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Trevor Edwards Scores Thrilling Pro Challenge Playoff Win at Lonesome Pine

Monday October 13, 2008

 

Edwards Capitalizes on Kyle Plott’s Missed Shift on Green-White-Checker Restart

CONCORD, NC (October 13, 2008) – Trevor Edwards knows what it’s like to have bad luck. The 15-year-old Pro Challenge Series rookie has had his fair share of it through the 2008 season. Edwards, the son of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Wayne Edwards, has turned many heads throughout the year in his silver #3 machine. He frequently raced inside the top-five, but good luck never stayed around long enough for the Shepherdsville, Kentucky native to consistently finish there or score that elusive first victory.

It may have taken all season, but all the luck seemed to finally shift to the good side for Edwards on Saturday, October 11th. When it mattered the most, in the second race of the four-round Pro Challenge Playoff, Edwards’ good luck shined when the bad luck bug bit fellow rookie Kyle Plott on a green-white-checkered restart at Lonesome Pine Raceway in Virginia.

Plott, who dusted the field in qualifying and dominated the first 48 laps of the race, missed a shift on the final restart. That allowed Edwards to shoot to the bottom side and hold off Chad Finchum and National Point leader Clint King to the checkered flag for his first Pro Challenge win.

“This is the best feeling in the world,” said Edwards in Lonesome Pine’s victory lane. “It’s been a long time since an Edwards has been in victory lane. I didn’t know if I should do donuts or what. I didn’t know if I should do a back-flip like Carl Edwards, but I’d probably break my neck if I did that, so I decided not to.”

The excitement was valid on Edwards’ face in victory lane, as he took what seemed to be a sure podium finish and made it a victory when Plott did not come up to speed on the final restart.

“I was messing with Plott on the start, just tapping him with the bumper, letting him know I was still back there and trying to get into his head. He messed up and I just drove off into one as far as I could see. Once I got out front, I made another lap just to be sure I won the race. I wasn’t going to stop until I saw the yellow flag after the race.”

For as good as the first 48 laps were for Plott, the last restart made the night a bit of a disappointment.

“We just had a lack of luck tonight,” said Plott. “Everything was going good except for the last two laps. It stinks bad – real bad. I had an awesome car.

“They threw the white flag and (Stephen) Bergh spun out. I thought I had it wrapped up and then the caution came out. I was bummed. Then sure enough, on the restart, it didn’t go into gear. I pulled it back and it just didn’t go in gear.”

From the drop of the green flag, Plott seemed to be in command. While he checked out early, a hungry pack of young racers were battling hard behind him.

National Point leader Clint King struggled in qualifying, but steadily made his way through the field. Similarly, 2008 Bandolero National Champion Chad Finchum, who was making his first Pro Challenge Series start in the BDI Racing #151 Chevy, worked his way to the front of the field and moved to second late in the race, where he had one last shot at the victory on the final restart.

“Our toe was out right there at the end, but I knew I had to get by (Plott) at the start,” said Finchum. “We took the lead on the restart from turn four to the start-finish line, but in turn one the toe gave out and two of them got by me. Then after that, I knew I could get back by one, but I didn’t know about (Edwards). I was able to get by King there on the last lap and just ran out of time to get the leader. But still, this was an awesome night for us.

“This exceeds my expectations. I figured we were just going to come out here and just get some seat time. I got seat time and got the feel of the car and it started to feel like home to me. Second place is like a win for us here tonight.”

King was able to overcome a slip-up into the Lonesome Pine wall and a leaking tire late in the race to finish third, thus tightening his stronghold on the 2008 Pro Challenge National Point lead.

“I got up into the wall at one point and that made the right-front start to go down,” said King. “That kind of challenged us at the end. But, something happened to Kyle Plott on that last restart. I went up through the middle because if I didn’t I was going to stack up the whole field. I’m happy we were able to get through to third. It was a real good points’ night.”

On a night when it seemed like many of the front-runners ran into bad luck, Edwards felt relieved that this night was one where the bug did not bite him.

“You get more confidence every week in this series,” said Edwards. “You start going faster every time out. One week we would have a good run, and then the next week we’d be horrible. We knew we’d just have to put it all together one day and that’s what we were able to do this time.”

While King’s third-place run was good for him in the National Championship scope, Edwards’ victory helped him towards the goal of being the 2008 series Rookie of the Year with two races remaining on the schedule.

“Clint’s probably too far out ahead in National Points for us to get him unless we run perfect and he messes up at Orlando and Peach State. I don’t see them falling off at all. They’ve been good all season long. We’ve just got to focus on where we are compared to (Kyle) Wilson and Bergh for this Rookie of the Year title. We’ve got two races to go for that and we’ll see where we end up.”

Behind Edwards, Finchum and King, Kyle Wilson and Plott rounded out the top-five.

The Pro Challenge teams will have a short turn-around before round three of the four-race Playoff that will determine the 2008 National Champion and Rookie of the Year. Orlando SpeedWorld will host the penultimate PC feature of the season on Saturday, October 18th as the headline race in an action-packed card at Orlando. Friday, October 17th, Pro Challenge teams will have the chance to compete at Orlando in a non-points event on the undercard for the FASCAR Bright House Challenge Series Super Late Model event.

For more media information on the Pro Challenge oval track and road course series and racecars, contact Matt Kentfield at (704) 788-2134 × 5 and visit www.prochallengeseries.com.

Pro Challenge Playoffs
Lonesome Pine Raceway
October 11, 2008
1. Trevor Edwards
2. Chad Fichum
3. Clint King
4. Kyle Wilson
5. Kyle Plott (Pole Winner)
6. Justin Crider
7. Steve Bergh
8. Tim Forbes
9. Terry Horak
10. Kyle Benjamin
11. Chris Brown
12. Shane Roberts
13. Layne Clifton
14. Brandon Williamson
15. Meghan Dillner

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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