While most rookies would have been doing burnouts along the front stretch after clinching the Miller Lite Rookie of the Year title, a sullen Drew Herring slipped from his machine following the Black’s Tire American 200 at Rockingham Speedway and simply leaned up against the pit wall. Despite winning top rookie honors and a $20,000 bonus, Herring was in no mood to celebrate. And his dejection was understandable.

With 10 laps remaining in the race, Herring was pulling away from Clay Rogers, inching ever closer to his first Hooters Pro Cup win. His faithful followers were on their feet with anticipation, and Herring was up on the wheel. Eight laps around Rockingham Speedway was all he needed for a breakout win.

“I was on cruise control,” said Herring. “I knew we had it.”

Then, the unthinkable happened.

Here's another batch of Rockingham photos from a USAR fan! Bill Perkins sent us these to share with you all. Thanks Bill!

http://picasaweb.google.com/USARfans/BillRocks

Drew Herring wrapped up his rookie year in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series this past Saturday at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway by accomplishing his main goal for the season. Herring collected the Miller Lite Rookie of the Year award and moved up to fourth in the series' points standings by virtue of his second place finish in the American 200 presented by Black's Tire, also the sponsor of Herring's No. 22 Ford Fusion. Although Herring achieved his main goal, the day seemed bittersweet as he fell six laps shy of picking up his first victory of the season when a lapped vehicle drove into his path.

“It was a good solid weekend for the whole RBR Enterprises team,” said a dejected Herring. “We're just missing one piece of the puzzle by not capturing the win. We got rookie of the year, and that was our main focus this year so I'm really pleased about that. We had a great car and it looked like the race was ours. It's a shame it ended like it did.” Read More

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (November 1, 2008) – The final USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series race of the 2008 season provided 18-year-old James Buescher with one last shot at earning an elusive first win in the touring series. 200 laps at Rockingham Speedway stood in his way.

Buescher got the weekend off to a solid start on Friday afternoon, qualifying his No. 84 Mercedes Homes / Wolfpack Rentals Chevrolet to a lap of 24.061, good enough for fourth place on the starting grid.

Saturday’s Black Tire America 200 looked as if it would be an easy outing for Buescher who jumped to second prior to the first round of pit stops. While out front, he complained of “puking water from the front and out of the back” of the race car. Inheriting the lead on lap 29, Buescher led ten laps prior to being passed by cars that had previously pitted.

At one point in the 2008 Season Tim Bainey Jr. and the Aaron's Dream Team were riding the edge of being the Hottest Team in the USAR Series. A 10th place finish at South Boston, 7th at Salem, leading and finishing 9th at Radford, running 5th at Jennerstown. bets were going up as to when Tim Jr. and the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine would visit victory lane.

"It was a really fun year," said Tim Jr. "We had the Aaron's Dream Team in the headlines and that's what it's all about."

When the checkered flag fell on their 15th place finish at The Rock, they would end the season 21st in the Final Chase Standings, Amazingly only 45 points out of 11th.

"That's just how competitive it was," Tim Jr. continued. "We really took a hit at Mansfield during the Championship Race. We were looking at what could have been our first win, and then we got taken out just past the halfway mark of the race. That was tough, but what really hurt was that we destroyed my favorite car."

Brett Butler and the #99 Verve Energy Drink Team hit the high banks at full speed during their visit to the famed Rockingham Speedway for the USAR Season Finale “American 250” last weekend.

They headed into the weekend right in the middle of an unbelievable Championship Points Battle. The Verve Energy Drink Team was just 4 points out of 20th heading into the weekend. They looked to be on pace to climb as high as 10th early in the event, but a broken transmission would end their day dropping them to 33rd in the final rundown and 26th in the Chase Points Race.

“It was a cool place to run, a disappointing way to end the season with the transmission problem – but we really have something here with our Verve Energy Drink Team. These guys are awesome when it comes to getting these cars to work for us,” said Butler after the weekend wrapped up.

