| Justin Drawdy Wins Red Eye 100 At New Smyrna Speedway | Samsula, FL. - Cold winds were a blowing as the Red Eye 100 was run at New Smyrna Speedway on January 5, 2002. The Red Eye is the first race of the year for New Smyrna Speedway and by the names in the pits, you could tell it was going to be one long night.
In the pits for the 100 were Mike Garvey, David Pletcher, B.J. McLeod, Travis Kittleson, Eric Black, Jack Cook, David Rogers, Daniel Keene, Sr. just to name a few. Also in the pits with a headset and not a driving suit was Bill Plemons, a Hooter's Pro Cup driver. New Smyrna will host a Hooter's Pro Cup race in April of this year.
Shane Sawyer with his #38 Super Late never got to qualify as he hit the wall during the last set of heat laps and was not able to repair his machine. Justin Drawdy's #12 set fast time with a 17.97 lap followed by David Rogers, B.J. McLeod, Jacob Warren and Jeff Scoffield. After Drawdy drew a number 3 pill, it was Jacob Warren's #51 on the pole.
When the green flag was dropped for the start, the yellow came out almost as fast. The #87 had hit the backstretch wall and walked part way down it. The cars were realigned and a frest start was made. It did not take David Rogers long to jump to the lead putting Warren second and Drawdy third. But around lap 4, Drawdy made his move on the #51 and took second place.
B.J. McLeod made his move to second around lap 6 which had the #51 of Warren slipping backwards. Rogers then started slipping and when the first caution came out for the #5 of Daniel Keene, Sr., Rogers pitted briefly to repair the problem. When the race was restarted, both Rogers and Keene were in the rear of the pack.
On the restart, Michael Williams and B.J. McLeod were going side by side for the second place spot but Williams got McLeod a little close to the wall and took second with B.J. in third. Mac Johnson's #6 was mvoing up also and he took the first place spot from the #51 of Warren.
As caution 2 came out for the #75 of Dave Pletcher who was down on the bottom of the track betweens turn 1 and 2, Travis Kittleson, Mike Garvey and Jack Cook had worked their way from the rear of the field to 7th, 9th and 11th place. David Rogers had also worked from the rear back to 13th. When caution 3 came out for the #73 who had gone around on the backstretch inside wall, twenty cars were left.
On the restart, Kittleson moves into sixth place slidding the #51 of Warren back to 9th. At this point it was Drawdy, Williams, McLeod, Scoffield, Johnson, Kittleson, Black, Garvey, Emery, Cook and Rogers when the #7 of Matt Griffin goes around in turn 3 and 4. bringing out the 4th caution.
As Drawdy lead and Williams and McLeod chased, there was a good race between Garvey, Rogers and Cook for the 7th, 8th, and 9th place positions. As they battled, the #88 of Kittleson passed McLeod and then Williams putting himself into second place.
Caution 5 came out for Ronnie Roach's #14 as he went around on the front stretch followed shortly by caution 6 for Mike Garvey's #1 who had hit the wall between turns 1 and 2 as he and Eric Black were battling side by side for sixth place. Garvey was forced to retire from the race and once again the field was set for a restart.
Once again, Williams and McLeod were side by side battling for the third position as McLeod was forced into the wall when Williams's car seemed to be loose. McLeod then retired leaving 18 cars on the field. But Williams cars was never really the same and he kept slipping backwards after that going from third place finally back to seventh.
Kittleson tried to catch Drawdy but nothing or no one was going to do that tonight. Drawdy drove an extremely good race and in the end it paid off as he won the Red Eye 100. Kittleson was second but after teching was done, he was disqualified putting Eric Black into second. The top five were: Justin Drawdy #12, Eric Black #10, Mac Johnson #6, David Rogers #11 and Jack Cook #96.
Jane Smith
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