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Humphrey Spins... and Wins ISCARS Invitational 150

Topics: ISCARS Invitational 150, Randy Humphrey

Humphrey Spins... and Wins ISCARS Invitational 150

ISCARS Public Relations
September 15, 2007

ROUGEMONT, NC (Sept. 15, 2007) -- It took over ten years, but Randy Humphrey finally won his first ISCARS Dash Touring Series event at Orange County Speedway on Saturday in the ISCARS Invitational 150. The driver of the No. 93 Tarheel Pavement Cleaning/Joe Gibbs Driven Oil/Fatheadz Sunglasses Pontiac Sunfire overcame a mid-race spin to lead the final 25 laps en route to capturing the checkered flag ahead of Danny Bagwell, Matt Johnson, Gary Young, and Brandon Burris.

Joey Miller captured the pole for the event with a lap of 15.013 seconds (89.922 mph), his first pole of the season. Bagwell started on the outside of the front row and on the initial green fought hard on the outside of the racetrack to steal the lead away from Miller. Despite a valiant effort by Bagwell, Miller maintained the top spot until lap 22 when the Wilmington, NC, driver was caught and passed by Bagwell. Randy Humphrey also passed Miller on lap 33.

The first caution of the afternoon came on lap 36 for debris in turn two. The entire field came to pit road for fuel during the yellow flag period. Bagwell returned to the lead after stops but second place Humphrey lost two spots after being blocked in his pit by another car on the close quarters pit road of the Orange County Speedway.

Bagwell led a swarm of drivers into turn one on the lap 43 restart. Will Hobgood made the first offensive move by Joey Miller for second just moments after the restart but relinquished the spot back just two laps later. Using the top groove that he had used to pass Hobgood, Miller battled a charging Randy Humphrey as lap 50 went into the books. Humphrey and Miller made contact on lap 53 with Miller backing into the turn two wall and bringing out the second caution of the event.

On the lap 58 restart, Randy Humphrey let it be known that he had a car capable of winning when he challenged leader Danny Bagwell for the top spot on the high side of the racetrack. Unable to complete the pass, Humphrey tried again to take the lead on lap 64, this time to the inside of Bagwell, but again was unable to make the pass.

Following a brief caution on lap 69 for debris, Humphrey, Hobgood, and Scott Krehling all began pursuit of the leader Bagwell. Polesitter Joey Miller retired to pits just as the battle for the lead heated up once again on lap 80. Leader Bagwell slipped visibly in turn two and opened the door for Humphrey who shot to the inside and pulled even entering turn three. The No. 93 of Humphrey, however, slipped off of turn four and fell back in line. Five laps later, Humphrey tried once again to wrestle the lead away but spun in turn two to bring out the fourth caution of the event. Will Hobgood narrowly missed the car of Humphrey who was backwards in the racing line.

On the lap 89 restart, Scott Krehling saw an opportunity to capture his first if he was able to pass leader Danny Bagwell who at this point had withstood many challenges from various competitors to take the top spot. Working to the bottom of the speedway, Krehling tried desperately to move his No. 1 Cypress Corporation Pontiac into the lead but was unable to do so. Pushing each other to their limits, the lead duo pulled away from third place Will Hobgood by almost a straightway.

Krehling, who saw his first victory slip away from his fingertips at Florence Motor Speedway last year, applied all of the pressure Bagwell could handle as lap 100 went on the board. On lap 108, smoke became visible from Krehling's automobile and within five laps the bottom fell out of No. 1 Pontiac, quite literally, and subsequent debris brought out the final caution of the day. It was found that Krehling had hit a piece of debris which knocked a sizeable hole in the oil pan and forced his retirement from the race.

Charging from the rear of the field up to second after his spin, Randy Humphrey was poised to make his comeback complete on the lap 125 restart. Wasting no time, Humphrey darted to the outside of Danny Bagwell's No. 10 Torbert Trucking/5 Brothers Produce Mercury and took the lead exiting turn four and slowly began to pull away. Humphrey went unchallenged for the rest of the event and led the final 25 laps before taking his first career ISCARS victory.

