 Mooresville, NC (October 20, 2008) –Mark McFarland had the winning set-up for Saturday night’s USAR Hooters Pro cup championship race at Southern National Raceway Park. Unfortunately for the driver of the No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevy, the race was run Sunday afternoon.
“We tested in the evening both Thursday and Friday and our car was almost perfect for night-time racing conditions,” said McFarland, who finished fourth in the 250-lap event. “We got rained out Saturday and the race was run Sunday afternoon. We were in trouble from the start. I’m amazed we finished fourth as much as we struggled trying to get the car to handle in the daytime conditions.”
McFarland, second in the USAR points chase heading into the race, was the fastest iron in the log topping practice with a lap of 14.945 seconds (96.353 average miles per hour) on the ultra-fast Southern National four-tenths mile oval. When rains Saturday afternoon drenched qualifying and the race, the field was set by points putting McFarland on the outside of the front row with championship leader Benny Gordon.
It didn’t take long for sparks to fly.
“I don’t know what happened to Benny going into the first corner,” said McFarland. “We were side by side and he slid way up the track. That carried me way up in the loose stuff.  Fortunately, we had a restart because somebody spun behind us. I was able to get by Benny on that one and we led most of the early part of the race.”
McFarland and his Pete Knight Racing entry held the top spot until pitting after another caution on Lap 83. Now back in the pack, McFarland tried to race his way back to the front only to have a balky race car slow his progress.
“We were real tight the whole race,” said McFarland. “Usually, Southern National gets real loose at night. That’s not the way it was Sunday afternoon. The car was incredibly different and we tried getting it right all afternoon.”
McFarland wheeled his Chevy back into the top-10 by the halfway mark and was in the top-five when a late caution and a green, white, checkered flag finish closed out the race.
“It was tough to pass, especially the way the car was handling,” said McFarland. “We were lucky to have the green, white, checkered flag finish because I was able to pass and get fourth place. If anything good came out of it, it was that Benny (Gordon) was even tighter than we were and he finished eighth. We cut his point’s lead in half.”
McFarland now trails Gordon in the USAR Championship Series by 27 points (672-645) with one race remaining in the title chase.
 “We’ll just go to Rockingham and try to lead the most laps, lead at halfway, and win the race,” stated McFarland. “We’ve got a chance. Anything can happen.”
McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Auto Center/Knight’s Racing Chevy will take the green flag in the final USAR Hooters Pro Cup championship event at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, November 1. Race time is to be determined.
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Championship Battle Swings South
By Paul Warner
Monday, October 13, 2008 11:39:00 AM
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McFarland hoping to sweep Southern National, pull even with Gordon
Myrtle Beach, S.C.-The bad news for Mark McFarland: He trails Benny Gordon by 45 points in the race for the overall Hooters Pro Cup title with just two races remaining. The good news: He’s got two races to catch him-and home-field advantage is in his favor.
Coming into the Dan Duncan Memorial Aaron’s 250 presented by Black’s Tire&Auto Service at Southern National (N.C.) Raceway Park, McFarland has two wins in three starts at the ultra-fast, .4-mile track, including a win earlier this year.
"[Having Southern National on the schedule] is good for us," said McFarland, who has averaged a 1.3 finish at SNRP in three starts. "But it’s still going to be tough. Benny has been on his game. They’ve got a great team, and they’re tough to beat every week. They’ll at least run top-five, so that means we’ve got win the race."
If McFarland wins and Gordon finishes fifth, McFarland would pull within 10 points going into the season-finale Black’s Tire American 200 at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway. But McFarland hopes to do more than that.
"I’d really like to be tied going into Rockingham," said McFarland, driver of the No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevrolet. "We’re going to test [Southern National] on Thursday and test [at the open test] on Friday. We’ve got to be perfect."
McFarland’s car wasn’t perfect at the start of the July event at SNRP, but his team made sure it was at the end.
"We started off the race real, real loose," said McFarland, who started third in the Crane Cams 250. "We tightened it up when we came in to get fuel, then we tightened it up when we came in for tires and track tightened up at the end, so it about made our car perfect at the end of the race."
With a perfect car, McFarland took the lead on Lap 178 and held off Michael Ritch en route to his sixth Hooters Pro Cup win. McFarland will need a similar effort to reel in Gordon for the $150,000 payday that the 2008 Hooters Pro Cup Champion will take home.
While there’s a little gap in the overall title battle, the Miller Lite Rookie of the Year battle is anyone’s game. Hunter Robbins holds a five-point lead over Drew Herring with two races remaining. Herring, who finished second in the Southern Division rookie standings, has trimmed 26 points off Robbins’ point lead over the last two races with back-to-back, top-10 finishes.
"We had a pretty good regular season, but we had some bad luck, too," said Herring, driver of the No. 22s BTS Tire&Wheel Distributor Ford. "Hopefully we’ve got the bad luck behind us."
