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It was just two months ago that Preston Peltier was on the sidelines recovering from an injury sustained in a home repair incident.

The man fell off his house.

On Saturday night, he went from nearly falling on his head to placing a golden crown on top of it after winning the Southern Super Series World Crown 300 at Gresham Motorsports Park.

The former PASS South champion won the 30th running of the prestigious event by outdueling Bubba Pollard. With his victory, Peltier was presented a check but also the crown and garments previously worn by the likes of Dick Trickle, Darrell Waltrip, Gary Balough, Mike Eddy and Bobby Gill.

Pollard battled door-to-door with Pollard before taking the lead for good with 24 laps remaining in the 300 lap showdown.

“I’ve been sitting on the couch for two months after I fell out of the attic and my arm is still kind of hurting me tonight,” Peltier said. “I tried to race last week but it was just too much.

“I brought all my friends to help me tonight and I’d rather have them than a high-dollar pit crew any day. I’m worn out though.  I’ve been telling these guys this thing is awesome and I think we showed it tonight.”

Peltier and Pollard traded the lead several times in the final 100 laps.  The two battled side-by-side before making contact on the front stretch inside of 25 laps remaining.  Pollard was forced to settle into second while Peltier sped away for the victory.

“We didn’t have any tires left in our pits,” said Peltier.  “And I guess that’s a good thing since we never got the final caution I think a lot of people were thinking we would.  We hung on to our tires until the last caution came out.  And I’ve got to tell Bubba sorry for the deal on the front stretch.  I don’t know if it was spotter or what but I didn’t know he was there.”

Pollard was able to finish second but conceded he just got beat.

“I think our cars were equal there at the end,” said Pollard.  “I got by him and he put me into the outside wall on the front stretch.  He hit me pretty good and I think it knocked the toe out of my car because it got really tight after that.  And then it was just the story of this season.  It’s hard to swallow when you’ve got one of the best racecars here.  We learned a lot and we’ll take it and go on to the next one.”

TJ Reaid, who had completed just 16 laps of a possible 600 in his last two appearances in the World Crown 300, turned his bad luck around at Gresham with a third place finish that included many laps led early in the race.

“We had a good car on the short run but it gave up on the long run,” said Reaid.  “Hats off to Preston (Peltier) for coming down here and doing this, though.  I guess we’ll just have to come back next year and try again.  We didn’t have tires left and I was banking on a caution there late and we ended up going green.  I like this format though; there’s so much that can play out.  You have to race your own race.”

Chase Elliott edged Austin Theriault to round out the top-five.  Augie Grill and Kyle Benjamin were sixth and seventh respectively, while Southern Super Series point leader Daniel Hemric was eighth.  Anderson Bowen and Hunter Robbins rounded out the top 10.

  1. Preston Peltier
  2. Bubba Pollard
  3. TJ Reaid
  4. Chase Elliott
  5. Austin Theriault
  6. Augie Grill
  7. Kyle Benjamin
  8. Daniel Hemric
  9. Anderson Bowen
  10. Hunter Robbins
  11. David Odell
  12. Stephen Nasse
  13. Mason Massey
  14. Spencer Davis
  15. Russell Fleeman
  16. Donnie Wilson
  17. John Hunter Nemechek
  18. Chris Fontaine
  19. Chad Finley
  20. Mike Garvey
  21. Dalton Grindle
  22. Rodney Benefield
  23. Allen Karnes

Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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