A last-minute decision to make the trip down to Hickory Motor Speedway paid off for Bubba Pollard, as he passed Brandon Setzer in the closing laps of the MTP Tire 300 SLM feature to score the victory at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Pollard knew that battling Setzer for the win would be difficult given the latter’s past success at Hickory, but he stated that tire conservation and superior restarts were the two main factors that determined which one of them would drive their car to victory lane.
“We just kind of rode there,” Pollard said. “Brandon is the king of this place, and I knew he was really good, and I felt like we were almost equal there at the end. I knew I had to get out in front of him on the restart because I could fire off better than him and then we would level off.”
Pollard began his evening lined up in the third position, but proceeded to log laps as Wyatt Alexander and Matt Craig exchanged the lead during the opening stages of the 150-lap feature. A restart violation would take Alexander out of contention for the win, but Craig would receive a new challenge from Josh Berry, who was pulling double-duty driving the #97 for DLP Motorsports.
After clearing Craig, Berry would be left to deal with Setzer over the next two restarts, but he was able to fully utilize his car on the bottom line to stay out in front. With 40 laps to go, Setzer was finally able to take the lead, but Berry lost control of his car in the process and collected Pollard and a couple of others.
Berry would be sent to the rear of the field while Pollard maintained his position on the inside of the front row. Pollard would easily take the lead away from Setzer on the following restart and would hold on for the final 30 laps to secure his second consecutive CARS SLM Tour victory.
With Pollard now undefeated in CARS SLM Tour competition in 2018, he will now turn his attention over to the Late Model side of the series, where he will look to take home a $30,000 paycheck in the Visit Orange County Old North State Nationals on April 7. Although it will only be Pollard’s second start in a Late Model, he is confident that he can add another prestigious race win to his resume once the checkered flag falls a couple of weekends from now.
“The mindset is all racecar,” Pollard said. “You just got to turn left and have drive off. They’re all the same, so you just got to make them work.”
Setzer held on to finish in second while Craig came home in third. Rounding out the Top 5 were Corey Heim and Jared Fryar.
Unofficial Results:
1. 26p Bubba Pollard
2. 6 Brandon Setzer
3. 54 Matt Craig
4. 78 Corey Heim
5. 14 Jared Fryar
6. 37 Dan Speeney
7. 45 Kodie Conner
8. 96 Wyatt Alexander
9. 21 Bronson Butcher -1
10. 97 Josh Berry OUT
11. 17 Mike Speeney OUT
12. 16 Molly Helmuth OUT
13. 8 Tate Fogleman OUT
14. 00 Anthony Cataldi OUT
15. 34 Nolan Pope OUT
16. 49 Jeff Batten OUT
17. 27 Tyler Church OUT
18. 22 Tim Hollis OUT
19. 21t Trey Bayne OUT
20. 26r Christian Rose OUT