Herring, a former SNRP Late Model champion, finished ninth in the July event at SNRP, while Robbins finished 16th. Mikey Kile trails Robbins by 20 points. Matt Merrell is 45 points behind in the rookie race.
The Dan Duncan Memorial Aaron’s 250 is scheduled for a green flag at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 18. Front gates will open at 2 p.m. and fans can catch Awesome Awnings Pole Qualifying at 4:30 p.m. Following qualifying, fans will be allowed on the frontstretch for the Wraps INK Autograph Session at 5:45 p.m. Pre-race ceremonies begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets can still be purchased, please call SNRP at (919) 284-1114 for more information.
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By Allen Gregory, Sports Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Mark McFarland’s racing career veered off track in 2006. His fast detour back to success and happiness includes a stop at Bristol Motor Speedway tonight.
The 30-year-old Winchester, Va. native enters the Hooters Pro Cup Food City 150 with three wins and the series points lead. “Leading the points is awesome,” said McFarland, at a press conference at BMS last week. “I’ve been real happy with the way car is running, and I’m just having a good time.”
Times were not so good back in 2006. After recording just one top-10 finish in 21 Nationwide Series in the U.S. Navy Chevrolet, McFarland was fired by car owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. After excelling at the weekly racing level and being labeled as a future star, McFarland was not prepared for the sudden taste of failure.
“It was tough,” McFarland. “I still talk to (Earnhardt) Junior a lot and we’re still good friends. “It was just something they had to do sponsor-wise to make the deal keep going. There might be another chance there.”
In the modern NASCAR world, businessmen can virtually dictate to owners who and what they want to represent their product. With sponsorship packages reaching the $25 million mark in Sprint Cup and $10 million in Nationwide, there is little room for error or mediocrity.
Drivers know the stakes are high, yet it doesn’t soften the blow to the ego.
“When that deal went down with JR Motorsports, it was kind of hard to even come back to the race track for a while. I had to get all my stuff together,” McFarland said.
Enter Pete Knight and his Knights Racing Team.
“Pete called and wanted me to drive for him, so I was like ‘Yea, I’m going to do it. It’s been a good decision,” McFarland said. “We’ve had a lot of fun together.”
That fun run for has included five wins over the past two season Entering tonight’s event at BMS, McFarland has a 44-point margin over Michael Ritch in the Hooters Pro Cup Southern Division standings.
“Everything was coming out of Pete’s own pocket there for a while, but we were able to get a good sponsor with Sears which really helped,” McFarland said. “Pete gives me everything we need equipment wise.”
While McFarland still has ambitions of rejoining the NASCAR carnival, he has found a comfort zone with the Pro Cup gang.
“There is a lot of balance in this series,” McFarland. “A driver that has just one car and a small crew can run with the guys that have multicars here. With the rules package, you are not allowed to do much. Most of the stuff you buy right on the shelf, then put it on the car and race it. It’s kind of Late Model stock racing.”
As for the adjustment from the Nationwide Series to Hooters Pro Cup, McFarland settled in quickly.
“You never lose anything as a driver, I don’t think,” McFarland said. “It’s like riding a bike. You always want to do it.”
Of course, nothing satisfies a racer more than winning. After his struggles in the top-heavy Nationwide Series, McFarland took the selective route.
“There were a couple of [Nationwide] deals that I could have taken that probably wouldn’t have went anywhere because of bad equipment,” McFarland said. “I stepped back a level to where I knew that I had the best equipment out there.
“I think it was the right decision. Nowadays, you’ve got to have all the best to run with the top notch [Nationwide] teams.”
The moral support of friends has been vital in the resurgence of McFarland.
“I had a lot of good friends that helped me get back,” McFarland said. “Several of those guys were at Junior’s team with me and they left when I left.
“”You see who your good friends are when something like that happens. They stuck with me and are still with me today.”
McFarland plans to draw off his notebook tonight at BMS.
“I finished third here in a Hooters in 2005, and we were leading the race last year when we blew a motor,” McFarland, who has made two Nationwide starts at BMS. “I’ve got some track time on the old and new (concrete) surface here.
“These Hooters car are fun to drive around this track because they have so much grip. You can run almost wide-open.”
At this point in his career, peace of mind seems override the fame for McFarland.
“We may put together a couple of [Nationwide] races here and there, but we’ve been concentrating solely on the Hooters series and trying to win this championship,” McFarland said. “If we keep working hard, we will be there at the end.”
With a championship trophy on the mantle, McFarland may eventually travel back to a faster path in NASCAR.
“[Knight’s] goal as an owner is to move up, so you never know,” McFarland said.
