Holmes 7th in Kentucky
- Updated: September 24, 2016
Munford driver still hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 in any of his ARCA starts
Bret Holmes finished seventh at Kentucky Speedway Friday. He hasn’t finished out of the top 10 in any of his six ARCA starts.
By Jason Katz
For East Alabama Sports Today
SPARTA, Ky. – Battling adversity was a common theme for Bret Holmes in the Crosley 150 at Kentucky Speedway Friday night.
With a new car and a new sponsor on board, the Munford driver was looking to make a big run into the Top 5 and beyond, but he spent most of the evening trying to play catch up with the drivers he had qualified around just a few hours earlier.
A first lap spin followed by a multi-car incident later tested his nerves and patience, but he stayed on the lead lap all night – thanks to the decisive calls made by former ARCA champion Grant Enfinger — and he finished seventh in his intermediate track debut.
“No doubt I was disappointed with the way I raced tonight,” Holmes said. “But as I think about it, I realize that yes, this was my first race on an intermediate track, and I managed to finish seventh. It’s not the finish I had in mind, but I have to just roll with the punches here and learn from the mistakes I made. That’s just how racing is sometimes.”
The Donoho grad has not finished outside of the Top 10 in any of his six ARCA starts during his limited schedule this season. This was his lowest finish since Talladega in April.
“It was just one problem after another tonight, and I just had to buckle down and fight till the finish,” he said. “We will learn from it and move on to (the Oct. 14 season finale in) Kansas now. Regardless of the night we had, I am still so proud of my team and the work they put in day in and day out.”
Two weeks removed from his highest career ARCA finish at Salem, Holmes tested at Kentucky Speedway Tuesday and finished fourth on the speed charts.
“We ran well in the test and are very eager to get a new car out on the track and see what she can do,” Holmes said. “I can feel that first win coming, and I think as our team starts to gel more and more I have a better chance every time we come to the track.”
The week before he collected the Pro Late Model championship at Pensacola’s legendary Five Flags Speedway during the Allen Turner Tuneup 100.
After rain had postponed the race’s original Saturday start time, Holmes and the remainder of the field began the race late Sunday afternoon as the skies finally began to clear on the Gulf Coast.
Throughout the race, the H2 seemed to come loose and increasingly hard to manage, but as the laps wound down on the season, Holmes still held on to a top-10 finish, which allowed him to wrap up the points race by over 60 points.
“It was a nice feeling going into the race with such a padded lead in the points,” he said. “We had pretty much locked it up over a month ago, but just to sit here and look at it from an outside perspective, we had a stellar Pro Late Model season here.
“We had a great car each race. We never finished off the podium except for today. I wish we would’ve done a lot better today so that I could enjoy this to its full extent, but at the same time, I’m ecstatic we won the championship here.”
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