2008 Summer Shootout Bandolero Stories - Round Ten - August 12th, 2008
Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, North Carolina (Quarter-Mile Track)
YOUNG GUNS: FINCHUM FINISHES FIRST IN RACE AND POINTS ~ By James Spencer
Chad Finchum didn’t have to win the last round of the Summer Shootout in order to steal the championship. In fact, he barely had to race at all. That didn’t stop him, however, from nabbing the title in spectacular form. After yellow flags gave way to an unsure start of the race, Finchum took the top spot immediately, set the #19 to cruise control, and raced on his laurels all the way to the finish line.
“We took the green there. They told me that all I had to do this race was finish with just one lap under the green,” Finchum explained. “We were going for the win from the start, like we always do, but I was also trying to drive a little more cautiously than I usually do. I was trying to stay out of every wreck. There was a wreck right in front of us off of turn four. I had to use a really safe move; I wasn’t sure if I was going to dodge it. But luckily, we did. Luckily, we got the championship.
“It was getting a little tight in the points at the end. Our whole crew was up on their toes. They really picked our equipment up. We changed the car set up completely. It was really great tonight.”
Second across the line was points runner-up Corey Gordon. Despite a consistently skillful performance throughout, the unstoppable Finchum once again snuffed Gordon’s hope for a first-place finish this season.
Corey Gordon. (LN Photo)
“We had a good, strong year,” said Gordon. “Top five’s almost all year. That’s all I wanted, but I wanted that win more than anything. Chad pulled away from me on that restart… I knew I had second place locked up, so I just didn’t want to tear up the car.”
For most of the season, Finchum was the number one spot taunting Gordon. The last round marked a graceful eighth win of the season for the ’08 Young Guns Champion.
“[This race] was just the cherry on the cake,” concluded Finchum. “Coming into this year, all I wanted was at least one win. Luckily, and hopefully, we got eight in addition to winning the points. That’s just amazing. I think God was on our side this season. It was great.”
Chad Finchum won his eighth race Tuesday as well as the Young Guns title. (LN Photo)
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OUTLAWS: WINS, CHAMPIONSHIPS & FRIENDSHIPS HIGHLIGHT FINAL SHOOTOUT ROUND ~ By Jason Buckley
The title chase for the Bandolero Outlaws division in the 2008 Summer Shootout looked like it was going to be a tight battle down to the wire. After Kendall Sellers made an exit from the points chase after being disqualified early this season due to a carburetor violation, his former teammate Chris Morgan and his current teammate Bailey Freeman took over the task for the title. Both were locked in a tie for the top spot with three races left to go in the season, but a wreck in the eighth round put Morgan in the position for the title chase.
Heading into the 10th round, all Morgan needed to do was start the feature to win the championship due to the low car count in the division. Even though he wasn’t a contender for the race victory, his seventh-place finish was enough to snag the title.
“This is my fifth or sixth year of racing,” said Morgan. “I have been second a few times and I should have won last year until they reset the points. I have been waiting for a long time, so it is about time I got it.”
While Morgan enjoyed the championship, Sellers enjoyed his victory, his seventh win of the season. With skipping one week, a wreck in another and the disqualification, the seven wins weren’t enough to get him the title this season.
“It is a bitter-sweet ending for us,” said Sellers. “To go seven in a row like we did, that is spectacular. I don’t know many people that have done that. I have seen them win eight of the 10 races, but never seven in a row. We have hit our mark this year and seem to have made a good impression wherever we have been.”
It was Sellers’ wins and Morgan’s first championship that will be most known during the Shootout for the Outlaws, but it could also be known as the start of the healing process between two former friends. Sellers and Morgan have been at the center of the buzz bin this season after the former teammates severed all business and personal ties. Neither driver would give the other the time of day, but Sellers might have planted the first seed to mend the fence between the two.