Fast Facts
What: USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Food City 150
Where: Bristol Motor Speedway
When: Tonight at 5:45
Who: Benny Gordon is the defending race winner…The list of former Pro Cup greats includes current NASCAR drivers Brian Vickers, Scott Wimmer, Joey Logano and Regan Smith.
agregory@bristolnews.com (276) 645-2544.
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Southern Division Points Leader Earns Third Pole Position Of 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Season
 Mooresville, NC (August 11, 2008) – Mark McFarland won his third USAR Hooters Pro Cup pole position this season en route to a solid fourth-place finish in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Northern Division Miller Lite 250 at South Boston (VA) Speedway Saturday night.
“We had a couple of poles at the start of the year and then we didn’t get one for awhile,” said McFarland (right), who now has 12 career USAR pole positions to his credit. “We finally got another one. We had a good car in practice and then we made some adjustments to it before qualifying to make it even better. It didn’t hurt that we were the last ones to go out in qualifying, so that helped a little bit either.”
McFarland was fast right off the truck posting a time of 15.809 seconds to take the top spot in qualifying on the .357-mile South Boston oval. At the drop of the green, however, the Winchester, VA native knew his No. 81s Sears Auto Center/Knight’s Companies Chevrolet Monte Carlo was suffering from the same handling problems that saddled them with a 12th-place USAR finish the week before at Hickory Motor Speedway.
“When we started the race, the car acted the same way it did at Hickory,” said McFarland. “It was tight and just wouldn’t turn in the corners. You’d drive into the corner and the front end would just take off on you. That’s one of last year’s cars and we’re just not going to run that any more this season. We’ll park it and save our good cars for the upcoming championship series.”
Unlike the Hickory event, however, McFarland was able to stay in contention for the win at South Boston thanks to the solid work of his Pete Knight Racing pit crew.
 “We pitted three times,” said McFarland. “We pitted early for tires on Lap 21 and then we came back for gas around Lap 40. We made our last pit stop with about 50 laps to go. We came out fifth and picked up one spot in the final laps. We made some changes that improved the car and we were decent at the end of the race, but really, the car just wasn’t what it needed to be.”
Also slowing McFarland’s progress to the front was a slew of cautions – 10 in all – that made it even harder to pick up positions on the tight South Boston oval.
”It was tough to pass,” said McFarland. “Track position meant everything because it’s hard to pass there. Then there were a lot of wrecks and a lot of caution flags that slowed the race. Guys were racing crazy. I was just happy to get out of there in one piece.”
McFarland will be looking to do the same, plus put the icing on a solid season, the next time the USAR stockers take the track at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday, August 20.
The event will mark the end of the USAR regular season and determine the Southern Division champion. Currently, McFarland leads the Southern Division standings by 44 points over rival Michael Ritch.
“We’re going there to win the race,” said McFarland of the North-South Division combination event. “We’re not going to put a lot of extra pressure on ourselves because we’re racing for a championship. We’re just going to do what we always do which is try to win the race. If we do that, the point’s deal will take care of itself.”
McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Auto Center/Knight’s Racing Chevy will take to the .533-mile high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, August 20 with a practice at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Qualifying for the regular season finale Food City 150 will be at 2:30 p.m. with the green flag falling on the race at 5:45 p.m.
 The event is part of a twilight racing doubleheader as a lead in to the O’Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. General Admission tickets for this exciting twinbill are just $30 for adults.
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Pete Knight Racing Driver Survives Ill-Handling Race Car, Crash To Maintain USAR Southern Division Points Lead
Mooresville, NC (August 3, 2008) – Mark McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Auto Center/Knight’s Racing Chevy battled their way to a 12th-place finish in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup 4 Brothers 250 at Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway Saturday.
 The finish allowed the Winchester, VA driver to maintain his USAR Southern Division points lead. McFarland will take a 44-point advantage over Michael Ritch into the final regular season race at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, August 20.
“It could have been a lot worse,” said McFarland, who owns a 927-884 advantage over Ritch in the standings. “It seemed like Michael was struggling as much as we were. It was like you were really good or you were really off. We were pretty much really off and to come out with the point lead heading into Bristol was big for us. We’ll just go there and try to win the race. That’s what we try to do every week. If we can do that, the points will take care of themselves.”
McFarland was all about taking care of business at Hickory Saturday, but an ill-handling race car slowed the efforts of his Pete Knight Racing Chevy. Despite the balky mount, McFarland was still able to qualify fifth (15.657 seconds) and run in the Top-10 while pitting three times for adjustments during the first 105 laps Saturday.
“The car was real tight and we could make it real loose,” said McFarland. “No matter what we did, it just wasn’t working for us. We did everything we could to make the car better. We weren’t losing that many positions, but we just weren’t successful no matter what adjustments we made. It was a pretty frustrating night.”
Things got even more frustrating for McFarland when he got turned around and collected in a three-car wreck that also involved Caleb Holman and Brad Rogers on Lap 145.
