West Plains Motor Speedway...
West Plains Motor Speedway owners Don and Bille Gibson with their granddaughters.
The lineup for the impending green found Mars leading the double-file pairing of Phillips and Bloomquist. When the green waved, Mars continued in the low groove and never gave a thought to the charging Bloomquist on the outside. Whether Bloomquist had something in reserve is a matter of conjecture, but the soon-to-be five-time champion made it look ridiculously easy as he sprinted to the high side and disposed of Mars and literally left the field in his wake. He came to the checkers completely unchallenged and $42,000 richer. Mars came home Second, ahead of Phillips, Earl Pearson Jr., and Shannon Babb.
True to form, Bloomquist hailed the racing surface as "perfect" and he proved his prophecy of simply making the race being good enough to have a chance at the win as he pulled off the unlikely worst-to-first performance.
Against some long odds, the Show-Me again delivered the goods and maintained its status as one of the most anticipated and most coveted events for fans and drivers.