Flashbacks washed over Augie Grill at Five Flags Speedway on Friday. The uneasiness caused him to squirm a little his Super Late Model seat.

     The two-time Snowball Derby champion lost the Blizzard Series season opener when on a late caution he began leaking fluid, putting a sudden and dramatic end to his night. When another came out on Lap 91 during the U.S.A. Digital 100 on Friday, Grill was bound to not let history repeat itself.

     Lesson learned, as Grill made a dominant return to Victory Lane. “That first race was heartbreak,” said Grill, who was dominant from qualifying and thereafter. “I didn’t smell in the car anything this time. I thought we’d be all right when everybody got back out. Fortunately, I was able to pull away.” He drove away from the youngster Chase Elliott, who won here last month and unofficially took the Blizzard points lead after finishing as the runner-up.

     Elliott led a good portion of the race early, but could not close the door when Grill came barreling down on him in the middle of the race. “I worked as hard as I could, but Augie was too tough,” the 14-year-old said. “It’ll be our goal from here on out to win every week.”

     On a night full of bright pink, purple, green, orange and more fireworks, yellow was the color that stole the show at Five Flags. An inaugural competition yellow promised to add a bit of drama to the Blizzard Series. Yet, as expected, it had little effect on the usual cast of characters that drive up front. “Basically, it worked out like it would’ve had everybody pitted on Lap 80, you know,” Grill said. “It was nothing too different, except I didn’t have to beat everybody out in the pits.”

     He had his white No. 112 running on all cylinders, even though he didn’t make it easy on himself. Fastest in qualifying, Grill partook in the other Blizzard Series adjustment Friday ? a field invert. On the roll of the die, he figuratively rolled the dice by slamming the die into the asphalt. The gamble did not pay off and the field was set to an eight-car invert. It didn’t matter on this night.

     “We didn’t have the car we liked to have on the last race,” Grill said. “We worked on it and got it back to like it was for the first race. We had a really good car tonight.” Among Grill, the fireworks and the series changes, the night’s other highlight was an ultra-competitive battle between Bubba Pollard and Casey Smith late in the race. The pair were door-to-door just prior to Lap 85 as they battled for third and stayed that way for several laps. They sandwiched around Eddie Mercer, down a lap, before Smith finally passed Pollard at the start of Lap 90.
 
Sportsmen
      Stevie Mercer just would not be denied. Starting fifth, Mercer was determined to return to steer his black No. 72 back to Victory Lane. The veteran got his wish, forcing the issue all night to pick up his first win since earlier this season.

     “These cars don’t know it’s an asphalt track,” Mercer said. “Loose cars, trading paint, that’s how we like to race. We’ve been in a dry spell. It feels like we’re getting back there.” He topped series points leader Steve Buttrick along the way, as Mercer and Buttrick ran away from the rest of the 12-car field for most of the 25 laps. Mercer passed Buttrick on Lap 14 and never looked back. Not even lapped traffic late in the race could put the brakes on Mercer’s runaway night.

     “The car was good, but it was not enough to get by (Mercer),” Buttrick said.
 
Bombers:
Curtis Faircloth continues to be a thorn in the side of Mike Goraum. For the second time in three races, the Pace native topped the series points leader to find his way to Victory Lane. The bad news for the rest of the Bombers? Faircloth seems destined to be a thorn in more than just Goraum’s side. That was clear from the outset when Faircloth got a good run as the green flag dropped yet, but his hard driving spooked Tracy Soles in the No. 6 and caused a quick caution.
 
Super Stocks
     Randy Thompson continued to pad his series points lead with another victory. Two weeks after his first career victory, Earl Polk finished as the runner-up. Chris Cotto rounded out the top three despite early car troubles.
 
Five Flags Speedway, Official Results, June 25, 2010