Taking the lead on lap 22, Bobby led the rest of the way to score his richest victory of his young career, picking up $15,000 Saturday night at LaSalle and completed the weekend sweep of the Thaw Brawl following his $5,000 triumph on Friday. He started sixth in the 75-lap race and led 54 laps, winning by 1.378 seconds.

"I'm still shaking after that race," said Pierce. "It's one of the longest races ever. There's just a million things going on through your mind (while running in the lead). Even the slightest of noises you hear that the car's making going down the straightaway or something, you're like, 'Oh, man, what was that?' It's really nerve-wracking when you're out there leading the race — especially this one. I was just really glad that we had a car this weekend. We've been making improvements to the car, finding stuff. We just spent a long week in the shop finding things. That's what drivers always say — 'little things' — and it really is."

"This is one of my biggest wins money-wise," Pierce said, "and there's just really tough competition here like Bloomquist, Moyer. I always wanted to race against those guys when I was a little kid, so it's kind of cool to be out here beating 'em." -- Mike Ruefer Photo