“As rare as it is to hear me say this, if anybody deserves to win that championship it is the #7 team (Morgan),” said Sellers. “They have worked their butts off for the past five or six years. They deserve it. I would like to be sitting there, but last year I was fortunate enough to do it and it is something you never will forget.
Chris Morgan, Kendall Sellers ex-teammate, won the Outlaws title. (LN Photo)
“There are a lot of hard feelings. One of my crew members came up to me before the race and told me he (Morgan) said he was surprised that I hadn’t wrecked him yet for this points deal. With as much as on-track rivals we are and as much as they do not want to speak to me when they go through the pits, we are all human. We worked for it last year, and for what they have been through they deserve it.”
Morgan, when told what Sellers told LN, was taken back by it. While the two still do not agree on who appears to be ignoring the other, he was genuinely happy to hear his former friend offered up congratulations to him.
“I hate it the way it is. We were friends for a couple years and I wish we still were,” explained Morgan. “Things happened that we didn’t like and they didn’t like. We tried to make things better and it seems like they don’t want to. I don’t know. I know it is racing and you get mad at each other. I just come out here to have a good time. I am surprised he said that. That makes me feel a little better.”
Kendall Sellers won his seventh Shootout race of the 2008 season on Tuesday. (LN Photo)
BANDITS: SPARKPLUG WINS TITLE BUT PLOTT ELECTRIFIES CROWN ~ By Bob Dillner
It was a battle for the ages. Just 16 points separated two of the best Bandolero drivers in the country in the quest for the Bandit division championship belt in Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s Summer Shootout going into its final round. Tuesday night was a title bout between the small in stature, but highly spirited Dillon “Sparkplug” Bassett and the tall, yet quiet kid they call “Tater Tot,” Kason Plott.
There are some similarities between the two however; both have successful siblings at the Shootout. Plott is the younger brother of last year’s Bandit division champ, Kyle, and Bassett’s older brother is last year’s Young Guns Bando champ, Ronnie Jr.
The similarities end there, especially when it came to what happened Tuesday. Kason Plott immediately put himself up against the ropes and into the corner during heat race action.
“Two cars in front of me spun out and I went to the middle and I cleared them. Then this kid bounced off the wall and tore my right front off,” said Plott.
Plott was forced to run the B-Main, which he won and began the 20-lap feature in the 22nd starting spot.
Meanwhile, it appeared as though it would be a cake-walk for Bassett. The 11-year-old started the race in fifth and was already battling for the lead on lap 5.
Plott never gave up hope and put on a show for the ages. From 22nd, he reached the top 10 on lap seven. By lap 12 he was fifth and the following lap he pulled to the back bumper of the 44-machine. Three laps later Plott disposed of Bassett and then took over the lead from Mason Massey with two laps to go.
Dillon Bassett was a bit smaller than the check he received for winning the title. (LN Photo)
“Bassett knew what he had to do though; he followed Plott’s double-zero by Massey and finished runner-up to Plott’s unbelievable run to victory lane. Unofficially, Bassett won the title by a mere six-points.
“All I was thinking is to finish right in front of him (Plott) or finish right behind him and we were good,” said Bassett, who was last year’s National Bandolero Bandit champion. “I can’t believe we didn’t win (the race), but it’s alright because we came home with the championship and I got myself 100 dollars.”
Apparently, friend-of-family and father of Bando competitor, John Carroll (his son is Young Guns driver, Justin) made the bet with Bassett that if he won the title he would give him a $100.
“I was going to tape it to his dashboard, but I was afraid it would blow out,” joked Carroll after the race.
As far as Plott, he was disappointed not to win the championship, but happy to get back to his winning ways after three-straight runner-up finishes.
“It was real hard, but it was fun,” admitted Plott. “Some people were going to let me by so I could win this championship. I came up six points behind, but my mom, my dad, and my brother are still happy I won. Today I was hoping he (Bassett) would finish fourth and I would win the championship, but we had a good year.”
Kason Plott talks to Bob Dillner after the race. (LN Photo)
