BRISTOL, Tenn. — Benny Gordon wasn’t crowned the Northern Division champion for the first time in four years this season, but his win in the Aug. 22 Food City 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway eased his pain.
Gordon took the lead when Wade Day bounced off the wall on lap 86 and fought off Chase Pistone on a green-white-checkered finish en route to his third victory of the season and the 24th of his career.
“We’ve always run well here over the years, but we’ve never been able to win,” said Gordon. “It’s really cool to be the first person to win on the new surface here. I don’t know that we had the best car here. But once we got out front, our car was really good.”
Pistone’s car was pretty good, too. Pistone took a shot at Gordon on the final restart, but he came up .300 of a second shy of his second victory of the year.
“This was really important for our team,” said Pistone. “Hopefully, this will get everybody pumped up heading into Mansfield for the Championship Series.”
Trevor Bayne continued his recent upswing by finishing third after starting 23rd on the .533-mile oval. Shelby Howard and Bobby Gill rounded out the top five.
Michael Ritch won the pole and led the first six laps. He ended up 19th, but still clinched the Southern Division championship.
The finish:
Showing driver, car, laps completed and money won: 1. Benny Gordon, Ford, 151, $10,000; 2. Chase Pistone, Chevrolet, 151, $6,000; 3. Trevor Bayne, Chevrolet, 151, $5,600; 4. Shelby Howard, Chevrolet, 151, $4,300; 5. Bobby Gill, Ford, 151, $4,000; 6. Shane Wallace, Ford, 151, $2,800; 7. Billy Bigley, Jr., Ford, 151, $2,600; 8. Richard Boswell, Chevrolet, 151, $4,900; 9. Jeff Agnew, Ford, 151, $2,300; 10. Dusty Williams, Ford, 151, $2,200; 11. Jay Fogleman, Ford, 151, $3,050; 12. Mike Garvey, Ford, 151, $2,000; 13. Eric Humphries, Ford, 151, $1,900; 14. Carl Long, Ford, 151, $2,300; 15. James Buescher, Chevrolet, 151, $1,700;  16. Gary Helton, Chevrolet, 151, $1,600; 17. Steven Davis, Ford, 151, $1,600; 18. Derrick Kelley, Ford, 148, $1,600; 19. Michael Ritch, Ford, 148, $3,100; 20. Dange Hanniford, Chevrolet, 148; 21. Clay Jones, Ford, 146, $1,400; 22. Matt Hawkins, Ford, 136, $1,400; 23. Caleb Holman, Chevrolet, 134, $1,400; 24. Bll Plemons, Jr., Ford, 132, $1,400; 25. Woody Howard, Chevrolet, 130, $1,400; 26. Justin Wakefield, Ford, 125, $1,200; 27. Tom Hessert, Chevrolet, 110, $1,200; 28. Danny O’Quinn, Ford, 104, $1,200; 29. Frank Deiny, Jr., Ford, 102, $1,200; 30. Wade Day, Ford, 90, $2,200; 31. Kirk Leone, Ford, 63, $1,400; 32. Joey Coulter, Ford, 43, $1,200; 33. Andy Lally, Chevrolet, 26, $1,200; 34. Brian Scott, Ford, 23, $1,200; 35. Mart Newsbitt, Ford, 22, $1,200; 36. Mark McFarland, Chevrolet, 13, $1,450.