Max Gresham celebrates his first win at his family owned track after winning the Slack Auto Parts 150 Saturday night. Photo courtesy Gresham Motorsports
Max Gresham got to celebrate in front of his home crowd Saturday night, but it wasn’t without a fight. The 18-year-old from Griffin, Ga., earned the win at Gresham Motorsports Park following a wild green-white-checkered finish to the Slack Auto Parts 150.
Gresham and Darrell Wallace Jr. were side-by-side on the front row on the final restart when they washed up the track in Turn 2, and Matt DiBenedetto briefly made it three-wide for the lead. But Gresham rocketed back in front on the backstretch en route to his first win of the season and third of his career.
Gresham expected it to get a little interesting on the final sprint for the checkered flag.
“I kind of expected Darrell to do what he did when we went down into Turn 1,” Gresham said, “I would do the same thing in a green-white-checkered finish.”
Gresham, a Joe Gibbs Racing development driver won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light earlier in the day. After waiting through a 2 1/2-hour rain delay in the early evening, he led a race-high 98 laps.
It was the third career win for Gresham, but none of the previous two could match the feeling it gave Gresham in winning at his family-owned track.
“To win at home in front of all the fans at Gresham Motorsports Park, I couldn’t be any happier,” Gresham said. “I can’t thank my Joe Gibbs Racing teammates enough they work so hard on this car.”
Gresham was 12th last season in the series debut on the refurbished half-mile.
DiBenedetto held on for second Saturday, followed by rookie Andrew Smith. Wallace, who led 57 laps in the middle of the race, finished fourth and Corey LaJoie fifth.
DiBenedetto was trying to pick up his second win in as many weeks, but couldn’t get by Gresham on the final lap.
“We had a pretty good car and it was probably a third place car but the front two (Gresham and Wallace) were pretty exceptional,” DiBenedetto said. “We kind of evened out with them at the end but we were not as good as the 18 (Gresham), he had the dominate car.”
Max Gresham started off the day by winning the pole for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series east event, then followed up with the victory. Photo courtesy Gresham Motorsports
While the trio of Gresham, Wallace and DiBenedetto mixed it up for the lead on the final restart it opened the door for Andrew Smith to pick up his first podium finish in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. It’s a little more satisfying after his volunteer crew worked all week to rebuild the car after suffering damage last week at Bowman Gray Stadium.
“I can’t thank my guys enough, they worked hard for nothing to get us back to the track and (this race) was a blast and this is a real fun racetrack,” Smith said. “I worked hard to try and save my tires to be there at the end (of the race) and we bounced off of a few (cars) there at the end and did the best we could.”
Smith also used his best career finish to collect three post-race contingency awards. Smith took home the Sunoco Rookie of the Race, Featherlite Most Improved Driver (improving 17 spots from his Bowman Gray finish) and Coca-Cola Move of the Race (moving up 20 spots from his 23rd starting spot) awards.
Eddie MacDonald was sixth, followed by Chad Finchum, Dylan Presnell, Cody Hodgson and Benny Gordon. Finchum matched his career-best finish while Gordon topped his.
The race was slowed by caution six times for 32 laps with the final yellow given to the field on Lap 144 when Alex Bowman made contact with the outside wall on the backstretch that set up the extended distance of the race.
Wallace, who graduated from high school early Saturday morning in North Carolina and flew down to Georgia in time for practice, maintained the championship points lead by five over Gresham and 12 over DiBenedetto. Brett Moffitt and Coleman Pressley are fourth and fifth in the standings, respectively.
The Slack Auto Parts 150 will air on SPEED on Thursday, June 16 at 6 p.m. ET.
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The next event for Gresham Motorsports Park will be the Racing Radios 100 – Pro All Star Series (PASS) Late Model Race on July 16.
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
Gresham Motorsports Park
Jefferson, GA
Slack Auto Parts 150
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Lap length: 0.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Max Gresham, Griffin, Ga., Toyota, 154 laps, 67.054 mph.
2. (2) Matt DiBenedetto, Grass Valley, Calif., Toyota, 154.
3. (23) Andrew Smith, Pooler, Ga., Chevrolet, 154.
4. (3) Darrell Wallace, Jr., Mobile, Ala., Toyota, 154.
5. (10) Corey LaJoie, Concord, N.C., Ford, 154.
6. (20) Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass., Chevrolet, 154.
7. (17) Chad Finchum, Knoxville, Tenn., Dodge, 154.
8. (16) Dylan Presnell, Sevierville, Tenn., Toyota, 154.
9. (15) Cody Hodgson, Escalon, Calif., Chevrolet, 154.
10. (13) Benny Gordon, DuBois, Pa., Chevrolet, 154.
11. (19) Ben Kennedy, Daytona Beach, Fla., Chevrolet, 154.
12. (14) Ryan Gifford, Winchester, Tenn., Toyota, 154.
13. (18) Michael Cherry, Valrico, Fla., Toyota, 154.
14. (9) Daniel Suárez, Monterrey, Mexico, Toyota, 153.
15. (21) Brandon Haley, Lavonia, Ga., Ford, 153.
16. (5) Brett Moffitt, Grimes, Iowa, Toyota, 153.
17. (22) D.J. Shaw, Conway, N.H., Chevrolet, 153.
18. (26) Tanner Berryhill, Tulsa, Okla., Chevrolet, 153.
19. (27) Cale Conley, Vienna, W.Va., Chevrolet, 151.
20. (7) Sergio Peña, Winchester, Va., Toyota, 150.
21. (28) Clay Campbell, Martinsville, Va., Chevrolet, 150.
22. (6) Chase Elliott, Dawsonville, Ga., Chevrolet, 149.
23. (29) Julian Albarracin, Bogata, Columbia, Dodge, 147.
24. (4) Alex Bowman, Tucson, Ariz., Toyota, 143.
25. (24) Derek Ramstrom, West Boylston, Mass., Chevrolet, 142.
26. (8) Coleman Pressley, Asheville, N.C., Toyota, 133.
27. (11) Ryan Reed, Bakersfield, Calif., Toyota, 133.
28. (25) Brandon Gdovic, Yorktown, Va., Dodge, 100.
29. (30) Michelle Theriault, Bristol, Conn., Toyota, 71.
30. (12) Chad Boat, Phoenix, Ariz., Chevrolet, 41.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 8 minutes 54 seconds
Margin of Victory: .673 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: M.Gresham (104.233 mph, 17.269 seconds)
Caution Flags: 6 for 32 laps.
Lead Changes: 2 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M. Gresham 1-42; D. Wallace,Jr. 43-98; M. Gresham 99-154.
Points Standings
1. D. Wallace,Jr., 960; 2. M. Gresham, 955; 3. M. DiBenedetto, 948; 4. B. Moffitt, 876; 5. C. Pressley, 797; 6. E. MacDonald, 787; 7. A. Bowman, 786; 8. A. Smith, 780; 9. C. Hodgson, 780; 10. C. LaJoie, 772.
