3/23/2024
Five Flags Speedway
Okie Mason Claims Crown Stocks
The Big Weekend: Pollard’s DQ Paves Way for ‘Okie Dokie’ to Capture Crown Stocks Feature
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Bubba Pollard in Victory Lane at Five Flags Speedway isn’t new.
And while the ear-to-ear smile he wore wasn’t new either, the living short-track legend certainly seemed more like rookie than veteran.
The facts are Pollard was a rookie Saturday afternoon at Five Flags. He hopped in the same Crown Victoria that won the Story and Bleich Crown Stocks feature at last year’s Snowball Derby and enjoyed the same result.
“We just wanted to go out and have fun and wheel it,” Pollard said. “It doesn’t matter;. This thing kinda jokingly came together, but what the heck, it doesn’t matter. We’re having fun. Maybe, I’ll get to do it again.”
Pollard, unofficially, won the 20-lapper. However, his victory was tossed in technical inspection when Pollard was disqualified for an illegal throttle.
That meant runner-up Okie Mason was crowned the feature winner and defending Crown Stocks track champion Ryan Bleich finished second officially. Ryan Maxwell, who won once in 2023, rounded out the podium.
The Crown Stocks kicked off Day 2 of The Big Weekend, a three-day event which concludes with the ASA STARS drivers Sunday afternoon, with a field of nearly 30 cars and represented themselves well.
Pollard took the lead on Lap 11 when he went three-wide with Mason and Maxwell, who led the opening half of the feature. A caution came out a few laps later, but Pollard was able to pull away from the field on the restart.
“We had a lotta fun,” Mason said. “These things are fun to drive. I’d race a wheelbarrow if I could do it.”
