NEWTON, NC :: Caleb Holman was hands down the fastest chicken in the South Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway. The veteran driver won the Bojangles 250 after pulling away from 14-year-old Todd Gilliland, son of NASCAR driver David Gilliland, in the final 75 laps of the event to take home the hardware. The visit to Edelbrock Victory Lane was his sixth trip this season in twelve events.
“I always said no one is ever 100 percent happy at Hickory with their car; tonight I’ll take that statement back. Tonight I was completely happy with my car in the second half of this race. It would just roll through the turns just like I wanted it too,” explained an excited Holman when talking about his Bojangles 250 win. “My guys made good adjustments throughout the day and got the car handling the way I wanted it. At the break there we just put on tires and filled it with fuel and went back racing. We didn’t make a single change and in the end it was the right call.”
Not only did Holman win the battle Saturday night, the Abingdon, Virginia driver won the war, and was awarded the 2014 X-1R Pro Cup Series champion’s trophy for the first time in his career. Holman racked up six wins, eight Mahle pole awards, and earned $68,925 throughout the season for his efforts. The newly crowned champion did so in historic fashion becoming the first driver in Pro Cup history to completely sweep the Championship Series since its inception in 2001.
“What a year this was for us. I would have never dreamed we would have had the year we did even with the lower car counts at times. I still had to beat guys like JP Morgan, Gus Dean, and Brian Keselowski on a regular basis. Not to mention nights when guys like Clay Rogers and tonight Todd Gilliland come race, so it wasn’t easy by any means,” stated Holman, reflecting on his 2014 accomplishments. “My guys have worked their tails off all season and we just got on a roll towards the end of the year. This is what I do for a living and winning a championship for everyone at Henderson Motorsports and Food Country USA was my ultimate goal. Tonight looking back I can say we as team delivered that championship to all involved with this organization and that means a lot to me as a person and a driver.”
While Holman stole the show in the end, youngster Todd Gilliland piloting a Late Model Stock Car, gave the veteran a run for his money in the first half of the event. Gilliland tracked down Holman through lapped traffic while fellow veteran Clay Rogers did the same despite starting from the sixth position. A hectic yellow flag for debris setup the opportunity for Gilliland to take the lead into the second half of the race by leading at 125 and picking up the Roush-Yates Performance Parts Halfway Leader award. Clay Rogers, Coleman Pressley, and Holman completed the top four at as the yellow flag was displayed for the competition caution.
The normally calm competition caution period stole the attention of the fans when Reid Wilson’s Bojangles Chevrolet went up in smoke while in the fifth position. Wilson, who looked impressive in his return, was forced to stop on the front stretch at the attention of fire and safety workers. Despite the heavy smoke no fire was evident, however, the expired engine ended Wilson’s night.
The action back on track as the field returned to green flag racing quickly favored Holman when he returned to a familiar position on lap 129 leading the field around the .363 facility. 125 caution free laps to close out the season let Holman open up 2.47 second gap over Gilliland as the final checkered flag waived on the 2014 season.
Clay Rogers piloting a Pro Cup machine for the JCR3 Racing team finished third, followed by a pair of Late Models driven by Steve Wallace and Alex Yontz that rounded out the top five positions. Gus Dean was the final car on the lead lap bringing his #56 Dean Custom Air Chevrolet home sixth.
The X-1R Pro Cup Series will now look toward to the future after honoring the 2014 champion at the annual awards banquet on November 15th. Stay tune to the series website at www.carsprocup.com as well as the series social media pages on Facebook (CARS Pro Cup) and Twitter (@x1rprocup) for important announcements about the 2015 season in the coming months.
