NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Bubba Pollard held off NASCAR stars William Byron and Chase Elliott over the final 40 laps to win Wednesday night’s ASA STARS National Tour ECMD 150 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The event was rained out on Tuesday and pushed back to follow Wednesday’s CARS Tour events at the five-eighths-mile track.
The owner and driver of the No. 26 Ford had Byron, Elliott, Sammy Smith and Daniel Suarez staring him down as the thrilling 150-lap feature drew to a close.
None of the NASCAR quartet were Pollard’s equal on Wednesday night, though, as the Senoia, Georgia, native sped to the point, negotiated lapped traffic and never looked back to claim his first victory on the first-year National Tour.
“We took off there and we were pretty good, but I let William (Byron) by me for a while to see if he was any better,” Pollard said. “We started the race tight – I wanted to start the race tight – but we made the right adjustments on the last break (at Lap 100) and after that, we were good. It’s so great to be here with the history of this place and with it coming back, I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
Byron was second with Elliott, Smith and Suarez completing the top five.
“I had a lot of fun out there. The race track was abrasive on tires. You could feel it through the wheel and how the tires just didn’t grip the road,” said Byron, who has won three Cup Series races this season. “It’s fun any time you can race with Bubba (Pollard). He’s probably the best in these cars. I thought Chase (Elliott) was maybe the best on old tires – he had a lot of grip – but when we put tires on, Bubba was the best. I didn’t have anything for him. We’d get to lapped cars, but I couldn’t really catch him. He was good. … It’s going to be interesting on Sunday. The facility looks amazing and the place is really cool. The atmosphere here is pretty perfect for an All-Star Race.”
The finish:
Bubba Pollard, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Sammy Smith, Daniel Suarez, Kaden Kvapil, Casey Roderick, Cole Butcher, Derek Thorn, Ty Makeski, Matt Craig, William Sawalich, Jett Noland, Austin Nason, Michael Hinde, Jeremy Doss, Stephen Nasse, Carson Hocevar, Jake Finch, Blaine Rocha, Hudson Halder, Albert Francis, Grant Enfinger, John Bolen, Derek Griffith, Anthony Sergi, Billy VanMeter, Justin Crider, Gio Ruggiero, Noah Gragson, Conner Jones, Derek Kraus.