Bassett native Josh Reeves raced to checkered flag and claimed victory on Friday night in the 100-lap JEGS CRA All-Stars Tour race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The race was the first of six feature races scheduled for the three-day Rusty Wallace Automotive Group Short Track U.S. Nationals.
Reeves ran his No. 96 Lopez Wealth Management Ford past Jordan Miller and Matt Maurer to take the win.
After starting the race 18th, Reeves battled a vibration during testing and practice, but the team’s efforts in fine-tuning the car helped and the car and driver finally hit their stride in the closing laps of the feature.
Reeves led the final eight laps, got the win and all before losing a rear tire.
“It means so much,” Reeves said. “This team works so hard. I don’t even know what to say. This is without a doubt the biggest win of my career. Just to get this win for Wade and the team for giving me a chance means the world to me. We didn’t have the best practice session or the best qualifying, but we’re here with the trophy and it worked out for us. I can’t believe I won Bristol. This is amazing.”
Reeves made the move recently from Henry County, VA to Abingdon where he works for Henderson Motorsports, preparing Camping World Truck Series trucks for NASCAR on NBC analyst and part-time driver, Parker Kligerman.
It was talking to veteran crew chief Chris Carrier that Reeves received a revelation and first hand experience about the high banks of Bristol.
“He said you are not here to race everybody else you are here to race the track,” Reeves said. “That is the mentality I have. We are all facing the same monster, we are all David and that’s Goliath and we have to treat it with respect. That’s what I did during the test and this weekend. Because of that, staying out of trouble and staying level headed through it all, I believe that’s why we were able to capitalize.”
“There was so much emotion in those last few laps,” Reeves said. “I knew that tire was going down. I could feel it. We were fortunate to hang on to get the win.”
The night was not good for NASCAR veteran Mike Skinner who was racing in the event. The Florida native who drove for Richard Childress and Morgan-McClure Motorsports at one time in his NASCAR Cup Series experience, earned the pole and dominated most of the race.
But with 29 to go, Skinner ran up on lapped traffic and slammed into the rear of Tyler Hufford’s machine. Skinner’s Toyota received heavy damage to the front end suspension and was forced to exit the race.
In other racing on the night, Bo Hoelscher took the checkered flag in the 10-lap Vore Compacts All Star Dash and rookie racer Zach Bube claimed the win in the 20-lap Vore Compacts New Star Feature.
By Rod Mullins | Augusta Free Press
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