Brian Campbell had never seen Bristol Motor Speedway in person until he practiced on the concrete oval Friday, but he had plenty of incentive to win.
Not only had the Wyoming, Mich. native dreamed of winning at the World's Fastest Half-Mile, his wife, Lisa, whom he married less than a week ago on Aug. 4, told him he better find his way to victory lane. If he didn't, she was going to be less than pleased.
"She told me I better win, and if I didn't I shouldn't bother coming home," said Campbell, who bested a fast field Saturday night to claim the Thompson Metal 200 presented by WJHL's Daytime Tri-Cities, his second win of the season. "She was joking, I guess."
Campbell's Chevrolet was one of the strongest among the ASA competitors all evening long, along with that of ASA points leader, Jacob Goede. Goede led a good portion of the race, but was running fifth when a caution came out on lap 190. With 10 laps to go, Goede ducked into the pits for fresh tires and started eighth when the green flag flew. He methodically picked off everybody in front of him and by lap 195 was second.
Campbell, however, who had built a straightaway lead before the caution flew, had enough of a cushion to stay out front, although Goede was closing over the final couple of laps.
"Jake is one heck of a driver," said Campbell. "I'd race next to him any day. There was a little bumping (earlier in the race), a little grinding, but it was no big deal. It was racing.
"This is so great. I had never seen this place until yesterday and it's pretty amazing. I just can't believe it. This is the best win of my career, the best win of my life -- that's for sure."
Following Goede to the line was Travis Dassow, Brent Downey and Peter Cozzolino. Rounding out the unofficial top 10 was Wes Burton, Sean Murphy, Jimmy Lang, Brett Moffitt and Drew Brannon.
Abingdon's Kirby Gobble captured the checkered flag in the Mod 4 Mini Stock event, snagging the win after finding his way through a wreck with a handful of circuits remaining in the 50-lap race.
Jamie Byrd of Dublin, Va., took the second spot while Randy Canipe, Chuck Wall and Adam Beaver rounded out the top five. The rest of the top 10 were Greg Butcher in sixth, followed by David Brown, Bill Chancy, Johnny Burke and Jody Bostic.
The first race of the evening was the 15-lap Charger event which featured a last-lap duel between Kevin Wolfe and Caleb Roark, both of Abingdon. Roark led the majority of the event, but with the laps winding down, Wolfe was able to get around him to capture the victory.
This was the second Saturday Spectacular win for Wolfe, who also captured the Charger win at BMS back in July.
Nasty Jones finished third, followed by Paul Shull, Davey Smart, Mitch Gibson and WJHL sports anchor Kasey Marler who was making his racing debut last night.
Abingdon's Freddy Taylor, Jr. notched the 25-lap Street Stock win, beating Kingsport's Scott Robinson to the finish line. Josh Brock was third, followed by Jeff Counts, Robert Austin, Jamie Whitt, "Moonshine" Mills, Jon Cook, David Brown and Chuck Crigger.
In the Demolition Derby, the final race of the night, Matt Groeschl took home the win while Tim Maupin and Chuck Van Hoy finished third.
