TJ Reaid Continues Hot Streak in Winning Gateway 100 at Montgomery

07.25.2009 - Montgomery, AL

Being in the right place at the right time can

sometimes pay off for racecars drivers.  This past weekend at Montgomery Motor

Speedway, it paid off big time for Georgia driver TJ Reaid.  

Reaid avoided a late-race accident among the leaders and went on to win his second

ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour event in the last three races, taking top honors in the

Gateway 100 at the half-mile oval.

“I really can’t believe we won the thing, because we were just shooting for a top-five

finish since this was the first time I’ve ever been here,” said Reaid.  “Even before

qualifying, we didn’t feel like we had a car to win the race.  So we just decided to sit

back and ride and see how the car would feel and how the race would play out.  I

guess it played out pretty good for us.”

Reaid took the lead on lap 82 after an accident between Chase Elliott and Dennis

Reno Jr. took both cars out of competition.  Reaid was then able to hang onto the

lead, holding off multi-time ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour winner and current series

points leader Jason Hogan for his second win in the last three event.  Reaid also

won last month at Watermelon Capital Speedway.

“That was a bad deal for those guys in that accident,” added Reaid.  “They ran top 10

all night and were probably the cars to beat.  This win didn’t just fall into our hands

though.  Around lap 60, other cars were starting to lose forward bite and I started

running them down.  Then, some guys fell out, so we kept moving up spots.  We

went from wanting a top-five to realizing that we actually had a shot at winning it. 

“I really can’t thank my guys enough.  This weekend really showed our team effort.  We

unloaded and we just weren’t that good.  But maybe it was a blessing that we

struggled, because I didn’t feel the pressure to perform and be right up front trying to

battle for the lead early.  And by laying back and riding, it got us this win.”

Hogan took the pole for the event, but had to start eighth after the top-eight qualifiers redrew for their starting positions.  That put John Bolen and Wayne Anderson on the front row, who traded the lead over the first five laps.  Bolen then took command of the race until Hogan took the top spot, which he held until lap 80.

By earning the pole, leading the most laps and finishing second, along with Max Gresham’s early exit from the race after an accident, Hogan retook the top spot in the point standings from Gresham.

“I thought we saved enough for the end to grab the win, but when you are riding by yourself, sometimes its hard to judge how much you gotta save,” said Hogan.  “We just didn’t have any tires there at the end of the race to hold off TJ.  But we feel really good about the weekend. 

“I am disappointed to run second, but the points battle is the big picture.  We did everything we needed to do to get the points lead back.  I hate to see Max run into some bad luck, but we all have bad luck here and there.  I’m sure he’ll turn it around and be right there soon enough.  Now, I just need to go out there and get the job done and win a race or two, and the points will take care of themselves after that.”

Paul Kelley, who won the series most recent event at Lanier National Speedway, continued his strong run as of late, finishing third.

“To come out of there third was great, because when we first got to the track on Friday, we unloaded and we were junk,” said Kelley.  “We didn’t know what to do to the car.  We threw around some ideas and I guess we picked the right thing to do, because the car got a lot better.  Come race time, we knew we had to save our stuff and I laid back from the leaders.  Then, when it came time to go, we went.  I got into the wall a little bit not far from the end.   After that, the car didn’t feel right.  It might have knocked the rear end out of square.  But we were still able to come home third, which is way better than I figured I would be if you had asked me on Friday.

“If we can’t win, third is exactly where we need to be.  We’ve decided that we are going to go ahead and stick with the ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour for the rest of the year and see how we do in the point standings.  So if we can’t win a race, we need to try and be right there in the top-three to get the most points we can.”

Bolen was able to come home fourth, with Augie Grill rounding out the top-five finishers.  Gresham finished 25th after being involved in an early-race accident, while Elliott, the 13-year-old son of former NASCAR Champion Bill Elliott, and Reno wound up 13th and 14th respectively following their late-race crash for the lead.