“I had gotten into the 75 car (Holman) a couple laps before the accident,” said McFarland. “I slid up into him in the middle of the corner. My car was really tight and I didn’t mean to hit him. I didn’t do it on purpose. Anyway, he got loose and I was able to get around him. Then a couple of laps later on the  restart, he just lifted me up and turned me around. It was just racing I guess. You have to take the bad with the good.”
Multiple pit stops under caution put McFarland one lap down to the leaders. Despite heavy damage and his car bottoming out on the race track showering sparks, McFarland was able to get back on the lead lap on the 161st circuit. From there on, it was a race of survival as McFarland somehow managed to stay on the lead lap and finish a solid 12th despite all the problems.
“We struggled the whole time we were there,” said McFarland. “We never could get what I wanted out of the car, it was just acting up. To finish 12th isn’t a bad finish, but it sure wasn’t what we wanted.”
McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Auto Center/Knight’s Racing Chevy will try to get back on the winning track this weekend when they travel to South Boston (VA) Speedway and a USAR Hooters Pro Cup Northern Division event. The Miller Lite 250 will take the green flag at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
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 Mooresville, NC (July 20, 2008) – When you’re hot, you’re hot. Just ask Mark McFarland.
The Pete Knight Racing driver notched his third USAR Hooters Pro Cup victory in his last five races wheeling his No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevy to a win in the Crane Cams 250 Saturday at Southern National Speedway in Kenly, NC. The trio of wins, along with two runner-up finishes in his last five events, has McFarland on a personal unprecedented Pro Cup hot streak.
“I’ve never had a winning streak like this at this level of racing before,” said McFarland, who has also recently scored victories at Myrtle Beach (SC) and Milwaukee (WI). “I won 19 late model stock car races in 2003 at Old Dominion Speedway in Virginia, I think 10 of them in a row at one point. This kind of resembles that, but this is a whole different level than that.
“We knew we were going to do our best this season and we’d live with whatever happened,” McFarland continued. “We knew we had good equipment and people. I was going to give 100 percent and see what we wound up with. Now we’re on a roll and we’ve got some wins and luck on our side. It’s been pretty amazing.”
Luck, and a fast PKR Chevy Monte Carlo, put McFarland in contention again at Southern National as he toured the ultra-fast track in 14.834 seconds, good enough for the third starting position Saturday.
“I didn’t feel that good about our car in practice,” McFarland stated. “We were really loose off the corners in practice. We made some changes before qualifying, but we kind of left that part alone because we thought the track would tighten up during the race. We were better in qualifying and honestly, I don’t know what we could have done to make it any faster. Maybe I could have driven it a litter harder because we just missed the pole by a little bit.”
Still off just a tick in the early going, the veteran Winchester, VA driver bided his time until the first pit stop knowing his Sears Auto Center pit crew would make his car better with the right adjustments.
“We were still too loose at the start of the race and I fell back to about fifth or sixth through the first run of the race,” said McFarland. “We got fuel and put some wedge in the car to tighten it up on our first pit stop and that helped a lot. On our second stop, we got tires and tightened the car up some more. That was exactly what I needed. It was awesome. I was able to drive it right to the front. The car was unbelievable.”
McFarland credited his B.F. Goodrich racing radial tires for much of his success Saturday as he completed the final 162 of 250 laps without having to pit for fresh rubber.
“BFG has a great tire,” said McFarland. “They just don’t wear out. Some of our fastest lap times were at the end of the race. The tires didn’t give up at all. It just seemed like everything we did worked perfectly. The tires, when we pitted, what we did with adjustments all worked. It was a great night.”
McFarland also had high praise for his Pete Knight Racing team led by veteran crew chief Wes Ward.
“I’ve got a good team and our preparation is showing up at the track,” said McFarland. “We’re one of the most prepared teams when we get to the track. Wes is very organized, a good leader, and he has all the guys going in the same direction. He makes good calls during the race and that takes a lot of pressure off me. That’s the reason why we are doing so well at the track.”
In the end, McFarland had all the right stuff to take the win and extend his lead in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Southern Division regular season point’s chase.
“Southern National is a tight track and it’s tough to pass,” said McFarland. “It’s a fast place. It’s lost a little grip since they paved it last year, but you’re still hauling. It takes your breath. It’s like Bristol, only smaller. You really have to have a good run on somebody to get under them and clear them. We had a good enough car where we could do that all night long.”
McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Auto Center/Knight’s Companies Chevy will stay busy competing in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Northern Division event at Jennerstown (PA) Speedway this Saturday, July 26. The Hooters 250 will take the green flag at Jennerstown at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
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 Sears Auto Center/Knight Companies Driver Looking For Third Win In Last Four USAR Races
Mooresville, NC (July 7, 2008) – Coming off a victory in his latest USAR Hooters Pro Cup event at Myrtle Beach, SC, you’d think Mark McFarland would be content to sit back and enjoy the spoils of victory. Then again, McFarland, the USAR Southern Division championship point’s leader, is a racer and that means he’s going to stay as busy as possible.
