HENDERSONVILLE, NC :: The first of two UARA-STARS tour events at Caraway Speedway comes this Saturday, July 27. Point leader Garrett Campbell has never been in a situation like he now finds himself. The driver of the No. 12 Ford is leading the points for the first time in his career as the tour heads to his home track, Caraway Speedway, just a few miles from his home in Asheboro.
Campbell assumed the point lead by just two markers over Ronnie Bassett, Jr., after winning for the second time this season a week ago at Tri-County Motor Speedway. Campbell has never won a tour race at Caraway despite making his home just down the road in Asheboro, NC.
“There’s a lot of pressure to do well this week, being my home track and all,” said Campbell. “But we don’t points race. We go out here and try to win races and the points take care of themselves. That’s how we got to this spot, trying to win races, and I don’t see us quitting that strategy anytime soon.”
A year ago, the tour’s single stop at the .455-mile racetrack saw former track champion Travis Swaim lead the majority of the event, much like he has done at certain races this year. After a late caution, rookie Sean Rayhall bypassed the No. 28 to take his only career UARA-STARS win to date, leaving Swaim to wonder what might have been.
“We learned a little something that night about how much to save for the end of the race, but Rayhall had a really, really good car late in that race,” said Swaim, a native of nearby High Point, NC. “I think we’ll be fast again this year, but hopefully we can move up a spot. It would mean a bunch for us to win a tour race at our home track in front of all of our hometown fans. It’d help us out in the points, too.”
The top four in the UARA-STARS title fight are only separated by 21 points. All four of those drivers consider Caraway a home racetrack, including the Bassett brothers, Dillon and Ronnie, Jr., from nearby Winston-Salem. In last year’s event, both Bassetts experienced issues on-track with other competitors and were never a factor for the win. ”
We tested at Caraway and think we’ve got her dialed in pretty good,” said Bassett, Jr., driver of the No. 04 Ford. “We’ve been trying to get our hands around this new tire and we started to at Tri-County but ran out of laps. I hope that it’ll be us in victory lane again at Caraway. My guys have been busting their butts and they really deserve it.”
Caraway’s unique configuration lends itself to a unique style of racing. In a very similar configuration to Martinsville Speedway, the long straightaways and tight corners put a premium on brakes, handling and horsepower.
The last UARA-STARS personality to taste success at Caraway’s unique configuration was BJ Mackey. He won earlier this month in the Rusty Harpe Memorial presented by Daggett & Schuler, Attorneys At Law. Mackey, crew chief for No. 4 Dylan Hall, won the race after rain forced the early finish of the 171-lap feature.
“It’s still the same old Caraway it always has been,” said Mackey with his trademark smile. “You have to save your stuff to have something left at the end, but it’s important to have a car that turns well and has good forward bite to get down these straightaways, too. I think running that race so close to the tour race there will help us to get Dylan dialed in since he really doesn’t have a lot of experience there in this type of racecar.”
The UARA-STARS event is part of a full night of racing action at Caraway Speedway this Saturday. Racing begins at 7:30pm, with the UARA-STARS pit party and autograph session taking place beforehand at 6:30pm.
