Photo Finish Puts Bubba Pollard in PASS South Victory Lane at Gresham

First PASS Victory Comes After a Late Race Pass for Victory

It does not matter if you win by an inch or by a mile. Winning is winning and Bubba Pollard can preach that after he scored his first career win at the new Gresham Motorsports Park complex in Georgia Saturday night.  While Pollard was a terror on the old version of the Jefferson, Georgia track, then-known as Peach State Speedway, he had been plagued by bad luck and oh-so-close finishes to victory lane.  Finally, Pollard was able to put it all together in one of the most thrilling finishes in the track’s long history as Peach State or its new identity as GMP as he edged out the win over Augie Grill by mere inches in the inaugural PASS South race at GMP. 

"I have wanted to win here so bad since they built this place," said Pollard.  "After a great battle like that it means that much more to have this trophy going back home with us.  We used to run well here on the old track and now we got one on the new surface."  

Pollard lined up third on the final restart and followed Grill past the restart leader second before he made his move to pull alongside Grill.  Grill and Pollard would go door-to-door for the final lap and a half with Pollard squeezing out a 0.021 margin of victory at the line, one of the closest in Pro All Stars Series history. 

"Augie and I have had some great battles and hard races over the years so when he got the lead I knew I needed to go or he would have been gone,” said Pollard.  "We got along side of him and made it work. I was not sure we won until it was over.  I really wanted this on.  It feels great to finally have a win here." 

Pollard set fast time and took 100 laps to get the lead back after drawing sixth. (Late Model Digest Photo)

Bubba Pollard has now won on both the old track and the new track in Jefferson, GA. (Late Model Digest Photo)

Pollard had a quick car all day and was the fastest man in Georgia when the Pro All Star Series wrapped up with their time trials.  Pollard then drew a six and worked his way forward from there. A long green flag run slowed his advancement forward, however.

"I knew we need to have a caution there at the end to pull it off," said Pollard.  "We set fast time and where marching forward, but a long run got us a ways back from the lead so we needed that late-race yellow.  We were banking on a late race caution and it almost hurt our strategy, but sure enough we got one with four to go."

For Pollard, the GMP win was sweet revenge on the half-mile track, as he lost a photo finish with Jimmy Garmon in a Super Late Model event last season.  This time, Pollard sealed the deal to capture his 10th Late Model win of the season.

"We have had some tough luck in the PASS Series the last couple of years so to get our first win with them and our first win at Gresham is a nice double.  We hope this gets us over that hump and we can go on from here.  We want to win in PASS again, and more importantly we want to win the World Crown in November at Gresham."

The World Crown 300 is one of the biggest Super Late Model events in the country and Pollard is still looking for that first win as a list of historic drivers have captured the crown in the past.

Bubba Pollard will return to action this coming weekend with a Pro Late Model doubleheader on the Gulf Coast with a 100 lapper at Five Flags Speedway (FL) on Friday, July 22nd followed by a 100 lapper at Mobile International Speedway (AL) on Saturday, July 23rd as Pollard looks for his eighth win in a row at Mobile.

For more information visit BubbaPollard.com or email Elgin Traylor at Elgin@51sports.net