“We’re going to run the Pro Cup Northern Division race at Motor Mile Speedway this weekend,” said McFarland of his Pete Knight Racing team. “We want to keep the team busy and sharp. The more races we run, the better we get. There’s not that many races on the Pro Cup Southern schedule this year, so running the Northern races helps our team. We’ll go there and try some stuff, almost use it like a test and because we’re not racing for points, we can really go for the win. We can gamble a little. We’re just trying to get better and racing more is the best way to do it.”
McFarland had finished no worse than second in his last three USAR events winning at Myrtle Beach on June 21. He also captured the North-South combination event at The Milwaukee Mile on May 31 and managed a runner-up finish in the USAR Northern Division race at Mansfield, OH on June 14.
This time around, the Winchester, VA driver will be looking to score yet another win at Motor Mile Speedway, a place where he came up just short of victory a year ago.
“We had everybody except the second and third place cars a lap down and we lost the rear end with five laps to go,” said McFarland. “We were going to win that race, but we just had some bad luck. I’ve had some success there. I won a big late model stock car race that paid $20,000 to win back in 2004. I don’t think the track owes me anything because of last year. We just had a string of bad luck last year and that race was part of it. Like I said, we should have won. When stuff like that happens, it just makes you better.”
Another win or solid finish will be what McFarland and his Sears Auto Centers/Knight’s Companies Chevy Monte Carlo will be looking for when Saturday’s event rolls off. While either would keep McFarland’s hot streak going, the veteran driver knows that the string of good luck could come to a screeching halt any second.
“It could end tomorrow,” said McFarland. “We just have to keep doing what we’re doing and keep getting better. I’m not sure we’re having better luck this season. I just think our cars are better prepared and the team is better. Everybody is on the same page and that’s why we’ve been doing so well lately.”
McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Auto Center/Knight’s Companies Chevy will take the green flag at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA this Saturday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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 Pete Knight Racing Driver Captures Second Victory In Last Three USAR Events
Mooresville, NC (June 23, 2008) – To say Mark McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevy Monte Carlo are the hottest thing on the USAR Hooters Pro Cup tour these days is an understatement.
McFarland sizzled again this past weekend winning the Greased Lightning 250 at Myrtle Beach (SC) Speedway. It was his second win in the past three USAR events beginning with the USAR North-South combination event at The Milwaukee Mile two weeks ago. For good measure, the Winchester, VA native sandwiched in a runner-up finish in the USAR Northern Division race at Mansfield, OH last weekend before taking the Southern Division clash at Myrtle Beach Saturday.
“This is starting out to be a great year,” said McFarland. “We took over the Southern Division points lead. That’s the first time that’s happened since I started driving for Pete Knight Racing. Everyone is doing such a great job. We’re all plugging away and we have to keep doing that. We have a couple of hard tracks coming up in the Southern Division at Kenly and Hickory. You can get in trouble at both of them pretty easily.”
The only trouble McFarland had to contend with throughout the weekend at Myrtle Beach was coming up with what to say in Victory Lane. After stating the half-mile Grand Strand speedway wasn’t exactly his favorite place to compete prior to the race, McFarland settled right in starting fourth and leading most of the first half of the event Saturday.
“About the first 130 laps went green, so you had to have a really good car not to get lapped,” said McFarland. “Our car was close enough. We led for a long time and then we gave up the lead at the end of that run.”
 Any doubts about the Pete Knight Racing driver not taking home the winner’s trophy were erased when he came to pit road for service just past the halfway point of the event.
“The crew did an awesome job,” said McFarland. “We had fallen back to about fifth on the first run of the race. We were so loose and they made and adjustment and got me back out in front when we made our pit stop. Being in the lead is all I needed. They tightened up the car to just where I needed it and from there all I needed to do was hang on. From then on, we were the car to beat.”
It wasn’t totally clear sailing to the checkered flag as McFarland, who got back to the lead on Lap 170, had to hold off the charge of Matt Hawkins before settling into the top sport for good on the 191st circuit.
“It seemed like I was the only car that could run on the top,” McFarland stated. “I ran right around the wall. Michael Ritch and I seemed to be the only ones who could run up here last year. That top groove only seems to be there in the spring. You can’t run up there in the fall race. We tried it a couple of times in practice and it worked really well. We saved it for the race and the line really came in. You can really keep your momentum up and save your tires running up there. I got up there as soon as the race started and stayed there.”
After the event, McFarland – who now leads the USAR Southern Division championship chase by a 659-642 margin over runner-up Trevor Bayne - also seemed at peace with his former Myrtle Beach Speedway demons.
