10/8/2019
Taylor surges to Big Buck 50 win at Lucas Oil Speedway as Henson takes dramatic ULMA feature
WHEATLAND, Missouri - Peyton Taylor said his path to victory in the 6th annual Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt at Lucas Oil Speedway was anything but easy.
"We've overcome a lot this week," Taylor said. "We qualified and had a bad engine. We changed it and wound up changing the gears, four shocks, four springs. I just can't thank my crew, about 10 of us, that worked on it all weekend.
"We put our heads together and just figured out what we had to do to make the grip."
Taylor took the lead from David Hendrix just past the halfway point of the 50-lap feature and went on to claim the $10,000 first prize and free hunt into the Whitetail Trophy Hunt later this fall, valued at another $3,000 with a chance to win more in the hunt.
The O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks three-day event attracted 107 entries and Taylor, the veteran racer from Batesville, Arkansas, called it one of America's biggest for the division.
"To have 107 cars here ... this place is just unreal," Taylor said. "Thanks to the fans for coming out and fighting the rain and stuff. I have to give all the glory to my savior, Jesus Christ.
"I'm a little choked up. I've won a bunch of them, but I've been chasing these horns for years. We got a good car and a great team. I get to do the easy part. Congratulations to Hendrix. He ran me clean."
After four caution flags in the first six laps, the race settled down and remained green the final 44 laps. Hendrix led the first 27 circuits with Taylor following as those two separated themselves from the rest of the field.
Taylor made the decisive pass for the lead on the high side of turn two. He gradually pulled away from there and finished 4.1 seconds in front of Hendrix and 12 seconds clear of third-place Derek Brown of Stoutland. Taylor lapped all the way up to the sixth-place finisher.
Hendrix, the fast qualifier on Thursday who earned the pole by winning his heat race and dash on Friday, said it was a great weekend.
"We had a real good car," Hendrix said. "Peyton is a class act. I don't get to race with him or be around him very often. He's usually way out ahead of me."
Hendrix said he lost power steering on about lap 10 and started to pull off.
"I held on to it all I could. We had a good car," Hendrix said. "It was an awesome race. Oh, so close."
Kris Lloyd of Peach Orchard, Arkansas, finished fourth and Dale Nelson of Milan, Tennessee, who started 16th, rallied to fifth.
Henson takes ULMA Late Model feature Cole Henson made a daring pass of Johnny Fennewald in the final turn of the 30-lap Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature to pick up the $2,000 victory.
Fennewald, the three-time reigning Lucas Oil Speedway Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series champion, appeared on his way to the win as he led Henson by nearly two seconds as the laps dwindled. But a caution with two to go gave Henson a chance.
The Russellville, Missouri, driver made the most of it, using an aggressive move with the finish line in sight as he slid in front of Fennewald and the two cars made contact. It was the ULMA Late Model rookie's first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win. Fennewald was unable to get to the finish line and wound up 10th.
"This has been an awesome rookie year for me," Henson said. "I want to apologize to Johnny Fennewald. I thought I could get the slide job to stick. I don't know if he didn't back out or what, but I apologize to him. I don't want to race like that. I don't want them to race me like that."
Fennewald started on the pole but it was Henson, who started outside of row one, getting the jump and led the first three laps. Aaron Marrant grabbed the lead on lap five and held it until Fennewald took over on lap 17.
Those three were separated by less than a second, working through lapped traffic, when Marrant's night ended in a plume of smoke and his car stopped on the front stretch on lap 21.
Fennewald checked out after the restart and opened a 1.8-second lead over Henson with Shane Essary in third, when a caution with two laps to go gave the challengers one more chance.
That's when Henson made his move in the final turn. Fennewald was unable to get to the finish line and wound up 18th. Larry Ferris was second with Shane Essary third and Daniel Jessen fourth.
Marrant clinched the Lucas Cattle Company ULMA Late Model championship with Henson the runner-up and series Rookie of the Year.
"We had a good year," Marrant said after his second ULMA title in three years. "I'm in a little depression right now, over the last race, but we had a good year and were real consistent. We had a lot of fun."
Article Credit: Lyndal Scranton
