ROCKINGHAM, NC :: The sun shone brightly on Rockingham Speedway Saturday and the heat on the track wasn’t just from the race cars. The drivers of the UARA-STARS series mixed it up from the top to the bottom of the venerable speedway before Brodie Kostecki grabbed the checkered flag at the end of 75 laps. Ben Rhodes nursed his tires early and came on strong at the finish to end the race in the runner-up slot. Point leader Ronnie Bassett Jr. was in the mix at the front all afternoon before settling for a third place finish. Ty Dillon made a rare asphalt Late Model start and led quite a bit of the race before succumbing to the surface of Rockingham and ending the race in fourth. Clay Rogers led at the drop of the green flag, fell back in the middle of the race and rebounded to cap off the top five in the finishing order.
The race went green with Clay Rogers on the pole, choosing the outside for the start of the race. Rogers led Kostecki, Bassett Jr., Dillon and Travis Swaim through the early stages. After a restart on lap 32, Kostecki grabbed the lead for one lap by a nose before he fell back and let Dillon snare the second position. Dillon challenged for the lead and eventually snagged the top spot on lap 39. Darrell Wallace Jr. stopped on the front straight on lap 55 after a pit stop to bring out the cautionl Just before that caution, Dillon and Bassett Jr. had an intense battle for the lead which eventually saw Kostecki stick his nose in to lead a lap too.
The race restarted on lap 60 and Dillon got an early jump to secure the top spot. It only lasted for two laps before Kostecki powered by him to put a death grip on the top spot for the remainder of the race. Rhodes took over the second spot from Dillon on lap 66 as Bassett Jr. closed and assumed the third spot on lap 70. The end result was Kostecki finally breaking through for a win while Rhodes finished second in yet another big race. Bassett Jr. hangs onto the point lead.
Clay Rogers knows his way around Rockingham Speedway. He has won four races at the historic track, three in Pro Cup and one in UARA. He used that experience to grab the pole for the UARA-STARS race this weekend at Rockingham. Rogers ran a lap of 24.999 seconds for a speed of 144.008 mph. He started alongside Brodie Kostecki on the front row who ran a 25.043 second lap at 143.751 seconds. The second row was filled with Bassetts as Dillon started on the inside next to his brother, point leader Ronnie. Travis Swaim, the 2012 UARA-STARS Champion rounded out the top five qualifiers while Ty Dillon did a little double duty for the weekend and started outside row number three.
Results
1. Brodie Kostecki
2. Ben Rhodes
3. Ronnie Bassett Jr.
4. Ty Dillon
5. Clay Rogers
6. Travis Swaim
7. Brandon Jones
8. Devin Jones
9. Tyler Edwards
10. Dillon Bassett
11. Garrett Campbell
12. Michael Levine
13. Randy Benson
14. Dylan Hall
15. Garrett Jones
16. Brandon White
17. Trey Marcham
18. Will Gallaher
19. Bobby Reuse
20. Corey Joyce
21. Darrell Wallace Jr.
22. Chandler Levan
23. Spencer Euler
24. David Garbo Jr.
