Crum Leads Youthful Charge In Bailey's 300

Jake Crum races under the checkered flag.

Youth reigned supreme Sunday afternoon at one of the oldest NASCAR venues in the nation.

The top three finishers in the Bailey’s 300 Late Model Stock race at Martinsville Speedway Sunday were each 18 years old, but they drove much older than their birth dates would suggest.

Jake Crum of Statesville, NC, became the youngest winner of the Bailey’s 300 when he beat fellow 18-year-older Brandon McReynolds to the start-finish line by .223 seconds. Brennan Poole, also 18, finished third, less than a half-second behind the winner.

It was by far the biggest win of Crum’s young career, netting him the first-place prize of $25,000 and the traditional grandfather clock that goes to Martinsville winners.

“Honestly, I think my biggest win before today was a go-kart win that paid like $7,000 to win and it doesn’t really compare to winning Martinsville,” said Crum.

Crum has run an abbreviated schedule this season, a victim of the economy. Sunday’s start was just his fifth of the year.

“We’ve not really raced that much this year. We’ve just run a few races. We’ve just been trying to look around for sponsorships and trying to get some stuff ready for 2010,” said Crum, who has been racing Late Models since he was 13.

His performance Sunday should certainly draw some attention. He led on five different occasions and took the lead for good with just two laps remaining when he got by Poole. He then held off a hard charge by McReynolds diving into the first turn and beat McReynolds and Poole back to the checkered flag to win the biggest Late Model Stock race in the country.

 “With five laps to go, I was just thinking about getting around Poole,” said Crum. “And we got around him and then I just prayed we could win the race.”

Rounding out the top five were Deac McCaskill in fourth and Richard Boswell in fifth.

Pole-sitter Davin Scites got caught up in a wreck and wound up in 25^th. Outside pole-sitter Philip Morris also was the victim of a wreck and finished in 37^th.