Pollard’s 2011 Win Total Reaches Car Number – 18 – at South Alabama

Pollard Takes Front End of Alabama Pro 200 in Opp; Finishes Fifth in Second 100-Lapper

The number-18 means a lot to Bubba Pollard and his Ronnie Sanders Racing team.  That is the car number that Sanders, the team’s owner, had driven for decades in the Southeast while becoming one of the all-time greats in the short track scene.  Eighteen is the car number that Pollard has driven en route to becoming one of the most successful drivers in the country over recent seasons.  But, now the number-18 means something else.

Eighteen is now the 2011 victory total for Pollard and the

RSR team as another trophy was brought back to their

Georgia shop after winning the first 100-lap feature in the

Alabama Pro 200 at South Alabama Speedway.

“We had a good race car, a little snug the whole race,” said

Pollard.  “We were right behind Chris [Davidson] and we still

had 40 laps to go with still a lot of racing.  Chris had a good

car.  I don’t know if we could’ve gotten by him or what, but

luckily we come out a victory.”

The win was the fifth of the season for Pollard and the RSR

team at South Alabama Speedway.  Safe to say the 18 bunch

has the place figured out, but it’s not because of a trick

setup or any other secrets.

“I think it’s just luck.   As long as you have the fenders on your car at the end of the race, then you’ll have a pretty

good shot at winning.  That’s the biggest thing, just being there at the end.  We’ve had a good season here, the last couple or three years have been good to us.”

After leaving victory lane from the first 100-lap feature, the 18 crew went to work getting the car ready for the second 100-lap feature.  A few setup tweaks at the break didn’t agree with the racecar in the second race, then a late-race spin hurt his track position, resulting in a fifth-place finish for Pollard.

“Just a rough night,” said Pollard of the second 100-lap race.  “The last hundred just didn’t go our way.  We made a few adjustments at the break and went the wrong way obviously.  We didn’t quite have a good car all night really.  We were kind of off.

Still, not too bad of a day, we had a win and a fifth.  The spin late cost us a better finish, but not too bad of a weekend.”

Now Pollard will focus his efforts on three prestigious races to close out the 2011 season to perhaps get his win total over the 20 mark.

“We’re going to the North-South Shootout (November 5th at Caraway Speedway in NC), The World Crown (Nov. 13th at Gresham Motorsports Park in GA) and looking forward to going back to the (Snowball) Derby (December 4th at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL).  We’ve had strong runs in the Super Late Model cars this year and our Pro cars as well.  Hopefully we can keep the best part of this season, our luck.  We just have to get up front, keep the nose clean, keep all the fenders on it then we can be up front, I hope.”

Pollard celebrates his 18th win of the season.