Oklahoma City, OK(June 4, 2012) — On Friday, June 1st, Trey Marcham entered his third UARA-STARS Series race of the season and, with limited experience on asphalt, he raced his way to a top five finish.

Marcham has made his racing career on racing Sprint Cars on dirt in the Oklahoma area of the United States, but in an effort to help grow his racing career, the 21 year-old racer began competing on asphalt in the heart of NASCAR country in North and South Carolina. He first raced asphalt last season in the SouthEast Limited Late Model Series and after having some strong runs there, he decided to make the jump to Late Model Stock Cars and ventured his way into the UARA-STARS Series.

The UARA is known as one of the toughest Late Model touring series in the country, helping launch the careers of top tier NASCAR drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Steven Wallace, Matt DiBenedetto, Darrell Wallace, Jr. and ARCA competitors such as Brennan Poole and Brandon McReynolds. The series has featured a who’s who of drivers, who have come through the series on the way to bigger and better things. Marcham wanted to race against other up and coming young drivers to help hone his skills and be better prepared, and the UARA-STARS Series was the best place for him to do just that.

In his first two starts in the series this season, Marcham raced to 12th place finishes in both after getting bounced around like a pinball, but as his third start rolled around, he seemed to be primed for a strong run. The third race for the young driver would take him to another new track, Anderson Motor Speedway in Williamston, SC. The track, a 3/8 mile asphalt oval, is nothing like the other two 3/8 mile tracks he’s competed at this season, Hickory Motor Speedway and Kingsport Speedway.

However, the different style of racing at Anderson proved to fit Marcham’s style pretty well as throughout testing and practice, he was among the fastest cars. With 26 other cars entered into one of the strongest fields in Late Model Stock Car racing, Marcham was hoping to qualify near the front of the field and make the most of his night, but when it came time to qualify, he wasn’t able to get the lap he needed. He would post a lap time of 15.813, which would only be good enough to put him 16th on the grid for the 150-lap race, which didn’t seem to concern Marcham before the race.

“I just haven’t figured out qualifying yet,” said Marcham. “I’m used to having to start at the back of the pack on dirt anyways. All the fast cars start in the back at home, but out here you have to be perfect for two laps and I just haven’t got that figured out yet. I know we’ve got a fast car, so we’ll work our way to the front and be there at the end.”

Marcham’s words before the race were exactly right as when the green flag dropped, you could tell that he had a good car, patiently riding, but slowly picking off spot after spot. By lap 25 he was already in the top ten, though the double file restarts throughout the race shuffled him back once or twice, he was still on the move. At lap 100 he was still 10th, but he was about to begin making his surge to the front as he still had good tires, while many of the guys in front of him had burned theirs up.

With just under 50-laps to go in the race, it was time for Marcham to start making his way to the front of the field, and he did as the laps clicked off he found his way to fifth by lap 140. He would cross the checkered flag in the same position and was elated to get his first top five finish.

“The car this weekend was bad fast,” said Marcham following the race. “To come in here to a track I had never raced at and get my best career finish was pretty cool. I’ll take a fifth place finish, you know, it feels really good to get the finish that we know we deserved. Both the previous races we either got wrecked or into someone else’s mess, but tonight we survived and came away with a great finish.”

The finish got even better following the race when the provisional winner was disqualified and thus Marcham was elevated to a fourth place finish. Now with a top five finish in hand, Marcham will look to build upon his success in the next round of the UARA-STARS Series, which will take him and the rest of the drivers to Newport Speedway in Newport, TN on June 16th.

“I’m ready to go to Newport now,” laughed Marcham. “Tonight was what this team needed, in fact this whole weekend was exactly what we needed. We’ve got the monkey off our back, we can now focus on going and just being fast at Newport. I’ve never been there, but we had never been here [Anderson] either, so I’m ready to go.”

Marcham is supported by RD Marcham Energy, Inc., Simpson Racing Products, LeNorman Operating, Pinnacle Energy Services, Performancenter Racing Warehouse and Roger Johnson Engineering. Marcham Racing is always looking for companies to partner with on the UARA-STARS Series schedule, contact Marcham Racing at [email protected] to put your business in the fast lane!