Bobby Gill wins Pep Boys 250 presented by Lucas Oil Products (Hooters ProCup Series)
Bobby Gill Wins Pep Boys 250 By Paul Warner Saturday, August 7, 2004 Jefferson, GA-Lamb and Robinson Motorsports put Bobby Gill behind the wheel of the No. 06 USG Sheetrock Ford this week to see where their team stood. At the end of the Pep Boys 250 presented by Lucas Oil Products at Peach State Speedway on Saturday night, they stood in victory lane. Gill made his way past Derrick Kelley, driver of the No. 00 Adesa Impact Auto Auction Chevrolet, on Lap 149, survived a green-white-checkered finish and beat David Pletcher to the checkered flag by .262 sec. "I had a good feeling when we left [Virginia] that we might win," said team owner and crew chief Jamie Mosley. "We still go some work to do, but the crew and Bobby worked out real well this weekend." Actually, it was the work by the crew that allowed Gill to showcase his talents in the second half of the event. Gill was the first of the lead-lap cars to come to pit lane on Lap 130, and the first car off of pit lane. After Danny O'Quinn Jr. and Clay Rogers came to pit road on Lap 143, Gill cycled in behind Kelley and Mike Laughlin Jr., who both pitted earlier. With fresher tires, Gill needed just five laps to make his way to the point and set sail en route to his fourth win of the year. "We've got a bunch of good guys on this team, and they pulled off a heck of a pit stop," said Gill, who was making his first start for Lamb and Robinson Motorsports, which previously fielded a car for Joe Gaita. "We had to back up to get out of the pits, and we still beat everybody out. I think once we get together and go through the cars that we'll get even better." While Gill's pit stop helped him to victory, several other drivers' pit stops-or lack thereof-may have cost them a shot at the win. O'Quinn Jr., driver of the No. 02 Homesteader Trailer Chevrolet, took the lead away from pole sitter Shane Huffman, driver of the No. 84 Elm Hill Ford, on the sixth lap and checked out on the field for much of the first half of the event, building comfortable leads over Clay Rogers, driver of the No. 44 Johnny Suzuki Ford, and Gill in the first 50 laps. O'Quinn Jr. was able to hold the lead until he pitted on Lap 143. But after his stop, O'Quinn Jr. was never a factor. "I don't know what happened to the car," said O'Quinn Jr., who finished 10th. "All we did was change tires, but our car just wasn't the same. We'll have to go back to the shop and see if we broke anything in the car. It shouldn't have gone from that good to that bad. If the car had of been as good in the second half, I felt like we had enough time to make it back to the front." Huffman didn't have enough time. The 2003 Hooters ProCup champion opted to pit under a late caution to take on four tires. But by the time the caution waved at Lap 226, Huffman was a lap down. "Hindsight being 20/20, we should have stayed up front all night, come in and got our four tires like everyone else did and go on and win the race," said Huffman. "We had the best car by far, but who would have thought we would have gone that long without a caution." After making his stop, Huffman charged back in the lead lap and finished fifth. Although the late caution allowed Huffman to make his mandatory stop, the yellow flag wasn't what Mike Laughlin Jr. wanted to see. "I felt like I had a car that could win here tonight," said Laughlin Jr., driver of the No. 7 Tucson Ford. "If we had a long green-flag run, we could have chased [Pletcher and Gill] down. But the way our luck has been, we'll take third and get out of here." Laughlin's third-place finish was his best finish of the season. Pletcher also notched his best result of the year with his second-place finish and picked up $500 for being the Hard Charger. "Starting where we did tonight, I'm real happy to finish second," said Pletcher, who started 24th. "To finish second to Bobby Gill is almost like a win anyway. A lot of good cars were still on the race track, and we proved that we could be a contender." After struggling through the first 100 laps, Brad Rogers short-pitted and was able to hold on to fourth at the finish. Rogers picked up $1,000 for being the Miller Lite Rookie of the Race. Pletcher Clay Rogers, Billy Bigley Jr., Jay Fogleman, Daniel Johnson and O'Quinn Jr. rounded out the top 10.