Butler qualified the Verve Energy Drink Car 28th for the 36 car field and would climb all the way up inside the top-10 after some great work both on the track and in the pits by him and his Verve Energy Drink Team.

Mooresville, NC (November 6, 2008) – While Mark McFarland and his Pete Knight Racing crew may have just missed winning the 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup championship, they didn’t walk away empty handed.

On Friday, the PKR bunch captured pit road bragging rights winning the BFGoodrich Tires Pit Crew Challenge at Rockingham Speedway.

“The Pit Crew Championship is something our guys really deserve,” said PKR crew chief Wes Ward. “They work three days a week for one stop on Saturday night. If you do have a bad pit stop, you never get to leave the racetrack having redeemed yourself. That just doesn’t happen in one-pit stop races.

“To come in there and prove that they were good was great,” Ward continued. “We’ve been steady all year long. They practiced hard for the championship and to win it while representing Pete Knight Racing and Sears Auto Center is a great reward.”

TEAM RELEASE

Durham, N.C.-Jay Fogleman and the Speedco/The Works/Mac Tools/JFco Motorsports Ford Fusion No. 4n team can celebrate their third-place finish in the 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup standings.

The Durham, N.C., veteran secured the strong points position with a 13th-place finish in the Nov. 1 running of the Mark Brooks Memorial Blacks Tire American 200 presented by Food King at Rockingham (N.C.) Raceway. The race finish, however, wasn’t what Fogleman hoped for.

"Our strategy worked perfectly, we just had one problem – a flat right rear," said Fogleman, who started 19th and planned to save his equipment until the end of the race. "We rode and rode and rode, but lost three laps there in the pits because of that flat. Once we changed that tire we got back out behind the leader and ran there all day. We were capable of running decent – Darin Odle and the crew gave me a good car - but I was just biding my time, doing everything you need to do in these long races. The tire wear looked great, we weren’t wearing any tires. We were in position to have good tires at the end, but it didn’t go my way today.

"We had a good year," Fogleman continued. "We won a race, and we were in position to win a couple of races and we ran in the top five on a regular basis. We’ve got something to build upon."

“Strong Run Subdued By 23rd Place Finish At The Rock”

ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina (November 5, 2008) - - Matt Merrell had high hopes of ending his inaugural USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup Season with a strong finish in Saturday’s Mark Brooks Memorial Black’s Tire American 200 presented by Food King at Rockingham Speedway but a late race upside down ride on the backstretch halted a strong run for the Win-Tron Racing team which eventually delivered a 23rd place finish in the final race of the 2008 season.

The weekend started off strong for the rookie team after Merrell, the Portland, Texas native showed the strength of his No. 32 Merrell Lease Chevrolet Monte Carlo in practice which saw the team near the top of the charts.

“The testing really paid off for us,” noted Merrell, a development driver for Win-Tron Racing. “We went back to the shop and made some changes after the open-test and the plus side of testing is showing in the practice rundown. The changes were the right ones. I’m really proud of this Win-Tron bunch. They are just awesome.”

Pete Knight Racing Driver Finishes 14th In Race, Second In 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Championship

Mooresville, NC (November 4, 2008) – Mark McFarland was hoping to be sipping champagne as the winner of the 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup season championship Saturday at Rockingham Speedway. Instead, the driver of the No. 81s Sears Auto Center Chevy left with a battered race car and a runner-up finish in the points.

“We worked hard all year long,” said McFarland after finishing 14th in the American 200. “We wrecked a couple of cars this season and built a whole new one in less than two weeks. The guys never gave up. We worked hard. We didn’t lose the championship because anybody outworked us.”

McFarland entered the American 200 second in the championship points – just 27 makers behind front runner Benny Gordon. Despite feeling under the weather, McFarland served notice early that he was going to race Gordon for the title as his Sears Auto Center Chevrolet was third on the speed charts in practice lapping the 1.017-mile Rockingham oval in 24.298 seconds (148.160 mph).