Carter scores first Hooters Cup win at Iowa Speedway
By: Paul Warner

NEWTON, IA (Sept 22) - First wins aren’t supposed to be easy. And after several near-misses, Matt Carter knows that first-hand. So when the opportunity arose for Carter to pick up his first Hooters Pro Cup win, he took it.

Carter, driver of the No. 26n Travis Carter Motorsports Ford, lost the lead to Jay Fogleman with one lap to go, battled back on the white flag lap, bounced off Fogleman in Turn 3 and went onto win the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Soy Biodiesel 225 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night by .225 seconds.

"I don’t think I lifted that last lap," said Carter, who took home $12,000 for the win. "I was about wide open through Turns 1 and 2, and I know I didn’t crack the throttle in Turns 3 and 4. We bumped a little and beat him back to the flag."

If not for a late-race caution, the last-lap duel probably wouldn’t have materialized.

Carter, who took the lead on Lap 206, had built a comfortable lead with just two laps remaining. The caution bunched the field for a green-white-checkered finish-and Fogleman pounced on the restart.

"I don’t know what his problem was on the restarts, but I had to ride the brake to stay off him," said Fogleman, driver of the No. 4s The Works Ford. "I went down into [Turn] 1 and got under him coming to the white flag. My car was good at the top, so I gave him the whole bottom of the track. But somehow he needed the top of the racetrack, too. I’m not complaining about it. It’s over and done with, and we’ll go race together at Myrtle Beach. If he races me clean, we’ll race him clean. If he doesn’t, we won’t."

The contact between Carter and Fogleman allowed Trevor Bayne to slip into second at that finish. And Bayne’s charge was nearly as exciting as the lead duel.

Bayne, driver of the No. 29s Aaron’s/DEI Chevrolet, pitted with 25 laps remaining and charged from 22nd to second at the finish.

"We just drove the wheels off of it to get back to the front," said Bayne. "I drove it in probably five car lengths deeper than I did all race. The car was just so good I could go anywhere on the track. Another lap and I think I could have chased down Matt."

Mike Garvey, driver of the No. 17s JaniKing Ford, also pitted late in the race and rallied to finish fourth. Garvey started from the Awesome Awnings Pole and led 17 laps early in the race.

Caleb Holman, driver of the No. 75s Food Country USA Chevrolet, completed the top five.

Point leader Gary St. Amant was swept into an accident late in the race and finished 24th. Bobby Gill took advantage of St. Amant’s misfortune and unofficially claimed the point lead with his sixth-place finish.

The Soy Biodiesel 225 featured 16 lead changes among 12 drivers and was slowed 13 times for 76 laps of caution.

Unofficial Results

1. Matt Carter
2. Trevor Bayne
3. Jay Fogleman
4. Mike Garvey
5. Caleb Holman
6. Bobby Gill
7. Johnny Rumley
8. Woody Howard
9. Clay Jones
10. Shane Wallace
11. Mark McFarland
12. Chase Pistone
13. Jeff Agnew
14. John Gibson
15. Richard Boswell
16. Eric Crobett
17. Brandon Ward
18. Frank Deiny Jr.
19. A.J. Frank
20. Mart Nesbitt
21. Shelby Howard
22. Kirk Leone
23. James Buescher
24. Gary St. Amant
25. Joey Coulter
26. Jody Lavender
27. Tom Hessert
28. Dusty Williams
29. Gary Helton
30. Matt Hawkins
31. Bill Plemons
32. Ray Love
33. Mike Herman
34. Michael Ritch
35. Benny Gordon
36. Derek Kale