It’s hard to beat experience, and 39-year-old Day left little doubt Sunday he still knows his way around the .375-mile banked concrete oval as he ran a fast-lap of 15.43 seconds to earn the pole position for the 250-lap main event.
With waving of the green flag to start the race Day jumped out into the lead over Caleb Holman, Tyler Young, Gus Dean and Blake Jones. Day had pulled out to a 10 car length advantage over Holman when caution waved on lap 63 for a spin in turn four by Dalton Hopkins.
Going back green on lap 68, Day was assessed a penalty for starting too soon in turn four, thus meaning he had to drop back to rear of the field. But riding such a strong mount, all Day had to do was bide his time and be patient in working his way back towards the front.
A three-car tangle involving Nathan Russell, Stacy Puryear and Cody McMahan in the fourth turn produced another caution period on lap 92.
Holman led Dean, J.P. Morgan, Young and Tyler Lester on the lap 98 restart. Day wasted no time in disposing of Lester for the fifth spot on lap 99 racing off the second corner. Two circuits later he got around Young racing off the fourth turn to move into fourth in the running order. Day powered underneath Morgan for third place racing off (turn) two on lap 105.
With the caution waving for the halfway pit break on lap 125 which allowed teams to take tires and fuel, Holman was still showing the way out front over Dean and Day.
Side-by-side on the front row leading the field back to green, the 18-year-old Dean grabbed the lead over Holman and Day. Day immediately began pressuring Holman for the runner-up spot, and on lap 128 racing off the second corner he secured the position and set his sights ahead on race leader Dean.
Racing up off (turn) two on lap 135, Day passed Dean for a lead he would never relinquish. Caution waved for debris on the track at lap 187, erasing real estate between Day and his closest challengers.
The race restarted on lap 191 and went all-green to the finish, with Day, driving the Lopez Wealth Management, LLC/Food Country USA/Refrigeration Services, Inc./Hess Race Cars/Allen Powell Racing Engines/Highlands Motorsports/No. 96 Ford Fusion, proving to be class of the field in winning by a full-straightaway over Morgan and Dean. Finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, were Young and Russell.
“It’s good to finally win us one of these Pro Cup Series races,” said a smiling Day after climbing from his car in victory lane. “Instead of this being our first win, it should be about our fourth victory. Let me tell you, after coming so close in the past to winning a Pro Cup Series race to only see something late in the race just bite us in the rear, when I saw the flagman give the 10-to-go signal I was just hoping nothing was going happen to the car. I knew we had a comfortable lead, and I just concentrated and hit my marks lap-after-lap to the finish. Man, to see the checkered flag waving there at the end – that’s what it’s all about.”
While the end results on Sunday brought smiles to all faces on the Highlands Motorsports pit crew, the weekend didn’t unfold trouble-free.
“We had an awesome car for sure today, but our weekend didn’t start out so great yesterday in practice,” said Day in the pits following the race while the car went through post-race technical inspection. “You know, tt seemed like whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. We were chasing one problem after another before we finally got everything all squared away. But we showed in qualifying what this team was capable of as we laid down the fastest lap to win the pole. I really feel like this race was ours to lose, because the car was so good that I just felt like we were the team to beat.
“There are just so many people to thank, but I want to first mention my car owner Wade Lopez. He’s a great guy and loves racing, and he knows the disappointment we all felt back in 2007 and ’08 in losing the Pro Cup Series races. We had races at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hickory Speedway and South Georgia Motorsports Park that we should’ve won. I guess you could say this win today is redemption, because we finally redeemed ourselves for not sealing the deal in past races. And all the guys on the crew, this victory tastes sweet for them. My crew chief Larry Collins and car chief Dinky Torbett, along with my dad, Rick Day, Charlie Gray, Wes Frazier, and others who helped us back then, they know the agony of us not winning in the past when we should’ve. With me serving as Nate Monteith’s crew chief here at Kingsport Speedway and us winning the track and also NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Tennessee State Championship this season, all the guys on the Monteith Racing crew helped out this weekend and I appreciate them, along with guys from Teddy Jones Racing.”
What the future holds for Highlands Motorsports remains to be seen, whether the team will make further starts. But recording the Rev-Oil Pro Cup Series Food Country USA 250 victory on Sunday will always remain special for both Wade Day (2000 Kingsport Speedway Late Model Stock champion) and for team owner Wade Lopez (2001 Kingsport Speedway Late Model Stock champion).
Press Release Prepared By:
Walden Motorsports Communications
Johnson City , TN
