BRISTOL, Tenn. — Caleb Holman picked up his first USAR Hooters Pro Cup victory in dominant fashion, leading 97 of 150 laps in the Aug. 20 Aaron’s 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Driving the No. 75s Food Country USA/Pizza Plus/Lays Chevrolet Impala, Holman started third in the 40-car field for the series’ regular-season finale and pitted after an early red flag to fulfill a mandated two-tire pit stop. From there, Holman picked his way toward the front of the pack and set his sights on leader Allen Purkhiser.
Holman used a rash of multi-car cautions to close in on Purkhiser, who was able to pull away from the field on each restart. But when the green waved on lap 49, Purkhiser was unable to shake Holman’s Chevy from his No. 68n Bill Ellis Barbecue Ford Fusion lap after lap.
Finally, Purkhiser bobbled off of turn two, opening the door for Holman, who edged Purkhiser at the flagstand on lap 54 before pulling away from Purkhiser and third-place Benny Gordon. After that, it was smooth sailing for Holman, as he took the checkered flag 1.715 seconds ahead of Gordon, James Buescher, Woody Howard and Trevor Bayne.
“I just can’t believe it. You don’t get race cars like that that often. We just had a piece,” said Holman, who picked up $11,400 for his triumph and who lives 25 minutes from the speedway in Abingdon, Va. “What can you say? It’s just awesome. I can’t believe it. To do it here the way we did it wasn’t a fluke. It was a heck of a good race car and it all worked out tonight. I’m going to relish this victory and have fun with it.”
More than anything, Holman was proud of the way he picked up his first victory, a feat he said overshadows anything he has ever done.
“We didn’t have to have anybody fall out. We didn’t have to have anyone have a flat tire or anything crazy; we just had a really fast car,” Holman said. “That’s something I pride myself on is having a fast race car because I work on the car in the shop. Just coming out here and having the fastest piece is very hard.”
Going into the Aaron’s 150, Mark McFarland held a 44-point lead over Michael Ritch in the Southern Division standings. Despite early suspension problems and a 22nd-place finish, McFarland hung on to his points lead and picked up $15,000 for winning the Greased Lightning Southern Division title.
The finish:
Showing driver, car, laps completed and money won: 1. Caleb Holman, Chevrolet, 150, $11,400; 2. Benny Gordon, Ford, 150, $7,200; 3. James Buescher, Chevrolet, 150, $7,200; 4. Woody Howard, Chevrolet, 150, $4,400; 5. Trevor Bayne, Chevrolet, 150, $4,200; 6. Mikey Kile, Chevrolet, 150, $4,600; 7. Allen Purkhiser, Ford, 150, $2,600; 8. Clay Rogers, Chevrolet, 150, $3,300; 9. John Gibson, Ford, 149, $2,200; 10. Billy Bigley, Jr., Ford, 149, $2,200; 11. Sam Fullone, Chevrolet, 149, $2,500; 12. J.P. Morgan, Chevrolet, 149, $2,500; 13. Tim Bainey, Jr., Ford, 149, $1,900; 14. Matt Hawkins, Ford, 147, $2,200; 15. Josh Hamner, Ford, 147, $1,700; 16. Jay Fogleman, Ford, 145, $2,750; 17. Gary St. Amant, Chevrolet, 144, $3,100; 18. Michael Ritch, Ford, 143, $3,100; 19. Bobby Gill, Ford, 138, $2,600; 20. Ronnie Souders, Chevrolet, 134, $1,600; 21. Hunter Robbins, Ford, 131, $1,400; 22. Mark McFarland, Chevrolet, 118, $2,000; 23. Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 107, $1,800; 24. Matt Lofton, Chevrolet, 98, $1,400; 25. Derek Kale, Chevrolet, 75, $1,800; 26. Mart Nesbitt, Ford, 75, $1,800; 27. Ryan Sieg, Ford, 71, $1,200; 28. Derrick Kelley, Ford, 56, $1,200; 29. Danny Jackson, Chevrolet, 41, $1,600; 30. Brett Butler, Ford, 41, $1,200; 31. Joey Coulter, Ford, 34, $1,200; 32. Wade Day, Ford, 30, $2,600; 33. Carl Long, Ford, 27, $1,200; 34. Dange Hanniford, Ford, 27, $1,200; 35. Shane Huffman, Chevrolet, 19, $1,700; 36. Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 18, $1,200; 37. Jeff Agnew, Chevrolet, 17, $1,700; 38. Drew Herring, Ford, $2,150; 39. Kirk Leone, Ford, 1, $1,200; 40. Matt Merrell, Chevrolet, 1, $1,200.