McCall Wins Bristol UARA Late Model Event In Dominant Fashion

Matt McCall is one of the most experienced drivers in the United Auto Racing Association Late Model series. The 28-year-old resident of Denver, N.C., began racing at nine, and has competed in the Nationwide and truck series level in NASCAR. That experience came in handy during Saturday’s UARA event at Bristol Motor Speedway.

By: Allen Gregory | TriCities.com
Published: March 22, 2009

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Matt McCall is one of the most experienced drivers in the United Auto Racing Association Late Model series.

The 28-year-old resident of Denver, N.C., began racing at nine, and has competed in the Nationwide and truck series level in NASCAR.

That experience came in handy during Saturday’s UARA event at Bristol Motor Speedway.

McCall led the first 66 laps, then survived a green-white-checker restart to record his seventh career UARA win. According to McCall, there was only one option on the final lap.

“I decided to go it for all,” said McCall, who started from the pole. “I had the car wide-open through turns one and two.
The car stuck, so that was a good thing.”

Due to a variety of wrecks and mechanical issues, only 17 cars in the 35-car field were still running through 75 laps.
Abingdon’s Caleb Holman was one of those survivors. In fact, Holman held the second spot until lap 98 before he was forced to nurse his sputttering car to an 11th-place finish. Holman won the Hooters Pro Cup event held at BMS last August.

The car driven by Caleb Roark, a 16-year Abingdon High School sophomore, made contact with the wall on lap 14. However, Roark recovered to finish 12th.
Former Blountville resident Wade Day finished fifth, while Kingsport’s John King was eighth. Other local competitors included Bristol’s Nate Monteith and Grundy’s Keith Stiltner. Monteith finished 21st, while Stiltner was 27th.

Harold Crook, a longtime promoter with the North Carolina-based UARA series, was pleased with the action and the crowd response.

“I think if you combined our event with the legends race, it would draw as many fans as a truck race,” said Crook, referring to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Crook wasn’t surprised by the dominating performance of McCall, whose resume includes a driving stint with Robert Yates Racing in 2006 and involvement in the Roush Racing “Driver X” drive recruitment program.

“Matt has already been to the big show once,” Crook said. “He’s a very talented driver.”

agregory@bristolnews.com|(276) 669-3544