reprinted from nelcar.net
photos by RPM Photography
Shawn Buffington Wins Sprint Cup Pre Race Thriller!
On the pole was the favorite to win the event, the 23 of Shawn Buffington with his teammate the 18 of Tom Gray on the outside of the front row. On the start, Buffington jumped out with the lead with the 38 of Matt Bourgoine who started third right behind him. On lap three the race’s first yellow flag came out as the 49 of Pete Cannell and the 96 of Wyatt Alexander made contact, forcing Alexander into the turn one barrier. He was able to continue on after being pushed back. On the next restart, Buffington once again was able to get away while the 56 of Evan Beaulieu worked his way by Bourgoine to take the second spot. The caution came out two laps into this run as the 11 of Steve Miller went for a spin off turn one, ending his top ten run early. As the green flag waved again, Buffington and Beaulieu fought side by side into turn one, and as the field entered turn three, contact between the 20 of Taylor Martin and the 38 of Matt Bourgoine sent Bourgoine for a spin, bringing out the yellow flag again.
As the field got back into their positions for the next restart, the 59 of Reid Lanpher pulled from his fourth place run to the pit area with engine issues. On the restart, Buffington and Beaulieu once again drew even through one and two, but Buffington was able to get the edge and go to the top spot once again. Buffington, Beaulieu and the 2 of Ryan Hammar powered away from the rest of the field and were putting on a good show for the win for the fans. Buffington was able to get a gap until with two laps to go, Cannell went for a spin in turn four, bringing out a green white checker finish. On the final run, Buffington was able to hold off a last lap charge by Beaulieu to take the win! Beaulieu would finish second, with Tom Gray coming back from an early race engine issue to finish third. Ryan Hammar ran in the top three all race and finished fourth while Mike Alton in the 99 rounded out the top five.
It was another exciting Sprint Cup pre race show from the Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour, with the dominator at NHMS, Shawn Buffington finding victory lane once again. Even if it was a non points race, the event was still a huge deal to a lot of the drivers as they were able to showcase their talents in front of the many fans at NHMS. The next race for the Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour is this Thursday night for round six of Thursday Thunder at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. The Tour will also be back at NHMS next Saturday, July 21st with a 5PM start time. For more news, info and how you can get into a Legends Car, visit Nelcar.net.
