Ross Kenseth Wins
the Rain Shortened 400 |
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Bubba Pollard - Ross
Kenseth - DJ Shaw |
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Ross Kenseth Prevails as Winner
in Rain
Shortened PASS South
All American
400 in Nashville |
Charlotte, NC 10/8/12- There
were two winners Saturday night at
the Fairgrounds Speedway in
Nashville, Tennessee; Mother Nature
and Ross Kenseth, son of NASCAR
champion Matt Kenseth. The nineteen
year old Clemson University college
student picked up his biggest win of
his career when series officials
were forced to call the 28th All
American 400 at lap 220 of 400 due
to steady rain that overtook the
speedway just past the event’s
halfway point. The win was Kenseth’s
second of the season in PASS South
Series competition dating back to
April 21st at the Orange County
Speedway in Rougemont, North
Carolina.
Kenseth took
advantage of a top ten qualifying
effort, taking the green flag from
the seventh position on the initial
start of the 400 lap event. Several
quick movers and losers were fast to
scatter throughout the field
including that of Eddie Hoffman, who
after leading the first thirteen
laps began to fade in a hurry,
handing the lead to Iowa native Nate
Caruth, driving a Brad Keselowski
Racing owned machine. While Hoffman
was going back it was PASS North
Series regular Johnny Clark making
his way to the front from a
thirty-fourth starting position.
The first caution of the night
was displayed on lap thirty for a
single car spin by Johnny Brazier
bunching the field up for the first
of many restarts. Local driver
Willie Allen, one of six drivers
pulling the double duty racing in
both the super and pro late model
divisions, jumped out to the lead
for a short eleven lap run at the
top spot before handing the race
lead back to Caruth. It didn’t take
long however; for Caruth to guide
the field through lap traffic around
the fast 5/8th mile facility.
Traffic became an issue on lap
sixty-eight for fast qualifier Kyle
Benjamin when he made a move to the
inside of a slower Rick Brown off of
turn four before the two made
contact sending Benjamin’s machine
nose first into the inside wall
while running seventh at the time.
The timing of the incident was
exactly what was needed for the
leaders to hit pit road for the
event’s first round of live action
pit stops. The pit strategy of
possible weather moving in on the
event quickly came to fruition as
several teams made the decision to
stay out on track mixing up the top
five. New leader Daniel Hemric lead
the field into turn one with Mason
Mingus, Gray Gaulding, Clay Rogers,
and Johnny Clark in tow. Several
other drivers such as TJ Reaid and
Garrett Evans, who made a 2,200 mile
trip from Washington state to
compete, also showed their strength
in the early going. A single car
spin on lap 106 followed by a yellow
again on lap 132 for debris slowed
the field on two more occasions
before setting up what would be
exciting sprint to the halfway mark
and inevitably the checkered flag.
After spending majority of the
race amongst the leaders but under
the radar NASCAR driver Kyle Busch
finally decided to flex his muscle
taking the lead on lap 133 from
Donnie Wilson and opened a half
straightaway lead over the field.
Busch continued to lead while many
of the PASS South Series
championship contenders who appeared
to play things safe throughout the
first 100 laps began to surface
within the top ten. Kyle Grissom,
Preston Peltier, and Brandon Ward
all occupied top ten positions as
Busch did battle with a hard
charging Hemric for the lead at the
lap 188 mark with Ross Kenseth
watching it all from the third
position.
Just five laps shy
of halfway a cut tire on Peltier’s
#26 machine brought out the yellow
for debris in turns one and two. As
the field slowed the rain began to
fall slightly putting in question
the completion of the race with
Busch, Kenseth, and Bubba Pollard
holding down the top three
positions. Under “caution-green”
flag scenario the field stayed out
on track in effort to keep the track
dry under the damp conditions and
ensuring the race got to the halfway
point necessary to be considered
official. As the weather lifted and
approval from the majority of the
field a single file restart, due to
safety reasons, on lap 206 allowed
green flag racing to get back
underway. Just as they did, Busch
who was leading at the time,
appeared to cut a tire coming out of
turn four sending his #51 machine
into a spin cycle making hard
contact with the outside wall ending
his night.
Busch’s
misfortunes were Kenseth’s
coincidence as he inherited the lead
on a lap 207 restart and manage to
hold the top spot over Bubba
Pollard, DJ Shaw, and a pair of
drivers who looked to be on their
way to the front in the form of
Johnny Clark and Daniel Hemric. With
Kenseth out front Mother Nature
decided to finally open the clouds
all the way and let the rain open up
over the Fairgrounds Speedway. With
cars under covers and track drying
crews making no progress, officials
from PASS and Fairgrounds Speedway
made the decision to call the race
official at lap 220 giving the 28th
running of the All American 400 win
to Ross Kenseth.
Next up for
the “BIG BOYS WITH THE BAD FAST
TOYS” PASS South Super Late Model
Series will be the North vs. South
Shootout 150 at the Caraway Speedway
located in Sophia, North Carolina on
Saturday November 10th. |
OFFICIAL PASS SLM
RESULTS
All
American 400
Fairgrounds
Speedway - 10/6/12 |
1) 25 - Ross Kenseth - 220
laps
2) 26p - Bubba Pollard - 220
3) 60 - DJ Shaw - 220
4) 54 -
Johnny Clark - 220
5) 98 - Daniel
Hemric - 220
6) 26a -Willie Allen
- 220
7) 41 - TJ Reid - 220
8)
62 - Brandon Ward - 220
9) 19 -
Nate Caruth - 220
10) 4n - Ben
Rowe - 220
11) 129 - Spencer
Davis - 220
12) 8 - Eddie Hoffman
- 220
13) 09 - Randy Gentry - 220
14) 811 - Mason Mingus -220
15)
43 - Dennis Shoenfeld - 220
16)
26 - Preston Peltier -220
17) 171
- Johnny Brazier -220
18) 4s -
Jay Fogleman - 220
19) 33 -
Dillon Oliver - 218
20) 31 - Kyle
Grissom - 217 |
21) R2 - Clay Rogers - 215
22) 47 - Trey Mitchell - 213
23)
81 - Mark Day - 212
24) 1 - Mike
Garvey - 211
25) 2w - Donnie
Wilson - 211
26) ak47 - Alan
Karnes - 210
27) 51 - Kyle Busch
- 205
28) 2n - Matt Matheson -
185
29) 64 - Garrett Evans - 169
30) 48 - John Batten - 168
31) 2
- Gary Gaulding - 105
32) 77 -
Cassius Clark - 104
33) 29 -
Landon Cling - 82
34) 44 - Rick
Brown - 80
35) 71 - Kyle Benjamin
- 67
36) 84 - Caly Alexander - 65
37) 40 - Sterling Marlin - 52
38)
84n - Tony Ricci - 41
39) 27 -
Michael House - 25
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