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Barnes Wins the Polar Bear 150

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. January 1, 2009: After practice yesterday, Brett Hudson made the bold statement that he and Chuck Barnes, Sr. were going to be the class of the field come race time.

He was right. The two dominated for most of Thursday afternoon, trading the lead back and forth through a myriad of cautions.

Unfortunately for Hudson, Barnes' luck held as the laps wound down. Hudson's did not. Barnes, who started from the R.A. Jeffrey's Distributing Company pole, took advantage of blown engine in Hudson's Chevy Monte Carlo with ten laps to go to take the checkered flag in the inaugural Polar Bear 150 at the Rockingham Speedway Thursday afternoon.

"We definitely had something for them at the end," said Hudson. "I knew we had a problem on the last caution, the water pressure was up and down. I was hoping it would hold until the end."

Hudson finished 32nd.

"We were in second, third or first until the break," said Barnes of Louisville, KY in victory lane. "We came in and changed tires and the guys did a little bit of changing on it and we came back out and got out front and stayed there.

"We had planned on taking it easy the first 75 laps and come in and make some changes and go from there. The 00 car (Hudson) was the most competitive one out there. Something happened to his engine there at the end. Had it not happened, it would have been real close there at the end."

Clinton, Indiana's Anthony White, the NASCAR Technical Institute's Hard Charger of the race award winner, finished second in his first start on a paved track.

Rounding out the top-five were Clint Watkins of Maggie Valley, NC and Bonaire, Georgia's Tim Jensen and Tony Conway of Louisville, KY.

J.D. Frey, a mechanic for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing's Sprint Cup team, whose entry was owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., ran with the leaders most of the day, only to be caught up in a late-race accident.

"Our day was good," said a dejected Frey. "The car was good, we were just sitting back waiting for the end of this deal to be here at the end and got wrecked."

Frey wasn't the only one who had his day end in an on-track incident. Brian Silas, who also competed in last year's ARCA/Remax Carolina 500 and Hooter's ProCup American 200 at the Rockingham Speedway, tumbled coming out of turn four, collecting the barriers at the entrance to pit road and destroying his Monte Carlo.

""I'm not exactly sure happened," said Silas. "I felt grip until I was almost out of the corner. I'm not sure if someone tapped me in the left rear. I felt even with that, that wasn't what it was. I saved it the first time. The second time I felt like I had no grip in the corner. After that I knew it was going to be painful."

Despite the hard end to his day, Silas plans to return with the ARCA/Remax Series for the second annual Carolina 200 on April 18 and 19, 2009.

For more information or for tickets please call the speedway at 910-205-8800 or visit Rockingham Speedway.

JD Frey (No. 17 Chevy Camaro) finished 36th

"We just got hit in the back on the restart. Our day was good. The car was good, we were just sitting back waiting for the end of this deal to be here at the end and got wrecked."

Anthony White (No. 22 Chevy Monte Carlo) finished 2nd

"I race dirt all the time. When it got loose, I didn't know you could skate the tires like that. We came back in with about 60 to go and fell back to about 20th. We just kept plugging along."

On Rockingham, "I love this place. I'd like to come back tomorrow."

Clint Watkins (#91) finished 5th

"Had a long day. Had to bite down on some restarts. I messed myself up on that last restart, spun the tires. Got a little excited, my bad, let some of those guys get by me. Fourth place, we'll take it. Not bad for a bunch of ol' country boys who built this thing in our basements. I had a lot of fun and hope to be able to do it again."

Brian Silas (No. 57 Chevy Monte Carlo) finished 39th

"I'm not excatly sure happened. I felt grip until almost when I came out of the corner. I'm not sure if someone tapped me in the left rear. I felt even with that, I don't think that was it. I saved it the first time. The second time I felt like I had no grip in the corner. After that I knew it was going to be painful. Thank God I'm alright. I'm glad the guys built a good car. I don't think if it was one of those other teams it would have held up. We were having a good day before the wreck. I had no idea where we were running but I was having fun. I want to thank everyone who got me here."

Chuck Barnes, Sr. (Chevy Monte Carlo) Race Winner

"Everything was great. Real nice place, set up real good. Couldn't ask for a better place to race. We were in second, third or first until the break, came in and changed tires, the guys did a little bit of changing on it and we came back out and got out front and stayed there. We had planned on taking it easy the first 75 laps and come in and make some changes and go from there. We changed tires, some pressures, a sway bar. My son, Chuck Barnes Jr., is the crew chief and he decided on the changes. The car was loose going in, in the middle and coming off (in the first half). We tightened it up a little - it was still loose going in, but tight coming off.

The 00 car was the most competitive one out there. Something happened to his engine there at the end. Had it not happened, it would have been real close there at the end.

I've been racing about 30 years. I am trying to cut back to some of the bigger races. Maybe one or two a year. This win is one of the top of my career. This is the best place we've been to."