MOORESVILLE, NC :: It took two green-white-checker attempts to get the finish of Friday night’s MAHLE 250 at the Kingsport (TN) Speedway in the history books, but it was well worth it for the fans that braved the two and half hour rain delay. Clay Rogers took his #16 Lamb & Robinson Ford Fusion to the outside of Mark McFarland on the final lap of the race to score his third win of the season in the first three events of the 2013 X-1R Pro Cup Series season schedule.
“I was running Mark (McFarland) down there at the end but I figured I’d run out of time, and luckily we got that caution to setup the green-white-checker finish. I was doing all I could on the outside and I guess the #56 got into him and loosened him up and that gave me enough room to get back to the line first for the win,” explained Rogers in victory lane. “People think we’ve been winning these races just by showing up, but every time they get tougher and tougher and this team always brings the best piece we can to the track and rises to the challenge. It feels good to be standing here right now, and to be able to take home this awesome MAHLE piston trophy. It’s definitely one of the coolest ones I’ve ever won.”
Rogers once again qualified deep in the thirteen car field taking the green flag from the seventh position while it was McFarland who set fast time in qualifying winning the MAHLE Pole Award by .006 over Coleman Pressley, who was making his X-1R Pro Cup Series debut. Just as qualifying concluded weather rolled into the Kingsport area delaying the start of the event by some two and half hours. After a spectacular job done by both Kingsport Speedway officials and local division drivers drying the track; the “concrete jungle” was finally ready to welcome the 600 horse power machines.
After starting the first eleven laps of the race under green and yellow conditions Mark McFarland did what he had done all day, and jumped out front pacing the field around the 3/8th mile track. Just a few laps into green flag racing, sway bar troubles struck Coleman Pressley forcing him to pit road for repairs, knocking out any chances of doing battle for the $10,000 winner’s check. Just as the scoreboard hit lap 103 the yellow flag would fly for Blake Jones going for a spin in turn one just as he had closed in on the rear bumper of McFarland to do battle for the top position. With nowhere to go, series sophomore Dalton Hopkins nosed into the side of Jones’ #80 machine, ending his night with a busted radiator. The incident allowed the field to bunch up just before the halfway break for tires and fuel, but it didn’t seem to matter much as McFarland cruised to the Roush Yates Performance Products Halfway Leader Award over Rogers, J.P. Morgan, Reid Wilson, and Gus Dean to round out the top five.
The results of the series redraw of the top eight positions at halfway put rookie Reid Wilson to the point position and moved McFarland to the number five spot. The biggest loser on the redraw was Rogers moving to the seventh position; while Blake Jones got a little change of luck moving from eighth to fourth after his earlier incident as the green waived on lap 126.
The sixteen year old rookie Wilson showed the skill of a veteran leading the field and opening a ten car length advantage over second place man Gus Dean. On lap 148 it was McFarland who made the move to the inside of Dean for the second position with eventual winner Rogers not far behind. Wilson’s tenure at the lead finally came to an end on lap 201 when McFarland showed his veteran presence sliding back into the top spot. Rogers too decided it was time to go and made his move to the second position on lap 233 moving the youngster to the final podium position with seventeen laps remaining.
It was easy to see the pace of the field pick up in a hurry as Rogers was giving it all he had to run down the #8 of McFarland in the closing laps. Rogers would get the extra help he needed on lap 244 from a familiar foe as J.P. Morgan, who had quietly made his way to the third position after starting shotgun on the field in a backup car, had a gear let go sending smoke and flames shooting out from beneath his #23 Chevrolet. The caution setup the first attempt at a green-white-checker finish, but it took just a single turn for the yellow to waive once again. Reid Wilson slid sideways before finally spinning while trying to exit turn two, all the while, stacking up fellow rookie contender Brady Boswell and veteran Rusty Skewes forcing them into the same fate.
The second go at a finish was even better than the first as Rogers held his own to the outside of McFarland through turns one and two and again in three and four. The two put on a heck of a show until youngster Gus Dean nosed McFarland through the corner sending him up out of the groove and Rogers to victory lane. Dean crossed the line second with McFarland behind him in a close third. As soon as the two converged on the front stretch McFarland let Dean know of his displeasure with how he raced him on the final lap face to face in what were some heated moments for both teams.
“I just told him I didn’t think much of him and his driving style. Clay and I were going to be able to battle it out for the win, and then he decides to jack me up in the turns and lift my rear tires off the ground,” said McFarland after the race when discussing the closing laps with Gus Dean. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t pass him like that at any point during the race. I guess since we were that much better than he was that was his only chance. It’s just a frustrating end to what should have been a good night for us. We’ll be back some more this year; hopefully at Motor Mile.”
Rusty Skewes finished fourth after starting eleventh to earn the U-Pull U-Save Hard Charger Award followed by rookie Brady Boswell to round out the top five finishers.
Next up for the X-1R Pro Cup Series is the Heritage Truck Centers 250 at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia on Saturday June 8th.
