Southern Super Series

Donnie Wilson Scores First Southern Super Series Victory at Nashville

Oklahoman Inherits SSS 125 Presented by Crane Cams Win Following Nemechek's Disqualification

It might not have been delivered to him the way he hoped, but Donnie Wilson left Nashville Saturday night with a trademark guitar as a trophy for winning at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville.

Wilson was awarded his first Southern Super Series presented by Sunoco victory in the 125-lap event after unofficial winner John Hunter Nemechek, who led the final 106 laps of the Southern Super Series 125 presented by Crane Cams, was disqualified in post-race technical inspection for an illegal driveshaft.

Even though it didn't come in a traditional manner, Wilson etched his name into the Southern Super Series record books with his first series win and first overall Super Late Model victory since 2005.

"I'm speechless," said Wilson after being handed the guitar that is traditionally given to winners of events at the Nashville fairgrounds track. We all don't like to win it like that, but with as many as I've lost lately, I'll take it. It's a bad deal. John Hunter's going to win a lot of races. He's a great talent. I'm just glad to finally win a race. I've lost a lot of races. I've finished second a lot of races. I've led a lot of laps. Winning is what we're here to do. Any way I can get them, I'll take them."

Augie Grill led the first 19 circuits of the Southern Super Series 125 presented by Crane Cams before being overtaken by Nemechek. Nemechek sped away to the lap 75 competition caution that bunched the field back up to his bumper. Grill dueled with Nemechek on the subsequent restart, but Nemechek held onto the top spot for the final 50 laps.

Behind him, Wilson rallied from his 11th starting spot and eventually got to second with a pass of Grill with just three laps remaining. That pass turned out to be the winning one after Nemechek's disqualification.

"I was going as hard as I could to catch Augie," said Wilson of his late charge to get by Grill. "It's been since 2005 since I won a race. The way we ended the year, we had a fast car and we've proved it. We've been struggling in qualifying a little bit this year. We started 11th tonight, but we just slowly picked our way up. We luckily had a good long-run car."

Grill, who earned the Southern Super Series pole award presented by Hamner Racing Engines, McGunegill Engine Performance, RW Racing Engines, Progressive Racing Engines and Ford Racing in qualifying, was left to settle for third on the track and second in the official finishing order once Wilson got by on lap 122.

"The first run, I led a few laps and I just didn't want to run any harder than I was. John Hunter was wanting to go, so I let him go. I was planning on letting him lead the rest of the way to the break and make some adjustments to make it better. The adjustments we made just made the car too tight. I couldn't get back to the throttle the last 50. We'll take this and build on the year."

Anderson Bowen officially finished third, just a few weeks after finishing second in the Southern Super Series season-opener at South Alabama Speedway. Landon Cling, in his Southern Super Series debut, finished fourth, while 2013 Southern Super Series Champion Daniel Hemric rounded out the top five.

The Southern Super Series presented by Sunoco returns to action with the first Sunoco Gulf Coast doubleheader weekend of the 2014 season, April 25 and 26. The SSS cars and stars will invade Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida for the Mtn. Dew Kick Start Energy 125 presented by JRi Shocks on Friday, April 25. The next night, the teams will travel to Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Alabama for the Mobile Lumber 125 presented by VDL Fuel Systems. For more on these events, visit www.fiveflagsspeedway.com and www.mobilespeedway.net.

For more information on the Southern Super Series, visit SouthernSuperSeries.com. The Facebook page for the Southern Super Series is located at www.facebook.com/southernsuperseries and on Twitter it's @SoSuperSeries. For advertising or sponsorship questions, please contact the track representatives. For media inquiries, please contact Matt Kentfield at 51 Sports via matt@51sports.net.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

April 5, 2014

POS

DNS

CAR

112

121

Name

Donnie Wilson

Augie Grill

Anderson Bowen

Landon Cling

Daniel Hemric

Casey Smith

Kyle Grissom

Casey Roderick

Bubba Pollard

Hunter Robbins

Dennis Schoenfeld

Allen Karnes

Zak Hausler

Steve Wallace

Spencer Wauters

Justin South

Joseph Meyer

Will Gallaher

Joe Ross

Erik Darnell

Willie Allen

John Hunter Nemechek

TJ Reaid

Stacey Crain

Laps

125

124

123

122

121

115

125