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SES: Music City II: Charlie Bradberry race notes

Chelsea, Alabama (October 17, 2005) -- It was an accomplishment just to finish, let alone to partake in the adventurous racing weekend Charlie Bradberry had set forth for himself. And no one will blame him if he slept in just a little bit late on ...

Chelsea, Alabama (October 17, 2005) -- It was an accomplishment just to finish, let alone to partake in the adventurous racing weekend Charlie Bradberry had set forth for himself. And no one will blame him if he slept in just a little bit late on Monday morning. Bradberry completed his "triple duty" weekend on Sunday by competing in the NASCAR Southeast Series event at Music City Motorplex in Nashville, TN. That race was Bradberry's third in three consecutive days, at three different tracks, in three different states.

And after all was said and done, Bradberry finished with one win, one pole and two top-five finishes in the 72-hour marathon.

"It was tiring, but we've worked pretty hard at it," said Bradberry after finishing 16th in Sunday night's Southeast Series race at Nashville. "I'm ready for a little break. Thankfully, we have this week behind us. I was hoping to win more races, but one out of three isn't so bad. At least we won one race. Now, we'll just focus on next weekend and having a good showing in the Busch Series race."

Bradberry's weekend started with the Blizzard Series (Super Late Model) event at Pensacola, Florida's, Five Flags Speedway. Since Bradberry had not raced in all of the Blizzard Series events in 2005, he used the race as a final tune-up to December's Snowball Derby. Bradberry won the prestigious event in 2003.

"We went down there trying some stuff for the Derby," said Bradberry, who started fourth and finished fifth in the event. "I felt like we were pretty good. We just started off too tight. We came in there and made some adjustments and I felt like we'd be pretty good.

"Then, we were coming through the pack and there was a big wreck that happened on the frontstretch and I was right in the middle of it. It bent the car up, but not enough to where we couldn't keep running. The best I could do, though, was fifth. At that point, it was just about salvaging the best I could."

Bradberry and his team then went to work on fixing their car before heading to South Alabama Speedway on Saturday for an open Super Late Model race at the half-mile track in Opp, Alabama.

"We won the pole (but started third) and the car was pretty good. We fixed it from Friday night. Again, though, we were trying some different setup stuff. The car wasn't exactly the way I liked it, so we came in near the middle of the race, changed some stuff around and made it a lot better. I came from the back twice after coming into the pits to make adjustments. The last adjustment, we hit dead on. We just worked our way to the front then. I was a lot faster than everyone else at that point and we cruised to the win."

The win earned Bradberry a cool $4,000.

After a stop back at the shops in Chelsea, Alabama, for a quick shower, the team was again on the road for the Southeast Series race at the old Fairgrounds Speedway at Nashville.

Bradberry qualified third and started eighth after the invert. After falling back early, Bradberry was working his way back through the field and was running eighth, battling for sixth and seventh when he was spun by a lapped car and crashed against the inside wall. After assessing the damage, Charlie called it quits just a few laps from the end.

"We worked on the car all day, but it was the same deal as always," said Bradberry, who raced a handful of Southeast Series races earlier this year. "We've been struggling with this car the last few times we've raced. I don't know why. The car was tight, tight, tight. We came in and nothing seemed to get it right.

"I was running eighth there late in the race, running pretty hard with (Jeff) Fultz and Stanley (Smith). Allen Karnes was behind me and he was a lap down. He was right on my bumper as I was trying to race them down and he was looking under me. I don't know why he was doing that. He wasn't going to gain any positions. I don't know if he misjudged it or what, but he got me and spun me out and we hit the inside wall."

Bradberry will now gear up for his first career NASCAR Busch Series start on Saturday. He'll compete for Tommyraz Motorsports in the #92 Speed Zone Energy Drink Dodge on Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park.

-cb-

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