2019 has been an exciting year for the Street Stock Division, but the story has been about three men and how they’ve fared pretty good this year.
Jacob Creed, Jeremy Warren, and Billy Gregg have been “the big three” of the division in 2019. Creed has the most wins and is in the points lead with the season finale looming.
“Our plan is simple we need to win the race,” Creed told RACE22. “If we win the race we’re guaranteed to win the championship and the top gun. Do we want to win the championship yes if we aren’t in a great position to win the race. We have won the top gun already we haven’t won the top gun and lap leader in a season and we want to win that. With the baby coming, we thought there was a good shot we would have to miss a race, so we didn’t even think about the championship. We set out to win the pole for the 50 and all the awards. The championship would just be a bonus.”
Creed has been good this season, but one of his strongest competitors is Jeremy Warren. Warren has led the points a lot this season and has only one win to his credit this season, but in 12 Starts, Warren has eight top-five finishes coupled with 12 top tens. He’s been pretty stout, this year, it’s just crazy how a man who finished every race in the top ten is second in the points. Warren decided not to comment, he would let his performance on the track do the talking.
One man that’s tasted the defeat and soaked in the glory of a championship is Billy Gregg, the 2012 street stock champion lost the championship in dramatic fashion last year, but he’s showed that the car he has now is just as good as last year.
“It has not been a bad season overall,” Gregg told RACE22. “We started the season with a brand new car and we struggled a little at first, but thanks to help from Brad Smith and Randy Armstrong we feel like we have gotten a handle on this new car and it is super fast now. We roll into the last race with a shot at the championship, which is not something we are concerned with, but being in contention means you had a pretty decent season.”
Gregg also stated what he’s gonna do to possibly win his second championship.
“Last year I went in with a 40-point lead and I had one thing on my mind and that was winning the race and when they took me out of the race and the championship, I was in the lead of the race and I was going to win. So that’s my plan for this week, is to go to the racetrack and win the race. I’m not at all concerned with beating (Jeremy) Warren or (Jacob) Creed in the championship only concerned with winning the race.”
Gregg didn’t mince words about what he wouldn’t do to win the championship.
“I will tell you that I will not pull any underhanded chickenshit moves like the Martin family did,” Gregg explained. “If that’s how you have to win the championship, I guess that’s how you do it, but I don’t want it that bad. People can see it how they want, but what Donnie done last year was deliberately for Spencer to win the championship and that was their only hope at winning the championship and congratulations to them I hope they enjoyed it they had such a wonderful year last year.”
One of the bright spots of the season has been rookie sensation Corey Rose, Rose raced in the last couple of races in 2018 and decided to run the full season this year and let me say it’s working out great.
“It feels great and shows the caliber of the team I have backing me and shows that all the hard work leading into this season building,” Rose told RACE22. “This entire car we built from the ground up ourselves and it has been paying off, but with a couple of bad races of getting wrecked, we would be even better in the points, but all we’re shooting for going into this last race is to win the race and show everyone that we’re one of the cars that you’re gonna have to beat week in and week out. Also, end our season on a high note and our goal was to win rookie of the year and the overall rookie of the year and that’s what we’ve been doing and I hope to finish that off this weekend. It’s gonna take a lot of good luck for me and a lot of bad luck for the drivers in front of me, but honestly, our goal is to go win the race and let the rest play out how it plays out.”
Even though Brian Wall will be eliminated when the green flag flies, he still lent he’s opinion on how hard it is to when a championship. If there’s anybody in this group of six drivers that knows how to do it, it’s Wall, as he’s come so close to winning four years in a row and has been left with bitter defeat every year.
“It’s nerve-racking,” Wall told RACE22.com. “You worry about everything. The car will make more noises that night than any other, and you’re like what’s breaking? Worry about your competitor’s teammates, who are also in contention. The only thing we never worried about when we did have a chance, was slowing down. Those four years we had a shot, there was never any motor swapping in fear of getting checked wrong. Our car was right all year long. Racing for points the last race of the year sucks really, it changes everything you’ve done all year long, which is trying to win. If there is some way to get point racing out of your head and race like you’re going for the win, you’ll be aight. But good luck with that.”
Cover photo by Corey Latham.
