CALLAWAY, VA :: Mike Looney finally overcame the bad luck that’s plagued his 2014 season on Monday night and overcame it in style – with a victory in the Wheat Construction Memorial Day Bash at Franklin County Speedway.  Looney took the lead from Johnny Cash with 38 laps to go and never looked back.

“You can’t put this in to words after the year that we’ve had,” Looney said in victory lane.  “Billy Martin, my car owner, he’s worked his guts out on this car to try to get the problems fixed.  I don’t know how many thousands he’s fixed so I can start driving and get it right.  I really appreciate it.  It’s frustrating to come over and have a car this fast but can’t finish.  We fell out of the lead twice this year and was running second the other time we fell out.  The car’s sitting here in victory lane broke right now.  The track bar broke on the last lap apparently.  Lady Luck, she missed us by one lap tonight.  I have to attribute that to the Lord’s will to win, it’s going to happen.  I’ve been really blessed in my career and blessed to have the opportunity to drive this car.”

After the race, Looney reflected on the final few laps as he saw a huge lead begin to disappear in the closing laps.

“I kept thinking they were going to crash and we would have a green-white-checkered,” Looney remarked.  “I thought I needed to cool my tires and save for that.  I’d save a little and Johnny Cash would pounce right on me.  I couldn’t save any.  I was worried about a late race caution.  There’s a lot of bonehead moved that happen here on green-white-checkered finishes so I just wanted to get to the finish on the track in one piece.”

Johnny Cash surrended the lead to Looney with 38 laps to go after inheriting the lead when Kyle Dudley dropped out of the race with a broken rear-end panhard rod.

“That car and a half I pulled down the straightaway, that’s fun when you’re stomping on and push 500 horsepower,” Cash said.  “I have to thank everyone who puts this car together, all I do is get in it and ride.”

Daryn Cockram, who set the fastest time in qualifying, rebounded from an early race spin and went on to finish third after starting in fifth due to an invert.  Cockram appeared to have a fast enough car to contend with Looney but he couldn’t get around Cash.  After the race, Cockram said Cash was just a little better than him coming off the corner.

Rounding out the top-10 were Brian Sutphin, Brian Pembleton, Nathan Wheat, Bobby Griffin, Libby Privette, Rusty Gaspard and Kyle Dudley.

Griffin started on the pole in the race.  The first lead change in the race came on lap 22 when Pembleton got around Griffin.  The caution came out on lap 26 when Bobby Gillespie dropped off the pace and out of the race.  On the restart, Dudley rocketed to the lead.  Dudley, while sporting a comfortable lead, dropped off the pace and out of the race on lap 55.  Cash inherited the lead when Dudley dropped out of the race but was relegated to second when Looney got around him on lap 62.

Franklin County Speedway’s next race will be on June 7th.

Race Results

1. #87 Mike Looney
2. #30 Johnny Cash
3. #1 Daryn Cockram
4. #11 Brian Sutphin
5. #00 Brian Pembleton
6. #1 Nathan Wheat
7. #85 Bobby Griffin
8. #53 Libby Privette
9. #23 Rusty Gaspard
10. #51 Kyle Dudley
11. #78 Ricky Gillespie
12. #08 Wesley Thomason
13. #03 Josh Leedy
14. #18 Bobby Gillespie
15. #14 David Sell — DNS