Sterling Marlin got an assist from teammate Andy Petree and lead from start to finish to capture the Scotts Saturday Night Special at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The 51-year-old Marlin started on the pole after Petree finished first in his celebrity heat. The Columbia, Tenn., native was elated in victory lane, where he was awarded the same trophy that will go to Sunday's Food City 500 winner.
"Man, that felt so good," said Marlin. "It felt so good to get in the car and to run like that. It just felt good to come back and run like that. I just had a great car and Andy got me a really good starting position. I had a great time. I'd like to do this again."
"I ran this car a couple of times in Nashville. Andy had tested a couple of times and we talked some. Andy's car was really fast. I had a good car... so we should have won it.
Rusty Wallace finished second, followed by L.D. Ottinger, Terry Labonte and Jimmy Spencer. Rounding out the 12-car field was Harry Gant, Phil Parsons, Jack Ingram, Cale Yarborough, David Green, Junior Johnson and Larry Pearson.
Wallace thought he might have enough to get around Marlin but came up short.
"I gave it all I had," said Wallace, now a commentator for ESPN. "I had fun. Sterling just flat out beat me. I just wish I could be in the Cup race tomorrow."
Gant started second and had a good run going until his hood came loose and he had to pit.
"I couldn't see over it to turn in to the corner," said Gant. "You sit so low in these cars and they have that long windshield, so I couldn't see anything. That was a lot of fun, though. I appreciate Bristol for doing this."
Ingram, a legend in the former Busch Series, wasn't so sure everybody in the race was on the up and up.
"I believe if they hadn't let those boys cheat, we'd have run better," They had their cars cheated up. The spoiler on Sterling's car was a lot bigger than everybody else's. And Rusty's car was sealed off better than ours was. That's just not any good."
The 77-year-old Johnson wrecked in a practice earlier in the day so started with a banged up ride. Nevertheless, he enjoyed his return to the track.
"I thought we ran pretty good for what we had," said Johnson. "I haven't been in a car in 45 years so I thought we did OK."
In the first heat of the afternoon featuring celebrity drivers, Philadelphia Akers place-kicker David Akers outlasted the field to take the win, while former crew chief and current ESPN analyst Petree picked up the win in the second heat.
Trailing Akers to the finish line in the first heat was Bill Jordan, followed by Riki Rachtman, Frank Beamer and Mike Compton.
Brad Daugherty finished second to Petree in the second heat while Ron Capps came home third and Ray Evernham finished fourth. Doug Herbert and Greg Anderson wrecked their cars in practice and were unable to compete in the second heat.
In the nightcap event, Matt McCall claimed bragging rights in the UARA 100-lap event after starting on the pole. It was McCall's first win at BMS and his sixth career UARA win.
