pose for some pictures? They’re just gonna look like they did last time,� Grill joked.

Grill, as is his custom, shot to the front early and held off a late charge from wunderkind Chase Elliott to win the Print Now 100 on Friday at Five Flags Speedway.

It was Grill’s second consecutive trip to Victory Lane in a super late model race and stretch his all-time Blizzard Series record to eight wins.

It might sound like a broken record, but the feeling of winning at Five Flags never gets old for the proficient Alabama driver.

“The points are great and wonderful, but we race to win. It’s special,� Grill said. “We’ve done two in a row for a few years now. I’d like to get that third, but we’re building toward that championship.�

Grill is in prime position now.

He did so Friday early, blowing by Jeff Fultz for the lead on Lap 6. The 24-car field seemed content to practice patience early on with plenty of single-file racing all the way through.

The first and only caution changed all that with 46 laps complete. The double-file restart provided plenty of opportunities to make up ground and the drivers took advantage of that.

That surprised young Elliott, the son of NASCAR great Bill Elliott who is racing in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East.

“This being our first race,� Chase Elliott said, “it was like we were just riding around for the first 50 laps, then the next 50 we were going as hard as we could. It was hard to set our own pace.�

Still, he quickly made his move from 10th on the restart. Following the lead of Bubba Pollard a few cars in front of him, Elliott began chewing up his rivals.

The duo made their way to the top three with 73 laps complete, but Elliott wasn’t done. He passed Pollard in Turn 3 on Lap 75, but never could come close to Grill.

“We just needed one more caution,� Elliott said.

Grill held a half-straightaway lead on Elliott in the closing laps, but saw the 15 year old coming.

“I knew Chase was going to be tough,� Grill said. “He just couldn’t close in on us. The best place for me to take care of anything is out front. I didn’t have to worry about our bumper getting knocked off.�

He hasn’t in a long while.

Print Now 100 Results — 1. Augie Grill, 2. Chase Elliott, 3. Jeff Fultz, 4. Grant Enfinger, 5. Bubba Pollard, 6. David Rogers, 7. Donniw Wilson, 8. Jerry Artuso, 9. Ryan Reed, 10. D.J. VanderLey, 11. Ryan Crane, 12. Scott Carlson, 13. Chris Davidson, 14. Kenzie Ruston, 15. Mike Garvey, 16. Allen Karnes, 17. Dwayne Buggay, 18. Paul Kelley, 19. Gary Sullivan, 20. Junior Niedecken, 21. David O’Dell, 22. Thomas Praytor, 23. Jeremy Pate, 24. Casey Smith

 

Modifieds

Bubba Pollard finally got his man and then got the win. Again.

Todd Jones led Pollard and was able to hold him on a pair of restarts. The third, though, proved the charm for Pollard.

With nine laps, he blew by Jones on the outside and never had to check his rearview mirror again en route to capture the 35-lap feature.

Pollard continued his hot season, and now has collected close to 15 checkered flags in 2011.

“It’s a lotta fun,� Pollard said of driving the No. 07 modified. “I enjoy doing it. It’s been pretty good so far.�

Jones finished second, doing a tremendous job to block and hold off Korey Ruble’s many pass attempts.

Jones came into the night second in points, trailing Nathan Davis by only five points. With his finish and Davis all the way back in 13th, Jones is now set to take over the series lead.

“I thought we could hold Bubba off, but he was too good,� Jones said. “I guess the (No.) 66 (of Ruble) is mad at me, but he can come back and we’ll race again.�

Gerald Wilkerson and Chris Cotto are another pair of racers who’d like to get after each other at next month’s race.

Wilkerson brought out the caution with 26 laps complete for a spin in Turn 1. Then, as the field made their way back around to Wilkerson, he pulled out in front of Chris Cotto. Cotto couldn’t hold off before T-boning Wilkerson.

Wilkerson retaliated a short time later under yellow, side-swapping Cotto. Race officials discovered soon after that Cotto may have had something to do with Wilkerson spinning in the first place.

Despite those high jinks, Pollard wasn’t fazed.

Modifieds 35-lap feature — 1. Bubba Pollard, 2. Todd Jones, 3. Korey Ruble, 4. Chris Cotto, 5. Gerald Wilkerson, 6. Nathan Ingersoll, 7. Steve Buttrick, 8. Brandon Sager, 9. Bryce Dulabhan, 10. Brandon Howell, 11. Kevin Peel, 12. Rusty Sanford, 13. Nathan Davis, 14. Jake Moore, 15. Josh Goodwin, 16. Scott Lopez

 

Sportsmen

Brannon Fowler led out a huge sigh of relief.

The Cantonment, Fla., driver got his first career win in the sportsmen class, passing Jimmy Goodwin with two laps to go.

“I thank the Lord for everything he’s given me in my life,� Fowler said. “So many precious things. I owe so much to my dad. He’s everything behind this car. Finally! It’s been such a long time.�

Goodwin led from the start of the 20-lap feature and looked to be on his way to his first win of the season. But as the race progressed, Goodwin began to get loose, opening the door for Fowler.

Randy Thompson, a three-time champion in the division, had a solid car early, but finished seventh after struggling in the latter part of each straightaway when the car flattened out.

Sportsmen 20-lap Feature Results — 1. Brannon Fowler, 2. Jimmy Goodwin, 3. Bubba Winslow, 4. Jim Pokrant, 5. Chris Nielsen, 6. Marty White, 7. Randy Thompson, 8. Mark Montgomery, 9. Mike Goraum, 10. Gary Robinson, 11. Johnny Greene Jr., 12. Tina Davidson, 13. John Ward, 14. Daniel Fleming, 15. Scott Barbaric, 16. Michael Couture, 17. Wayne Burkett

 

Bombers

Curtis Faircloth had seemingly lost the 20-lap feature halfway through the race.

A caution woke up he and his beat-up No. 7.

The Pace driver and series points leader extended his cushion with his fifth win of the season, holding off wonderful runs from Brandon Burks and Gary Goodwin, who finished second and third, respectively.

“Two weeks ago, we had a bad wreck and the steering wheel came off,� Faircloth said. “We’ve still got problems with the car, but we’ll get it fixed.�

Goodwin led at the midway point with Burks second and Faircloth third when the caution came out. On the restart, Goodwin spun the tires and forced Burks high.

Goodwin’s slip provided just enough room for Faircloth to shoot by on the inside.

Goodwin applied the bumper several times, but never could get by Faircloth. On the last lap Burks and Goodwin went at before Burks made a nifty move to get by Goodwin coming out of Turn 1.

Bombers 20-lap Feature Results — 1. Curtis Faircloth, 2. Brandon Burks, 3. Gary Goodwin, 4. Kenny Williams, 5. Leonard Craig Jr., 6. Robert Balkum, 7. Sam Mellema, 8. Tracy Soles, 9. Courtney Rodrigues, 10. Dayton Sidner, 11. Hunter Ward, 12. James Beal III

 

Back to News