RacingNation.com
Home / Motorsports News / McFarland Wins Sears Auto Center 150

McFarland Wins Sears Auto Center 150

West Allis, WI: Mark McFarland took the lead for the final time on Lap 111 and pulled away from rookie Drew Herring and Cale Gale to win the Sears Auto Center 150 at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday afternoon.

McFarland, driver of the No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevrolet, started 10th in the 40-car field and moved to the point on Lap 63. After giving up the lead during the cycle of pit stops, McFarland charged past Benny Gordon off Turn 2 and never looked back.

“Wes [Ward] made a really good change on the tire stop and tightened me up a little so I could get off the corner better,” said McFarland, who won $11,600. “I knew right when we went back green the car was going to be really good.”

And it was. McFarland turned his best lap of the race on Lap 127.

Herring, driver of the No. 22s Black’s Tire&Auto Service Ford, came up 1.12 seconds short of his first Hooters Pro Cup win, but second place was still his best finish in his first four starts.

“This is the run we needed,” said Herring, who pocketed an extra $1,000 for being the Miller Lite Rookie of the Race. “We definitely would have liked one more position, but we needed a nice solid finish today, and we got that. This is a great confidence builder, and hopefully we can carry this into the next few races.”

Cale Gale, subbing for Hunter Robbins, had a solid showing in his first Hooters Pro Cup event. After starting in the rear due to the driver change, Gale overcame the lost track position and a mid-race spin to finish third.

“We ended up third, but I wish we would’ve waited a little later to put tires on,” said Gale, driver of the No. 6s Harley-Davidson of Milwaukee machine. “Being that we had to go to the tail end [of the field at the start], we really didn’t have a good strategy. We did what we had to do and salvaged third.”

Greased Lightning Southern Division point leader Michael Ritch led the first 43 laps, but he couldn’t make it back to the front after pitting and finished 13th.

The race was slowed four times for 25 laps of caution and featured seven lead changes among six drivers.

The top 10 finishers:

1. Mark McFarland
2. Drew Herring
3. Cale Gale
4. Caleb Holman
5. Brad Rodgers
6. Ray Love Jr.
7. James Buescher
8. Brandon Ward
9. Jeff Agnew
10. Woody Howard

Share Button