HICKORY, N.C. – Bubba Pollard and Preston Peltier weren’t exactly pleased with each other after Saturday’s Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway.
The pair of asphalt late model veterans battled for much of Saturday’s Pro All Stars Series-sanctioned super late model race, with the pair exchanging the lead multiple times throughout the 150-lap event.
Unfortunately the classic battle between the two stars ended abruptly on lap 134. Down the backstretch the two made contact, forcing Peltier into the outside wall. Peltier responded in turns three and four by spinning Pollard from the race lead.
Pollard expressed his displeasure with Peltier under caution by stopping directly in front of Peltier on the track before continuing on. Pollard rejoined the race at the tail of the field and was joined there by Peltier after officials penalized him for rough driving following the contact with Pollard.
Pollard climbed back through the field to finish sixth, while Peltier ended up 11th at the checkered flag behind race winner Derek Ramstrom.
Peltier, who was attempting to win the Easter Bunny 150 for the sixth time in his career, said the contact with Pollard on the backstretch was too much.
“He crossed me over and he put me in the fence on the backstretch,” Peltier said. “I don’t care if you’re Bubba Pollard or not, I ain’t gonna take no crap from you. If you’re going to stick me in the fence and I ain’t going to win, you ain’t going to win either.
“I can tell you he don’t like to get beat. I felt like I was going to race him hard. Maybe a little rubbing, but I wouldn’t have stuck him in the fence, you know what I mean? I think that’s what he thought he had to do to win and he did it and here we are.”
Pollard, who earned his first victory at Hickory in March in CARS Tour competition, was disappointed with the outcome not just for himself, but for the fans in attendance.
“We were racing hard. We were leaning back and forth on each other. He leaned on me, I leaned on him. We were racing it out. Then he wants to go and dump me,” Pollard said. “It could have been a good race for the fans to the end. We could have been back and forth. I know what kind of race car driver he is. It could have been a good race, but he wanted to race dirty.
“It’s alright. It’s part of it. It’s part of racing. We had a fast race car. We had a car capable of winning. We’ll come back and try again.”