“It’s real satisfying to win at Myrtle Beach,” said McFarland. “I’ve been racing here since 1997 and this is the first time that I have won here. I’ve been trying to do that for a long time and for some reason, I’ve never been able to do it. To finally get a win here is really sweet.”
McFarland and his Sears Auto Center Chevy Monte Carlo will try to continue their winning ways when the next take to the track on Saturday, July 12 when they compete in the USAR Northern Division event at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA.
The green flag in the 250 lap event will fly at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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By Paul Warner, USAR
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| Mark McFarland climbs from his No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevrolet after winning the Greased Lightning 250 at Myrtle Beach Speedway. McFarland took home $10,600 for his win and climbed into the point lead in the Southern Division standings. (Kathy Bond Photos) View more images |
McFarland Wins Greased Lightning 250, Takes Point Lead
Myrtle Beach, S.C.-Mark McFarland still won’t say he likes Myrtle Beach Speedway. But after his win Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday night, the temperamental track along the Grand Strand could be moving up on his favorites list.
McFarland led early and often in the Greased Lightning 250 presented by Black’s Tire and Auto Service on Saturday, June 21 and inched away from Woody Howard in the final laps to conquer a track that’s given him-and most everyone-fits in the past.
"This still isn’t my favorite track, but it’s getting better," said McFarland, driver of the No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevrolet. "We worked on a lot of things in practice and it paid off in the race."
McFarland’s line during the two-hour practice session prompted the wholesale changes.
"I jumped to the high side and it felt like it had a lot of grip, so I kept practicing up there," said McFarland. "If you’re going to run the high line at Myrtle Beach, you have to commit to it."
The commitment paid off. McFarland, who started fourth, used the high line on Lap 29 to take lead from pole-sitter Dange Hanniford. But as the race neared the halfway mark, Hanniford made his way back around McFarland.
"I got too loose on that long first run," said McFarland.
As McFarland began to fade just after the 100-lap mark, Hanniford eased his No. 92s Black’s Tire and Auto Service Ford back to the lead on Lap 109.
"I’ve never had a car that was that fun to drive at Myrtle Beach," said Hanniford, who led 58 of the first 129 laps. "I could go high or low and it was fast."
Hanniford’s pace-and the lack of a caution-allowed the former MBS competitor to lap his way up to 13th by the halfway mark. But Hanniford wasn’t alone at the front once he took the lead. The top six cars after 125 laps of green-flag racing were nose to tail, until Dusty Williams, seemingly, came out of nowhere and blasted past the top five and took the lead on Lap 130.
Williams, driver of the No. 40s Dustcom LTD Ford, picked up where Hanniford left off, lapping up to ninth before the race’s first caution flag waved on Lap 147.
With the cycle of stops complete, a sense of urgency overtook the leaders once the green waved. During a 12-lap span, the lead changed hands six times between Hanniford, Williams, McFarland, Clay Rogers and rookie Scotty Crockett. McFarland restored order at the front when he moved back out front on Lap 170.
"We tightened the car up on our stop and I was good to go," said McFarland.
But knowing when to "go" at Myrtle Beach Speedway is a riddle in itself, especially with 80 laps left at the tire-eating, half-mile track.
"I had Wes [Ward] spotting for me tonight, so that helped out a lot," said McFarland, who took home $10,600 for his second win of the season. "He calmed be down and kept telling me to think about what I wanted out of the car at the end of the race."
But McFarland’s serenity would be tested by a pair of drivers down the stretch.
Matt Hawkins, driver of the No. 2s Jani-King Ford, poked his nose out front for four circuits (187-190).
"After that last restart on [Lap 186], I really thought I was better than McFarland," said Hawkins. "But the longer we ran, the freer we got. I think we were all pretty close, but I couldn’t do anything with him towards the end."
After retaking the lead on Lap 191, McFarland would be faced with another foe in the final laps as Woody Howard pulled his No. 55s Dean Motorsports into second place.
Howard peeked under McFarland for the lead several times, but, like McFarland, he knew it was too early to show his hand.
"I was telling myself, ‘Don’t even try it yet. Don’t even try it yet,’" said Howard. "I made that mistake in ’02 or ’03 in the Late Model race here and it cost me."
But .625 seconds is as close as Howard would get as the checkered waved.
"The end of the race came to quick for us," said Howard, who matched his best finish at MBS. "I felt like if the race went longer, we could have caught him."
McFarland agreed.
"If there would have been 20 more laps, I couldn’t have held them off," said McFarland. "The car was really starting to dance around all over the place. It just worked out for us tonight."
Hawkins held on for third at the finish, followed by Clay Rogers, driver of the No. 54s C&C Boiler Chevrolet, and Trevor Bayne.
The Greased Lightning 250 was slowed four times for 31 laps of caution and featured 11 lead changes among six drivers.
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By Kurt Knapek, kknapek@thesunnews.com
Mark McFarland had a plan and stuck to it.
