WILLIAMSTON, SC :: Ronnie Bassett, Jr., only led two laps of the UARA-STARS 150 on Friday night at Anderson Motor Speedway, but they were the final and most important two circuits. Despite tangling with race leader Travis Swaim going into the final lap, Bassett was able to hold on to secure the victory. Swaim came to the line second, followed by Garrett Campbell, Holley Performer of the Race Dillon Bassett and R.A. Brown.
Yet again, and for the third time this season, Travis Swaim claimed the Sunoco Pole position and ran away from the field at the drop of the green flag. The event was slowed early by a couple of cautions but Swaim held off challengers like ventual Rookie of the Race Garrett Jones and Brodie Kostecki.
The opening half of the race was rather calm and saw the top three drivers break away from the field. Swaim’s torrid pace later took its toll on them as both Jones and Kostecki had problems that put them out of contention in the final third of the event.
A couple of multi-car incidents marred the latter half of the race and saw the field thin with attrition. With less than 40 laps to go, the field restarted after a caution involving 55-year old rookie Dan Moore on the frontstretch. Bassett and Campbell restarted just behind Swaim and battled each other for the runner-up spot as Swaim began to once again stretch out his lead.
The final restart came with 8 laps to go following a tangle between Garrett Jones and Dylan Hall, and Bassett once again battled side by side with Campbell for the runner up spot until he cleared the No. 12 car with four laps to go. Bassett then ran down Swaim and, through the use of his front bumper, moved Swaim out of the groove in turn four coming to the white flag. Swaim and Bassett made significant contact, spinning both cars nearly perpendicular to traffic and blocking the track, but both drivers recovered and were able to finish the event. Bassett took a five car length lead home to the checkered flag to claim his third win of the season.
“We sat back and tried to save our stuff but it was hard to do tonight. The guys up front, Travis (Swaim) had a really good racecar and Garrett (Campbell) did too, but it’s tough. I know he’d have done the same thing to me on the last lap, but we’ll move on from here and go racing,” said Bassett in victory lane after the event.
“It was just hard racing. What happened in turn one? I’m really not sure to be honest with you,” the driver of the No. 04 Ford added. “But we came out on top, and I praise God for it because He’s the one that let it happen for this Butler Trailer Manufacturing Ford.”
Travis Swaim saw the outcome of the final lap tangle very differently. Swaim led 148 of 150 laps en route to a second place finish.
“It doesn’t take a driver to just drive into someone at the end. I hope they’ve got more than one racecar, because I’ll probably just take him out in practice next week,” Swaim said calmly on the front straightaway after the event. “This was a really good car. The guys did a great job preparing the Rack Room Shoes Ford for me and we had a great week. To have a green-white-checker and have them catch you under caution, there’s nothing you can do about it except just dig down deep.”
Garrett Campbell won the event preceding Anderson and was sitting in third when Swaim and Bassett made contact on the final lap. Despite the open door, a blocked racetrack forced the driver of the No. 12 to crack the throttle and he had to settle for a third place finish.
“It wasn’t a bad race for us, we were just trying to conserve tires there for most of the race. I thought we had a shot at it but I made the wrong call on the setup and I’m so upset with myself right now. We don’t really have any engineers or even a crew chief on my team, so I’ll keep things from tonight in my head as a learning experience and we’ll go get them next weekend at Hickory,” said Campbell after the event.
The next UARA-STARS event will be the Banjo Matthews Memorial this Saturday, June 22, at the Hickory Motor Speedway. Joining the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Tour will be the Southeast Super Trucks, the Carolina Vintage Cars and the Allison Legacy Series. Spectator gates open at 4:30, and an autograph session with former Daytona 500 Champion Marvin Panch, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series legend Donnie Allison, and former “Beauty and the Geek” reality TV star Joe Cortez, along with the entire UARA-STARS starting field, will take place just after 6pm.
For more information on the UARA-STARS, call (828) 692-3833 or visit their newly-redesigned website at uara-stars.com. Fans are also encouraged to follow the UARA on social media sites like Facebook (facebook.com/uararacing) and Twitter (@uarastarsseries) and to hashtag all of their related social media posts with #uarastars. Fans may also catch UARA-STARS events live on MotorsportsBroadcasting.com with archives posted soon after each event’s conclusion.
