George
Brunnhoelzl III won the Firecracker 150 in NASCAR Whelen
Southern Modified Tour action on Friday night at Caraway
Speedway.
Brunnhoelzl dominated the day by being the fastest in
practice and winning his third pole position of the season
before leading the race wire-to-wire.
Brunnhoelzl, who celebrated the birth of his daughter Riley
Morgan Brunnhoelzl late last week with his wife Heather, was
emotional in Victory Lane after his third win of the season
at Caraway Speedway.
“This win is for my daughter Riley,” said an emotional
Brunnhoelzl. “I am so proud of my daughter and my wife
Heather who is home resting.”
With the victory, Brunnhoelzl, out of West Babylon, N.Y.,
takes over sole possession of the Southern Modified Tour’s
all-time wins list at 14 after coming into the event in a
tie with L.W. Miller.
“It was a storybook race for us,” Brunnhoelzl added. “We led
practice, won the pole and led all the laps in the race
which is what we needed to do today. We ran as hard as we
needed to run out front and save (our car) in case we had a
green-white-checkered finish.”
Brandon Ward finished as the runner-up and crossed the line
.343 seconds behind the winner. Danny Bohn, who started the
race from the ninth position, charged to the front and
finished third. Brian Loftin, who won at Caraway earlier in
the season, finished fourth and Jason Myers finished fifth.
For Ward, who edged Brunnhoelzl for a win earlier this
season at South Boston Speedway, was just happy to get back
in the car.
“Bryan Fishel, Jim Hire and all the guys on the crew do a
great job preparing the car and we just ran out of tires
there at the end of the race,” Ward said. “I can’t thank
Bryan and everyone enough for allowing me to get back in
this car.”
Danny Bohn continues his impressive rookie campaign on the
tour with his third top-five finish of the season and
appeared to have one of the fastest cars in the race during
the second half of the event.
“We had a good car and started out ninth and drove up to
third and I think I had something for the 44 (Ward) before
that last caution, but my tires we worn out so we are glad
with a third-place finish.”
The last caution Bohn mentioned was given to the field on
lap 144 after Andy Seuss and L.W. Miller made contact
entering Turn 3 sending Miller hard into the outside wall.
It was the third time this season the two rivals have made
contact during a race. The race was slowed due to caution
six times for 27 laps.
Rookie Jon McKennedy, who takes over the ride formerly held
by Daniel Hemric, finished sixth with John Smith, Michael
Speeney, Tim Brown and Joe Scarborough rounding out the top
10.
In the championship point standings, Brunnhoelzl extended
his lead to 29 points over Miller (219-190) with Bohn
lurking in third four points behind Miller, who finished
19th after his accident late in the race.
The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour is back in action
next in the Strutmasters.com 199 on Saturday, Aug. 4 at
Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
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NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour-Firecracker 150 Unofficial Results
Friday At Caraway (N.C.) Speedway, Asheboro, N.C.
Lap length: 0.455 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) George Brunnhoelzl, III, West Babylon, N.Y., 150 laps,
69.781 mph.
2. (4) Brandon Ward, Winston-Salem, NC, Chevrolet, 150.
3. (9) Danny Bohn, Freehold, NJ, 150.
4. (2) Brian Loftin, Lexington, NC, 150.
5. (10) Jason Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., 150.
6. (12) Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, Mass., Pontiac, 150.
7. (15) John Smith, Mount Airy, NC, Chevrolet, 150.
8. (18) Michael Speeney, Newtown, PA, 150.
9. (3) Tim Brown, Cana, VA, 150.
10. (16) Joe Scarbrough, Richmond, VA, 150.
11. (13) Frank Fleming, Mount Airy, N.C., Chevrolet, 149.
12. (20) Gary Putnam, Concord, NC, 149.
13. (6) Kyle Ebersole, Hummelstown, PA, 149.
14. (11) Thomas Stinson, Chester, VA, 149.
15. (7) Burt Myers, Walnut Cove, NC, 148.
16. (17) Bryan Dauzat, Alexandria, LA, 148.
17. (19) Cole Powell, Mt. Brydges, Ontario, Canada, 147.
18. (14) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., 142, accident.
19. (5) L W Miller, Dushore, PA, 142, accident.
20. (21) Mike Norman, Lewisville, NC, 128, clutch.
21. (8) Gary Fountain, Minneola, Fla, 42, accident.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 58 minutes 41 seconds
Margin of Victory: .343 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: G.Brunnhoelzl, III (104.132 mph, 15.73 seconds)
Caution Flags: 6 for 27 laps.
Lead Changes: 0 among 1 drivers.
Lap Leaders: G. Brunnhoelzl,III 1-150.
Standings: 1. G. Brunnhoelzl III, 219; 2. L. Miller, 190; 3. D. Bohn,
186; 4. J. Myers, 182; 5. B. Loftin, 179; 6. B. Myers, 171; 7. T. Brown,
170; 8. K. Ebersole, 163; 9. J. Smith, 162; 10. F. Fleming, 160. |
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