McFarland glued his No. 81 car to the high side of Myrtle Beach Speedway's .538-mile track Saturday night and led the final 59 laps to win the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Greased Lightning 250 for his second victory of the season.
"We practiced it a ton because we knew it was going to be good up there," McFarland said. "I have a hard time running the bottom here. It just worked out. You have to dedicate yourself to running up there."
McFarland held off Woody Howard, who was the runner-up for the second time here. Matt Hawkins finished third and was followed by two-time winner Clay Rogers, Trevor Bayne and pole-sitter Dange Hanniford of Florence.
"I couldn't run the top as good as him," Hawkins said of McFarland. "If we would have a restart there later in the run, we would have got him. Without a doubt.
"I'm pretty happy with a second, though."
McFarland edged Howard by .625 seconds for his first career win in five races at Myrtle Beach Speedway. The former national champion in Late Models and former NASCAR Busch Series driver finished second in last year's race.
"It's been a long time coming," said McFarland, of Mooresville, N.C. "My car was sliding around a lot at the end. Anybody that had any grip at all could have challenged me at the end.
"You just have to have a lot of luck and be in the right place at the right time here."
Howard credited his run on a setup provided by Barry Elvis, a Myrtle Beach native and former standout driver in the Charger Division at MBS.
"He's probably going to be with us the rest of the year," Howard said. "This is his backyard. He put a damn good setup on this thing."
Unofficially, McFarland overtook Michael Ritch for the lead in the Southern Division points standings. McFarland has two wins and four top-5 finishes in his last four races.
"We just have to keep after it," McFarland said. "We've never been this high in the standings at this point of the season."
Ritch, the defending race champion, was four laps down when he was involved in a crash on lap 164 and finished 29th of 30 cars.
Ritch started eighth but was forced to come to pit road because of a flat tire on lap 40. He was black flagged for running over his air hose and forced to pit again under the green flag. Ritch crashed after being bumped by Dusty Williams, who was running third at the time.
The first 146 laps were run under green until a caution flew for debris. At that time, just eight cars remained on the lead lap.
How they finished
1. Mark McFarland
2. Woody Howard
3. Matt Hawkins
4. Clay Rogers
5. Trevor Bayne
6. Dange Hanniford
7. Wade Day
8. Gary Helton
9. Kirk Leone
10. Dakoda Armstrong
11. Drew Herring
12. Tom Hessert
13. Billy Bigley Jr.
14. Joey Coulter
15. Hunter Robbins
16. John Gibson
17. Bobby Gill
18. Don Satterfield
19. Randy Hawkins
20. Bryan Silas
21. Caleb Holman
22. Dana White
23. J.P. Morgan
24. Carl Long
25. Reece Milton
26. Mark Whitaker
27. Scotty Crockett
28. Dusty Williams
29. Michael Ritch
30. Larry Barrett
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Picture Perfect
By Paul Warner
Monday, June 02, 2008 12:07:00 PM
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| Sears Auto Center representatives joined Mark McFarland and his Pete Knight Racing team in Victory Lane to celebrate after McFarland won the Sears Auto Center 150 at The Milwaukee Mile. Kathy Bond Photos View more images |
McFarland Wins Sears Auto Center 150
West Allis, Wis.-If you saw Mark McFarland pinching himself after the Sears Auto Center 150 at The Milwaukee Mile, don’t worry, he had good reason.
"I couldn’t have dreamed this up any better," McFarland said in A.J. Foyt Victory Lane. "I spent all week with the Sears people and had a great time at their headquarters. They were all here today. You only dream up this stuff. But for it to really happen, it’s really mind-boggling."
Mark McFarland took the lead for the final time on Lap 111 and pulled away from rookie Drew Herring and Cale Gale to win the Sears Auto Center 150 at The Milwaukee Mile on Saturday afternoon.
McFarland, driver of the No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevrolet, started 10th in the 40-car field and moved to the point on Lap 63. After giving up the lead during the cycle of pit stops, McFarland charged past Benny Gordon off Turn 2 on Lap 110 and never looked back.
"Wes [Ward] made a really good change on the tire stop and tightened me up a little so I could get off the corner better," said McFarland, who won $11,600. "I knew right when we went back green the car was going to be really good."
And it was. McFarland turned his best lap of the race on Lap 127.
Though his car was the best down the stretch, McFarland did have some worrisome moments in the first 50 laps of the event.
Michael Ritch, driver of the No. 28s Support Our Troops Ford, jumped out to a sizable lead at the start. Ritch led the first 43 laps, but it wasn’t the reigning Greased Lightning Southern Division champion that vexed McFarland. It was two-time Hooters Pro Cup Champion Clay Rogers, who moved to the point on Lap 44.
"In the first run, I was worried about Clayton," said McFarland, who moved from 10th to second behind Rogers in the first 50 laps. "I couldn’t get up to him. And I knew if I couldn’t get to him, I couldn’t pass him."
