Mackey shatters qualifying record at Bristol

Rock Hill, SC native, B.J. Mackey, driver of the Daly Racing, LLC #84 Van Camp's/Horton Homes Pontiac literally shattered the existing NASCAR Goody's Dash Touring Series pole qualifying speed record at the .533 mile high banked Bristol Motor Speedway. Mackey posted a blistering 16.264 Second (117.978 M.P.H.) qualifying speed, placing him on the pole for the start of the Goody's Dash Series, NASCAR Touring Pabst Blue Ribbon 150.

Mackey was .175 seconds faster than the previous record of 16.439 Seconds (116.722 M.P.H.) set by Mike Swaim, Jr. in June of 1998. States Mackey, "We were fast all day. We posted the 3rd fastest speed during the first practice session and then the 2nd fastest speed during the second practice session. I knew that qualifying would be even better, because we would be running on new tires." Mackey was excited for his sponsors as well. "We have produced two victories this year for Van Camp's and Horton Homes and we were really please to finally give them a Bud Pole Award." "They are both great sponsors and we work extremely hard, week in and week out, to produce a winning effort for our sponsors." "We need a bit of luck to get back into the winners circle, though," reflects Mackey. "At Myrtle Beach we had the misfortune of the incident on pit road which took us out of any serious competition. Then this week we hit the loose tire that broke away from the #78 car after it made contact with the inside retaining wall coming down the front straight away." A split second on either side of these two misfortunes would have meant a different outcome," stated a determined Mackey.

Mackey finish 24th at Bristol after the accident with the errant tire that literally destroyed the front of the #84 Van Camp's/Horton Homes Pontiac. Mackey mused, "You can imagine the damage that was done by hitting a 40 pound object when running at about 115 M.P.H. It demolished the entire front end of my car. We tried to stay on the track for a while, but there were too many holes in the radiator and the engine eventually ran hot. That caused another premature end to our night."

Bristol is a brutal track on both the driver and the cars. The accident filled race saw only 14 out of 30 starting cars finish the race. Roger Sawyer of Orlando, FL. brought home the victory by narrowly beating a hard charging Johnny Chapman to the checkered flag. The remaining top five finisher's were Keith Roggen, Ed Howell and Shane Hmiel. Rounding out the top ten were Greg Goodell, Eric Van Cleef, Ricky Woodward, Robert Huffman and Bobby Dayton.

"We will be ready for our race this coming Saturday (September 2, 2000) at Lanier National Speedway in Gainesville, GA.," smiled Mackey. "We have a lot of work to do, but come Saturday night we will be ready. And if Lady Luck decides to shine her face on us, we will be back in victory lane."