Gordon Victorious In Food City 150

[PressRoom-GFN]

Bristol, Tenn. (Aug. 22, 2007) -- Benny Gordon wasn’t crowned the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Northern Division champion for the first time in four years this season, but his win in Wednesday night’s Food City 150 presented by Naturally Fresh at Bristol Motor Speedway surely eased his pain.

Gordon assumed the No. 1 position when race-leader Wade Day bounced off the wall on lap 86 in the 150-lap race, then fought off Chase Pistone on a green-white-checker finish to claim his third win this season and the 24th of his career.

“We’ve always run well here over the years, but we’ve never been able to win,” said Gordon, driver of the No. 66n Samuel Metals Ford. “It’s really cool to be the first person to win on the new surface here. I don’t know that we had the best car here, but once we got out front, our car was really good.”

Pistone’s car was pretty good, as well. Pistone, driver of the No. 54 C&C Boiler Chevrolet, took a shot at Gordon on the final restart, but he came up 0.300 of a second shy of his second victory this season. Pistone’s second-place finish was his first top-five since his third-place effort at Peachstate [Ga.] Speedway five races ago.

“This was really important for our team,” said Pistone, who dropped from first to seventh in points during the mid-season slump. “Hopefully, this will get everybody pumped up heading into Mansfield [Ohio] for the Championship Series.”

Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 29 Chevy Racing/DEI Chevrolet, continued his recent upswing by finishing third after starting 23rd in the 150-lap affair. Bayne’s podium finish solidified his second-place seed entering the Championship Series.

“We had an awesome run here tonight,” said Bayne, who finished the regular season with four top-five finishes, including his first victory. “I really wanted the win tonight, especially after leading laps here last year. We had an early draw in qualifying, and that hurt us. But we were able to fight back from 23rd to finish third. I think we kept second in the points, so it was a good night all around.”

While Bayne held onto second in points with his solid run, several of the other top drivers didn’t experience a good race.

Michael Ritch, driver of the No. 28 Naturally Fresh/Jackaroo Ford, started from the pole and led the first six circuits before pitting under the first caution. Ritch lost two laps while making his stop and had to settle for 19th at the end of the night. Even with his mid-pack finish, Ritch clinched the Aaron’s Southern Division title.

Mark McFarland, driver of the No. 81 Knight’s Companies Chevrolet, took over the lead after Ritch’s misfortune. But his time out front was just as short as Ritch’s. When McFarland attempted to enter pit road on lap 13, his car stalled and never re-fired, dropping him to 36th at the finish after leading six laps.

Rookie Eric Humphries, driver of the No. 33 American Metals Ford, elected not to pit early in the event and inherited the lead when McFarland stalled. After leading 17 laps in his first Pro Cup start, Humphries lost the lead to Wade Day on lap 30.

Day, driver of the No. 96 Lopez Wealth Management Ford, was able to pull away from the field after taking the lead, but he would be the third leader of the night to suffer problems. Coming off turn 2, Day’s car shot up the track and tagged the wall, ending his victory bid.

Matt Hawkins, driver of the No. 2 H&H Electric Ford, appeared to be en route to the rookie title early in the race, but he was involved in an accident on lap 46 and limped home 22nd.

Rookie Richard Boswell, driver of the No. 88 Champion Chevrolet, took advantage of his fellow rookies' struggles by finishing eighth and clinching the $10,000 bonus for being the top rookie in the Southern Division regular season.

Shelby Howard and Bobby Gill completed the top five.

The Food City 150 featured four lead changes among four drivers and was slowed by 11 caution flags for 53 laps.
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