Mark McFarland and his crew celebrate their X-1R Pro Cup Series victory at Motor Mile Speedway Saturday night. Photo by Brian Metski
The date was July 19, 2008 when Mark McFarland last visited Edlebrock victory lane at an X-1R Pro Cup Series event. Saturday night, for the first time this season, a driver was strong enough to break championship points leader Clay Rogers undefeated streak.
Veteran Mark McFarland used his pole position and a little bit of luck on his side to win the Heritage Truck Centers 250 at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA. Rogers and rookie Brady Boswell were hot on his heels in the final lap before crossing the line in second and third respectively.
“First off it’s really special for us because the guy that owns this car, his shop is just right down the road”, said McFarland in victory lane. “This is his home track and we’ve always run good here, but have never been able to give him a win. Being able to win at Motor Mile Speedway is really special for him, me, and our entire team. Ron Fasion and this entire JMI Motorsports team made this happen, and worked their tails off to get this thing together in time. We didn’t decide we were coming until Wednesday night and had to rent a motor from Tyler Young (fellow Pro Cup competitor) just to get here. It just shows you how good this small team is.”
The crowd at Motor Mile Speedway was the largest the series has seen in the last few seasons. The X-1R Pro Cup Series and Heritage Truck Centers teamed up together and provided fans with 20,000 free tickets for the event in Radford, VA. The sixteen drivers in the field provided an entertaining show, with side-by-side racing throughout the 250 lap event.
Home state driver McFarland jumped out to an early lead after winning the MAHLE Pole Award in qualifying for a second week in a row. As laps clicked away in the early stages of the race, the battle for the top eight positions intensified just before the event’s halfway break on lap 125. Just as it was in Kingsport, in the series last outing, McFarland took the Roush Yates Performance Products Halfway leader award over Rusty Skewes, and the undefeated Clay Rogers. The redraw of the top eight drivers at the series’ halfway point put leader McFarland to third and Skewes to the point as the field went back to green.
Fans were on the edge of their seats the last 125 laps of the race as McFarland, Rogers, and Skewes battled hard, three-wide at times, for the lead position. On lap 171 of the 250 lap race the No. 53 of Justin Hobgood went up in smoke due to transmission troubles, bringing out the red flag due to an extensive cleanup. McFarland, while preparing to lap Hobgood, slid up the track in the fluid losing his lead position. However, the yellow flag waived setting up the restart by the last completed green flag lap, as per series rules, placing McFarland back into the lead.
Another star quietly making his way through the field was sixteen year old rookie Brady Boswell who raced in the top-five all night and looked like a pro racing among the veterans of the series. Boswell made a hard haul in the closing laps, passing Skewes for a third place finish, his best this season. Even McFarland was impressed by the talent of the drivers in the X-1R Pro Cup Series this season and the overall direction the series is headed.
“It was a good battle there with Rusty (Skewes), Rogers, and the No. 2 (Boswell) – it was just really good racing overall. I’ve been telling folks this series is headed back in the direction it once was. There are a lot of good cars and drivers in this series and its growing every race. It’s tough to beat these guys and you can’t make a mistake if you want to try and win these races. We almost made a big mistake getting in that oil. I thought it was over and it probably was for us if the caution didn’t come out when it did.”
Next up for the X-1R series is the Dean Custom Air 250 presented by Carrier & 100.3 The Team at Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday, June 22. The series will once again distribute 20,000 FREE tickets to the event through area business in and around the Myrtle Beach Speedway market area.
For more information, results, visit x1rprocup.com.
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Motor Mile Speedway – Radford, VA
Heritage Truck Center 250 – June 8, 2013
1. Mark McFarland
2. Clay Rogers
3. Brady Boswell
4. Rusty Skewes
5. Dalton Hopkins
6. Eric Gerchak
7. Reid Wilson
8. Gus Dean
9. J.P. Morgan
10. John Gibson
11. Codie Rohrbaugh
12. Ryan Heavner
13. Andrew Gordon
14. Justin Hobgood
15. Caleb Holman
16. Richard Gould
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