But pit strategy changed that.
"We pitted under the first caution [on lap 41] to get fuel," said McFarland, driver of the No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevrolet. "We came back in [ on lap 58] with the field, and we were able to beat them out because we only had to get three gallons."
With Rogers and Ritch now behind him, McFarland wasted little time bypassing Bobby Gill for the lead once the green waved again. After taking the lead on Lap 63, McFarland led 21 laps, including the Lucas Oil Halfway Lap, before making his final stop of the night on Lap 83.
"Some people got two tires on that last stop, but we got four," said McFarland. "I think four tires was definitely the right call."
Benny Gordon, who pitted earlier, took control of the race when the leaders made their final stops. But the three-time Northern Division champion couldn’t hold off the cars with fresh BFGoodrich Tires g-Force radials as the laps wore down.
McFarland easily slipped past Gordon, driver of the No. 66n Samuel Metals Ford, on Lap 111. Rookie Drew Herring followed McFarland around Gordon and tried to pressure the leader. But that’s when McFarland turned up the wick.
Herring, driver of the No. 22s Black’s Tire&Auto Service Ford, came up 1.12 seconds short of his first Hooters Pro Cup win, but second place was still his best finish in his first five starts.
"This is the run we needed," said Herring, who pocketed an extra $1,000 for being the Miller Lite Rookie of the Race. "We definitely would have liked one more position, but we needed a nice solid finish today, and we got that. This is a great confidence builder, and hopefully we can carry this into the next few races."
Cale Gale, subbing for Hunter Robbins, had a solid showing in his first Hooters Pro Cup event. After starting in the rear due to the driver change, Gale overcame the lost track position and a mid-race spin to finish third.
"We ended up third, but I wish we would’ve waited a little later to put tires on," said Gale, driver of the No. 6s Harley-Davidson of Milwaukee machine. "Being that we had to go to the tail end [of the field at the start], we really didn’t have a good strategy. We did what we had to do and salvaged third."
Caleb Holman, driver of the No. 75s Food Country Chevrolet, finish fourth, and Brad Rogers, driver of the No. 29s Chevy Racing Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.
Ray Love Jr., driver of the No. 08n Love Concrete Chevrolet, was the highest finishing Sears Auto Center Northern Division driver. Love’s sixth-place effort was also a career-best.
After leading the first 43 laps, Greased Lightning Southern Division point leader Michael Ritch couldn’t make it back to the front after pitting and finished 13th. Ritch did maintain the point lead, however.
Clay Rogers, who led15 laps, fell from contention when he pulled behind the wall with a mechanical failure on Lap 125.
Matt Carter, subbing for Joey Coulter, rocketed to the front after starting in the rear and took the lead on Lap 84. But after making a late stop for fuel, Carter slipped to 16th at the finish.
James Buescher picked up the Aaron’s "Do The Math" Hard Charger Award after moving from 40th to seventh at the finish.
The race was slowed four times for 25 laps of caution and featured seven lead changes among six drivers.
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| Career Totals (1975 - present) |
| Starts |
Championships |
Wins |
Top5 |
Top10 |
Avg. Start |
Avg. Finish |
Winnings |
| 31 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
26.4 |
24.2 |
615,987 |
| NASCAR national-series career
In 1998, he ran select NASCAR Busch Series events, along with 15 late model races throughout the east coast. He qualified for several Busch Series events. In 1999, he did not run any NASCAR events, but finished fourth in points at Old Dominion, and set a new track and LMSC record of 15.222 (88.687 MPH), which still stands today. He continued to run late model and off and on Busch Series events through the 2003 season, when he won the national championship for LMSC in NASCAR.
In 2004, he raced first for Jim Harris in the Craftsman Truck Series in the Harris Trucking Dodge. Then about mid season, he was picked to be one of the 4 Hungry Driver drivers in Tommy Baldwin's #6 Busch Series Dodge's.
He then moved into the USAR Hooters Pro Cup series 1n 2005 driving the Winfuel #32 Chevy for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
In 2006, McFarland was hired to drive the number 88 United States Navy Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the NASCAR Busch Series. He got injured while running in the top 10 at the Milwaukee Mile and missed the next two races at Daytona International Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway. He had dislocated his shoulder and also injured some of the muscles around it. Following the Kroger 200 Mark was released from his driving duties of the #88 U.S. Navy Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. would drive the car in the next race at Watkins Glen International and Robby Gordon drove it in subsequent races at Michigan International Speedway and California Speedway. Shane Huffman, also from the Hooters Pro Cup series, drove the remaining races in the #88 and is slated for a full Busch Series schedule in the car for 2007.
As part of the 25th anniversary of the NASCAR Weekly Series in 2006, McFarland was named one of the series' All Time Top 25 drivers.[
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