"I want to apologize to Joey and Jimmy Miller because I thought I gave them plenty of room. The first time I was able to get off of him and the second time I didn't realize I got into him that hard," said Humphrey immediately in victory lane, referring to the contact on lap 53. "I really want to apologize for getting into them and I'm very sorry for that. They're great friends of mine and I apologize. I've been trying to do this for ten years and I'm about speechless to be honest with you. I didn't know what to do when I was leading because I've never led one of these races that much. I'm just thankful to be running out here.

"I told my guys that we had a good car up high and that we were terrible down low," continued the Kansas native after collecting his thoughts. "I got in under Danny and spun trying to keep off of him. I couldn't get him on the bottom. But whatever he did there on the restart, he left the door open on the high side and I just punched it. I figured I was either going to knock the wall down coming off of the corner or stay in the gas, I didn't care. I was gonna hang onto it and keep digging."

With Joey Miller's misfortunes, Danny Bagwell extended his point lead to 88 markers entering the next to last event of 2007 at the Hickory Motor Speedway. Nonetheless, Bagwell wasn't content to ride home with a top three finish.

"When you don't have a guinea pig out front, you kind of overdrive a little bit and I think that's what we did," said a visibly disappointed Bagwell. "We burned the right rear tire off a little bit at the end of the race. Randy deserved to win, he's been running with us for a really long time and did a really good job today. I'm proud for him and if anyone had to win besides us, I'm glad to see him win."

Third place J. Matt Johnson had 152 laps around Orange County Speedway on Saturday. Two laps came in qualifying while the rest of his track time came during the race. Practice may make perfect for some drivers, but Johnson was happy to be lucky on Saturday.

"I'd like to say that it was all skill, but it was just luck," said Johnson. "Congratulations to Randy, he did a whale of a job on his first win and he deserves it. It was a good race. We lasted, held in there, and came home third. We've got some work to do, all of my guys are working hard, and we're getting better each week."

The next ISCARS event will be at Hickory Motor Speedway on October 6, 2007. The USAC Ford Focus Midgets will be on hand once again at Hickory as they were at Orange County, as will the Dukes of Hazzard car club and many renditions of the world famous "General Lee." Even actors from the show will be on hand to sign autographs and greet fans at the 3/8 mile historic short track.

Highlights from Orange County and pre-race analysis for Hickory can be seen by tuning into ISCARS Wide Open TV, the series' national television magazine show hosted by Joe Moore and Tiffany Ricardo. Check local listings for airtime. For more information on ISCARS and ISCARS Wide Open TV, log onto www.iscarsonline.com.

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NOTES OF INTEREST:

- Gary Young was driving with a handicap on Saturday. After crashing his primary short track car at Dillon just seven days prior to Orange County, the team pulled out their superspeedway car and finished its construction at 7:30am the morning of the race. Racing with home track advantage (Young is from nearby Burlington, NC), the rookie driver came home fourth.

- They say people never forget how to ride bicycles. In the case of Will Hobgood, he didn't forget how to drive a racecar. Aside from a five lap exhibition MiniCup event against Robert Huffman at Hickory last fall, it had been nearly eleven years since the elder Hobgood had climbed into a racecar. Hobgood was running third late in the race until motor problems sidelined him just six laps from the finish.

- Brandon Burris overcame more than most drivers did on Saturday to finish in the top five, his career best finish. On his qualifying warmup lap, the right front upper ball joint broke on the No. 98 Shi Construction Pontiac. Burris managed to keep the car out of the wall and the team was able to repair the machine before the race. Thanks to a couple of timely cautions, Burris soldiered home to a fifth place finish, the best of his short ISCARS career.

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Saturday's live updates are below....

