Ben Stancill nearly pulled off a huge upset in the Mark Brooks Memorial Bi-Lo 250 at Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday.
In perhaps one of the most exciting races in USAR Hooters Pro Cup history, he rebounded from a 34th starting position to the second position, nearly capturing the win.
Stancill took the lead away Trevor Bayne on lap 231 of the 250 lap event and appeared to have the race “in the bag”. Unfortunately, Mark McFarland would bounce off the wall with five laps to go, taking away Stancill’s commanding lead.
After pitting, and with few cars remaining on the lead lap, Stancill and fellow competitors Mike Garvey and Trevor Bayne would line up second, third and fourth behind A. J. Frank, who had chosen not to pit.
When the green flag went into the air, Stancill drove hard to the outside of A. J. Frank to capture the top spot with the skill of a veteran. And coming to the white flag, it appeared to be his race to win.
However, Trevor Bayne made an aggressive move on the final lap to capture the checkered flag; relegating Stancill to the second position.
Although disappointed to miss out on a trip to Victory Lane, Stancill remained upbeat “After the start we’ve had in this Championship Series, we will take the second place finish, it is our best career finish in this series and I didn’t want to destroy our car to get the win. ”
The rookie from Ayden, NC has seen his share of adversity during the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Championship Series, and this weekend was no exception. Stancill stated “Our qualifying effort tonight was not a true reflection of what kind of car we had. I knew if we could get in the race, I could get it to the front. My car wasn’t great on fresh tires, but it was great on long runs. ”
The DLP Motorsports team was forced to take a provisional after a disappointing qualifying time and Stancill had to maneuver the #9 Stancill Farms Ford Fusion through traffic under green flag conditions to move from his 34th starting position to the top 5.
The team will now set their sights on the South Georgia Motorsports Park for the October 20th running of the Dan Duncan Memorial Aaron’s 250.
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