Bubba Wallace wins debut Short Track Nationals event at Bristol Motor Speedway
For Bubba Wallace, the 11th time was the charm at Bristol Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular put on a dominating performance Sunday evening in his first time at the controls of a Super Late Model and raced to his first victory at The Last Great Colosseum.
In other racing action on Sunday at BMS, Cole Williams took the Pro Late Model victory and Myatt Snider was the winner of the Late Model Stock 100 lap affair.
Wallace finished in front of Super Late Model category-regulars Jake Crum and Chandler Smith, who finished second and third respectively.
Pole-sitter Travis Braden finished 22nd when his night ended at lap 65. Second-generation racer and son of nine-time Bristol winner Rusty Wallace, Steve Wallace started third and finished fifth in his red No. 66 Ford. NASCAR Truck Series regular Noah Gragson, driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, was collected in an early wreck and finished 30th.
Bubba Wallace started sixth in his black No. 6 Ford and quickly moved through the field and led the race at the 51-lap break. In the final 49-lap segment he led wire to wire and pulled away from the field at the end to take the checkered flag with a bit of distance between he and Crum.
“It’s good,” Wallace said from Victory Lane. “This is the first time for me here in 11 tries. It shows my track record here. This is a really cool event. Thanks to everybody involved. Thanks to Jerry (Caldwell, executive vice president and general manager) and everybody here at Bristol. They put on a great show tonight. I want to thank my uncle for coming on board as a sponsor and everybody at Fat Head Racing. Jamie (Yelton, owner) takes a lot of pride in his cars. He has a great group of guys working for him and I knew he would give me a shot there and it was good.”
In the Pro Late Model race, two-time national champ Williams started sixth in his blue and yellow No. 46 Cardinal Services Toyota and like Wallace, moved into the lead by the 51-lap break. Williams took advantage of an early-race crash, which took out top runners Dillon Oliver and Eddie Fatscher, and led to a brief skirmish in the pits where punches were thrown between members of the two teams. In the final 49, Williams cruised to the victory, holding off challenges from Jon Beach and Jack Smith
“This is freaking awesome this is definitely the biggest win in our career,” Williams said. “I knew if we could keep our nose clean we’d have a shot at it. I can’t thank everybody enough for what they do. It’s Bristol Baby!”
Snider, the son of veteran motorsports television announcer Marty Snider, started on the pole in the Late Model Stock race and stayed out front for most of the race to take the checkered flag for his career CARS Tour win.
Snider held off hard-charging Jared Fryar, who moved from ninth to second, Justin Crider and Travis Swaim. Defending NASCAR Whelen All-American national champ Matt Bowling, who started on the front row in his No. 83 Hopkins Lumber machine, led several laps early but finished seventh.
“It’s awesome,” Snider said. “I feel like we’ve been close to a CARS Tour win for a long time. It’s been a tough road. We’ve had a lot of problems and freak accidents. What better place for that first win to come than here at Bristol. I was really impressed with Jared. I had to drive the car as hard as I could to get away from him.”
Super Late Model
Bristol Motor Speedway
US Short Track Nationals Results
100 Lap Feature
1. #6W Bubba Wallace
2. #01 Jake Crum
3. #26S Chandler Smith
4. #51N STEPHEN NASSE
5. #66W STEPHEN WALLACE
6. #88 GARRETT JONES
7. #99R COLE ROUSE
8. #58A TYLER ANKRUM
9. #97 CHASE PURDY
10. #4P KYLE PLOTT
11. #4A DALTON ARMSTRONG
12. #45 JOEY MUCCIACCIARO
13. #14 O CONNOR OKRZESIK
14. #98K PAUL KELLY
15. #99L RAPHAEL LESSARD
16. #6R LOGAN RUNYON
17. #23 EDDIE VANMETER
18. #2L ROBBY LYONS
19. #5B JOHN BEALE
20. #58F JEFF FIRESTINE
21. #57C JOHN COFFMAN
22. #26B TRAVIS BRADEN
23. #96 BLAKE JONES
24. #34 NOLAN POPE
25. #17 JOSH BROCK
26. #05 NATHAN DAVIS
27. #6A COLE ANDERSON
28. #41J HUNTER JACK
29. #158 DANIEL WEBSTER
30. #51G NOAH GRAGSON
31. #29 TOMMY ST. JOHN
32. #5 TREVOR NOLES
33. #43 DENNIS SCHOENFELD
34. #7G WES GRIFFITH JR
35. #99H JOE BEAVER
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