Matt Hawkins Stalls Out of a Top-Five Run at Bristol

On-Track Problems Push Georgia Driver Back to 14th

In order to get a good finish at Bristol Motor Speedway (TN), a driver has to avoid the wrecks on the track.  Sometimes that’s not enough to keep from having trouble.  Matt Hawkins now understands this fact after little things kept him from having a solid run on the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” in the Hooters Pro Cup Series “Aaron’s 150” event.

“Eight cars wrecked in front of me. I locked it down and got it stopped, but I could get it fired back up,” said Hawkins about the race.  “We lost a lap.  I got it back under green and the car really felt good for a while.

“Then the #99 (Brett Butler) blew an engine in front of us.  I lost it and spun down into the inside wall and lost a few more laps.  We had an awesome race car. I just hate it for all the guys.”

Hawkins limped around for a 14th-place finish in his second trip to Bristol with the Pro Cup series.  It still confused him how a track so wide and fast could create so many problems.

“This place is a great race track,” added Hawkins.  “There is no reason to wreck as many cars as we did.  There are three lanes all the way around this place.  It was a shame we couldn’t have had a better run.”

Matt Hawkins talks with his dad Fred, before the race.

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Hawkins ended up ninth in the South Division standings.   Now his attention turns to the four-race season championship, which starts on August 30th at Mansfield Motorsports Park (OH).