RACE REPORT - BRANDON WHITT

It was a historic night for Brandon Whitt and the #38 McMillin Homes/Cure Autism Now Toyota Tundra on Saturday night in Memphis. After posting the best finish of the team’s young career, a sixth at Kentucky, Whitt and company rolled into Memphis with a little momentum; something they would capitalize on, in virtually every way imaginable.

Qualifications for Saturday night’s event were held on Saturday afternoon and Whitt set the tone early by posting the fastest lap in the session and winning his first career Bud Pole award with a lap of 22.727 seconds, 118.801 miles per hour; just three-tenths of a second off the track record.

Whitt had never led before Saturday night in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but no one could tell when the green flag dropped in front of a capacity crowd as Whitt streaked out to a two-second advantage, leading the first 46 laps of the event. The battle with Ron Hornaday began on lap 47 when the two made contact going into turn four and Hornaday took the lead.

Resiliency was the word of the evening, as Whitt demonstrated great poise and control, always managing to work his way back to the front. The pit stops were some of the best all season and the Jamie Jones-led crew did a great job maintaining track position all evening. Whitt ran inside the top five all evening, much of the time in the top three.

The race was slowed 13 times due to caution flags with the final one occurring on lap 197 of the 200 lap event; setting up the drama of a green-white-checker finish. Whitt appeared to have a truck capable of pulling away from the field, but on the tight .75-mile oval, there was little room to pass. The veteran and “King of Restarts”, Hornaday, proved a worthy adversary all evening and was the only truck standing in Whitt’s way of his first career win as the field took the green for the final time.

When the field raced back to the white flag, it appeared as if Whitt would have to settle for a second place finish and Hornaday would score yet another short-track victory. As the top two stormed into turn one, behind them a truck had spun in the middle of turns three and four, and in the process, put a cloud of smoke in the air. When the leader Hornaday reached the smoke in turn three, he suddenly checked up. But, Whitt, with help from spotter/owner Marty Gaunt, knew that it was only smoke and that there was no truck blocking the track. Whitt kept on the gas a swerved abruptly in an attempt to avoid the slowing truck of Hornaday.

The two trucks made the slightest contact and Hornaday was sent spinning towards the apron. Emerging from the smoke was the 22-year old El Cajon native, Whitt, who came charging to the checkered flag and the first victory of his young NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career. Whitt, who became the fifth youngest driver to win in the Craftsman Truck Series, came around to do his first celebratory burn out in front of a raucous Memphis crowd, then spun down into the grass where he was promptly joined by his McMillin Homes/Cure Autism Now Toyota team, and father, Dan.

“This is just awesome,” said Whitt. “We needed something freak to happen, and I just can’t believe it. I’m on ‘cloud nine’ right now and I don’t think I’ll be coming down for two weeks. I knew I had to stay with Hornaday on those restarts. He’s so good, but I was able to stay with him. We just had an awesome truck. This McMillin Homes/Cure Autism Now Toyota Tundra was a dream to drive tonight. You just wait for nights like this. It was really hot out there, my back is blistered from the heat, but it’s a small price to pay for my first win. This just feels great. We’ve had some good runs this season that were just messed up at the end. It’s an unbelievable feeling to have it fall our way for once. There’s a group of guys that have given everything they have to this team and I’ve got to thank all of them for this night.”

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will take a week off before heading to the .686-mile Indianapolis Raceway Park for Friday’s Power Stroke Diesel 200.

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