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Anchor Down: Benjamin Triumphs at Navy Federal 125 as Enfinger-Pollard Late Fireworks Thrill Five Flags Faithful

By Chuck Corder

It’s not often a winner gets overshadowed.

And it’d be unfair to ignore the masterful job Kyle Benjamin did Friday at Five Flags Speedway en route to the Navy Federal 125 victory, his first career Blizzard Series checkered flag.

His win marks the sixth different champion in the last six Blizzard races.

“I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to win one of these here,� said the 16-year-old Benjamin, who won a Pro Late Model feature at Five Flags a few years ago. “We finally were able to put it together and get to Victory Lane. This is the most satisfied win I’ve ever had.

“It’s a prestigious racetrack. I’m excited.�

Benjamin’s toothy grin was understandable after outrunning the 24-car field.

But the door-to-door battle Grant Enfinger and Bubba Pollard delivered in the final 15 laps was yet another chapter penned in the 60-year history of the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

Enfinger, who has tasted NASCAR and races regularly on the ARCA series, was brilliant in holding off Pollard down the stretch.

Pollard, who was the fast car in qualifying (16.305 seconds), seemingly had Enfinger where he wanted him, setting him up each turn around the oval from Lap 111 on.

It appeared several times Pollard would successfully make the pass, but Enfinger denied the Senoia, Ga., driver and defending Blizzard Series champion each time.

The pair was nose-to-tail around the speedway, putting on a show to thrill the packed house.

Amazingly, Enfinger held Pollard off to collect runner-up honors.

“It’s not where we wanted to finish, but I appreciate Bubba racing me clean,� Enfinger said. “I burned stuff up trying get by Kyle. I feel like we learned a lot. I can’t say enough about coming back to Five Flags Speedway.�

Pollard made one final push on the white-flag lap. But, as the two rivals came to the checkered flag, Enfinger gunned his No. 7 one last time to clip Polllard’s No. 26.

“We had good racecar,� Pollard said. “We were loose at end. I know if the roles would’ve been reversed, (Enfinger) probably would’ve dumped me.�

That uncharacteristic response from Pollard was a product of much frustration Friday.

Pollard and Daniel Hemric flip-flopped the lead in the first 75 laps before the competition yellow — a mandated 10-minute break where the teams could make adjustments to the car — came out.

When the cars came back out to the oval, a five-car invert was set, meaning Pollard dropped from his lead to fifth.

Benjamin’s fortunes catapulted to the pole thanks to the invert and he made stick in the final 50 laps.

Mike Garvey was the most aggressive mover in the first half of Friday’s 125 lapper.

Starting sixth, the No. 1 quickly began picking off cars in the top five and had steered his way to second behind Hemric by Lap 16.

But 10 laps later, Garvey was way off the pace. The car belched out a big boom once it crossed the start-finish later and it was quickly apparent something was amiss.

Garvey began to plummet before finally pulling into the pits where it was discovered he was having electrical problems.

 

Pro Trucks

Chopper Stagner just felt fortunate to be at Five Flags Speedway on Friday night.

After the racing gods had their way with him last week at his home track in Mobile (Ala.) International Speedway, Stagner didn’t know if he’d get a chance to race this week.

But Stagner and his crew burned the candle at both ends to get their Pro Truck ready, and their dedication paid off as the No. 38 put it in Victory Lane for the third time in as many races this season.

“We’ve been working hard on this thing all week,� Stanger said. “We lost some sponsors after. But the guys all chipped in and here we are. This crew is my sponsor.�

Despite being the fast qualifier, Stagner started second after the invert. He quickly assumed the lead past pole sitter Beau Bukwski thanks to an outside line before the field came back to the stripe.

The most appealing battle on the track in the final 24 laps was for second between Oakie Mason and Jay Jay Day.

Mason went up the track on Lap 13, which opened up some daylight for Day. But the series points leader failed to slide underneath Mason, as the pair battled side-by-side for three laps before Day got loose and Mason pulled comfortably back ahead.

Mason made one final move late, closing the gap Stagner had built, but he could not drive it deep enough to come close to overtaking Stagner’s insurmountable lead.

Sportsmen

Kenny Williams dusted off the cobwebs Friday night and found his way back to Victory Lane at Five flags Speedway.

He had just enough left in his powder-blue No. 33 to hold off Brandon Burks.

“Well, it goes to show, old guys can still do it,� an ecstatic Williams said, clutching his winner’s trophy.

Williams took the lead on Lap 5 and held off a charging Burks to earn his first win of the season in the 25-lap feature.

Points leader Steve Buttrick took the $200 challenge of close friend Johnny Greene and started tail end of the 12-car field, six spots in back of his assigned position courtesy of the dice roll.

Buttrick made a valiant charge, climbing all the way to a fourth-place finish before running out of laps.

Burks posted his best result in this is his rookie Sportsman season.

“It’s a lot harder than it looks,� he said. “Without all the people that help on the car, I wouldn’t be up here. This is the best class there is.�

Gary Goodwin, another fellow Sportsman newcomer, had his second straight podium finish, coming home in third.

“It’d be a lot better two places ahead, but that’s all right, we’ll take a podium finish,� he said.

 

Bombers

Michael Nelson worked his gameplan to perfection.

The Bombers division points leader started third in the 20-lap feature, but quickly took firm control of the 11-car field.

After working his way to the front on Lap 3, it was all over but the shouting. Nelson posted his second win of the season to pad his points advantage against five-time winner Tracy Soles finished second.

“I like this winning thing. I need to do it more often,� Nelson succinctly said. “We’ve got six more to go. Hopefully, we can string some together.

“The car was fast, really fast. We had some troubles in practice. We were going on prayer, hoping we fixed it. Obviously we did.�

With Soles on the pole, Nelson started third, but quickly took P2 from 13-year-old rookie Ryan Worsham, who posted his first career win two weeks ago.

After a brief caution for debris, Robert Balkum began to make his move into the top-three, as Worsham fell like a rock. He dropped to sixth, as he got freight-trained trying to run the high line.

Balkum tried to get by Soles and climb to second, but the recent Tate High graduate did a smart job to prevent that from happening.

“We didn’t have enough for Michael tonight,� Soles said.

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