 TALLADEGA,
AL (May 4, 2012) -- Brandon McReynolds only led once (for about 20 feet) but it
was enough to earn the young driver his first-ever ARCA Series win.
McReynolds, the son of legendary NASCAR crew chief
Larry McReynolds, used a last-lap charge to pass Matt Lofton coming out of the
final turn to capture the International Motorpsorts Hall of Fame 250
before a cheering crowd of onlookers.
Rain washed out qualifying so the field was set
by car owners points. This put Matt Lofton on the pole with Chris Buescher
completing the front row of the 43-car field.
The 94-lap race featured four leaders among
three different drivers. Matt Lofton led the race's first 52 laps before giving
way to Chad Hackenbracht.
Hackenbracht led 38 laps through lap 90 before
Lofton regained the lead with four laps left to go.
Lofton looked to be the car to beat when the
second and third place cars got together on the final lap on the high side of
Lofton. The Hackenbracht selflessly pushed Brandon McReynolds into the lead
just before the finish line. It was McReynolds first win in seven starts in the
ARCA Series.
Lofton held onto second place while Hackenbracht
settled for third.
Tom Hessert finished in fourth followed by Steve
Blackburn to round out the top five. Blackburn started the race 27th en route
to his fifth place finish.
The race was slowed six times for cautions for a
total of 38 laps.
The ARCA Series has enjoyed four different
winners to kick off its 20-race 2012 season.
Unofficially, Brennan Poole maintains his lead
in the driver standings with his eight place finish. Poole leads the rankings
with 795 points followed by Tom Hessert (740) and Chad Hackenbracht
(725).
The ARCA Series takes a week off before
returning to action May 20, at Toledo Speedway. The race will be carried LIVE
on SPEED at 2:00 p.m. (ET).
For more information about the race at Talladega
you can visit www.arcaracing.com.
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