USAR: Bristol: Wade Day race report

Wade Day Earns Second Career Pro Cup Pole But The Night Ends Early at Bristol

(BRISTOL, TN) -- Wade Day was looking forward to returning to his home track Bristol Motor Speedway. In last year's USAR Hooters Pro Cup event there, Day had a dominant car, only to hit the wall after a tire was cut by debris. After testing, Day knew he had a strong car heading into this year's event. Day headed into Bristol in third place behind Mark McFarland and Michael Ritch, but with a good run, combined with trouble for McFarland and Ritch, the regular season championship was still within reach.

The day started off ominously as the Lopez Wealth Management Ford Fusion blew an engine on the first hot lap of practice. As Day brought the car down pit road, the crew pulled the backup car out of the hauler. With some help from Caleb Holman's crew, the team swapped the engine from the backup car into the primary just in time for the second practice session.

Day was fifteenth fastest in practice, but he wasn't showing all his cards. "We knew the car was good. That engine may not have been quite as good as the one that blew, but I wasn't too worried about it," Day said. "We didn't put on new tires for practice and I knew we would be better in qualifying and the race." Day proved that in qualifying as he bumped Caleb Holman from the top spot to grab his second Awesome Awnings Pole Award in 2008.

Day lined up along Northern Tour champion Benny Gordon to start the race and settled into the second position when a big crash brought out the first caution on lap two. The leaders all took to pit road for left side tires to complete their only planned pit stop for the race. The fast cars were now in the middle of the pack as they began their fight back to the front.

As the cars entered turn three on lap 29, Mark McFarland made hard contact with the left rear of Day's ride, sending the 96s Ford into the wall. Day brought the car down pit road but the track bar mount had been broken by the contact, ending Day's night and his hopes of overtaking McFarland for the South Tour Championship.

"It was a tough day at the track, that's for sure," said Day. "We were hoping that blowing that engine would be our bad luck for the day, but we got hit hard in the left rear and broke the mount. We had a really good car and I was able to get off the corners well. It would have been fun to get up there and race with Caleb. He had a great car today." Day ended up finishing in 32nd place and also dropped to fourth in the South Tour final standings as Caleb Holman moved to third with his victory.

The Hooters Pro Cup Tour now moves on to Mansfield, Ohio, for the first race of the Championship Series on Saturday, August 30.

-credit: hm