HUMPHREY WINS!! Randy Humphrey spun and won the ISCARS Dash Invitational 150 by passing Danny Bagwell late in the going. It was his first career Dash Series win in over ten years of campaigning with the series.

Top Five - Humphrey, Bagwell, Johnson, Young, Burris.

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Lap 137 - Hobgood takes second from Bagwell and has fifteen car lengths between he and leader Humphrey

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Lap 125 - Restart with Bagwell leading Humphrey and Hobgood and Humphrey goes to the top for the lead... takes it on lap 126.

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Lap 117 - Caution #5, debris on the racetrack in front of the flagman, Timmy Hutson. This could be the break that Humphrey needs to get by Bagwell.

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Lap 113 - Krehling blows up entering turn one in second spot... Humphrey is up to second and closing on your leader Bagwell.

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Lap 100 - Krehling is doing everything but moving Danny Bagwell to get around him. Humphrey is back to third and closing on the lead duo.

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Lap 92 - Bagwell's nightmare isn't over yet. Scott Krehling is glued to the bumper of the No. 10 and has already pulled inside and challenged for the lead more than once.

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Lap 85 - Randy Humphrey spins in turn two for the fourth caution of the race while trying to pass Danny Bagwell. He was under the leader's door in turn two and lost control with Will Hobgood barely getting by. Green expected on lap 89.

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Lap 83 - Danny Bagwell is on the edge of control with the pressure of Humphrey and Krehling behind him. Three laps ago, he slipped in turn two and Humphrey got position on him in turn three. Humphrey nearly lost it out of four, however, allowing Bagwell to retake the lead.

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Lap 75-78 - Restart, Bagwell takes the jump but Humphrey and Hobgood, followed by Krehling mix it up once again. Joey Miller has cometo pit lane with problems on his car.

Lap 69 - Caution #3, debris spotted in turn two once again.

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Lap 65 - Randy Humphrey isn't done with Bagwell, dogging the rear bumper of Bagwell's No. 10 and running him side by side for two laps for the lead.

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Lap 58 - Restart, Humphrey challenges Bagwell for the lead on the top of the racetrack.

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Lap 52 - Humphrey and Miller make contact in turn two and Miller spins, backing into the outside wall. The car appears to be damaged strictly cosmetically and Miller has pulled away and will continue, albeit with a one foot shorter rear end.

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Lap 47 - Miller has retaken second from Will Hobgood who bypassed him on the restart. Humphrey, Krehling and Hobgood complete the top five, all within a second of leader Bagwell.

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Lap 41 - Young pits, giving the lead to Bagwell. Green expected lap 43.

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Lap 38 - Pit stops for fuel. Bagwell wins the race off of the pit lane while Randy Humphrey gets blocked in and falls to fifth. Gary Young did not stop and is scored as the leader.

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Lap 35 - Caution #1, Debris in turn two.

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Lap 33 - Randy Humphrey moves to second by Joey Miller and begins to close on leader Danny Bagwell.

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Lap 21 Lead change, Bagwell bypasses Miller for the top spot. Humphrey is hounding Miller for second about 10 car lengths behind the leader Bagwell. Still clean and green so far.

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The engines are fired and we're awaiting the green... stay tuned for live updates on ISCARS Online!

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The UCAR and Mod4 support divisions have concluded their events with Keith Brame, Jr., and Bryan Anderson winning those two races, respectively. Next, the ISCARS Invitational 150 feature event. The autograph session is beginning and we will see racing soon here at Orange County Speedway!

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Joey Miller recorded fast time during qualifying for the ISCARS Dash event at Orange County Speedway and won the pole with Danny Bagwell, just hundredths of a second slower, who will be starting second. Will Hobgood... yes, Will, the elder Hobgood, will start third in the No. 64 followed by Randy Humphrey and Scott Krehling.

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We're live here on a beautiful day in north central North Carolina for the ISCARS Dash 150 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC.

Stay tuned to ISCARSOnline.com for more news from the track as it happens!