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florence5000oct25Bobby picked up his first career Florence win and 18th overall in 2015 on Sunday afternoon in the $5,000 to win Fall 50. He took the lead on lap 17 and led the rest of the way. He was fast qualifier of the 32 cars on hand and also won his heat race.


eldora5000oct4Bobby started fourth Sunday afternoon at the $5,000 to win UMP Fall Nationals at Eldora, but quickly took the lead from Eddie Carrier Jr., eight laps in and never looked back en route to victory in the 40-lap race. Bobby also locked up his second straight UMP DIRTcar national championship and extended his winning streak to eight races. The margin of victory was 2.3 seconds. "It's awesome," Pierce said. "I'm out of breath. I loved the track. It was fast and rough. I rode the cushion a little bit. It was tricky, but we got the win."


tricity2000sep25Bobby swept the three-night Tri-City event earning him $6,000 and extending his win streak to seven as he closes in on his second consecutive UMP Late Model National Championship.


Bobby swept the weekend earning $17,000 while extending his win streak to four on Sunday night at Quincy. Starting sixth, he took the lead on the ninth lap and led the rest of the way to pick up the $2,000 Big Ten Series finale.


farmercity sep17Taking the lead after trading sliders with race long leader Brian Shirley, Bobby picked up the $5,000 Corn Belt Clash/American Late Model Series win Thursday night at Farmer City. Starting on the pole, Bobby fell back to third on the start as Shirley and Shannon Babb got around. Shirley got away early as Bobby and Babb tried to stay close as they all navigated through heavy lapped traffic. A caution would slow the action with fifteen laps to go bunching the field up and giving the leaders a clear track to battle out the remaining laps. On the restart, Bobby took second from Babb and set his sights on Shirley. The Smooth Operator used the very bottom of the track going into turn one sliding by Shirley to take the lead. Shirley battled back in turn four to retake the top spot. On the next lap, Bobby cleared Shirley off of turn two and put some distance between himself and second as he went on to capture the $5,000 top prize, his tenth feature win of the season.


world100Bobby duplicated his stirring — and wall-scraping — performance from Eldora's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event two months earlier as he finished runner-up in the sport's most prestigious event, the World 100, Saturday night. He started fifth in the 100-lap race and moved up to second from laps 20-35 before slipping back to fifth through the race's middle stages, but he went from fourth to second on the 90th lap and finished one spot shy of becoming the Earl Baltes-founded event's youngest winner.

"I don't know I never really wanted to finish with the car looking the way it did you know like at the Mud Summer Classic with the truck," Pierce said of his beat-up No. 32. "But it looks the exact same way. I don't know, I guess it just happens.

"I think it hurt me a little bit going down the straight away and besides that really didn't seem to faze me. You know that's when you know you have a good car, you know when you can do that to your spoiler and just notice a little difference instead of a huge difference.

I don't know it was pretty cool, you know, this place is so much different than what it was heck last year, two years ago. Just to get the hang of it again, like we did back when I was first here for the World, it feels really good you know. It makes me look forward to coming back the next time. I don't know, I wanted to get it for Illinois."


i55 sep5Bobby picked up his eighth win of the season and second in a row Saturday night at I-55 Raceway.


hickory aug15On Saturday Bobby Pierce was tackling a new challenge — driving a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series asphalt late model at Hickory Motor Speedway. Making just his fourth start on a paved track (after Memphis Motorsports Park, New Smyrna Speedway, and Slinger Super Speedway), Pierce was signed to drive the No. 88 Speedco Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports.

In qualifying at HMS, Pierce put his car on the outside pole just behind Josh Berry — the normal driver of the No. 88. Pierce slipped to third at the start of the race when Landon Huffman maneuvered past, but Pierce was smooth and consistent after that. He kept the No. 88 in third for the duration of the 100-lap event, withstanding pressure from HMS veteran Dexter Canipe Jr. "It's a lot different than dirt," remarked Pierce after the race. "There's always a lot of bad habits you've got to throw out the window when you race asphalt. "This was awesome," said Pierce. "I'm completely satisfied with third place. Landon and Josh are great drivers. Just finishing behind them was pretty cool. It was just really exciting." After post-race inspection was completed, the winner was disqualified moving Bobby up to second. -- Justin Epley Photo


eldora nascar truckLeading 39 of 154 laps while staying in the top five throughout the entirety of the race and having a chance to win it at the end, Bobby introduced himself to the NASCAR world in a big way Wednesday night finishing second in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Mud Summer Classic at Eldora Speedway in his NASCAR debut.

"It was a lot of fun out there. I'm out of breath, but so happy." Pierce said. "I know a lot of people before the race were thinking I was going to be the Kyle Larson this year, probably. I didn't want to be the guy in second, but that's how it goes."

Team owner Mike Mittler was fine with second. A team owner in the Truck Series since its inception in 1995, Wednesday was his best finish. His only other career top 10 in 213 starts was an eighth-place showing with Carl Edwards in 2002.

Earlier in the day, Bobby became the fifth driver in Truck Series history to qualify on the pole in his first start with a speed of 86.889 mph. He followed that up by winning his qualifying race to earn the pole for the main event.

In the two practices to start the day, Bobby ran 19 laps in the opening session with a quick time of 20.248 seconds putting him third on the leaderboard. Backing up his top five speed, Bobby clocked in fourth quickest in the final practice. Totaling 56 laps, his best time was 20.892 seconds.


belleclair5000jun24For the second consecutive season Bobby captured the $5,000 UMP Summer Nationals victory at Belle-Clair. He started on the pole and led every lap, winning by 2.9 seconds while extending his Summer Nationals points lead. “It feels really good,” said Pierce. “This is starting to become one of my favorite tracks. I’m really good at these little bullrings. You can get up on the cushion and get a good run off.”


jacksonville5000jun16Recording top four finishes in three of the first four Summer National races, Bobby had the consistency but was hoping to find victory lane. On Tuesday night in Jacksonville, he finally broke through and scored the $5,000 UMP Summer Nationals victory. Starting on the pole, the Smooth Operator took the lead on lap 11 and ran away from the pack in the green to checkers 40 lap race winning by 2.651 seconds.

"This isn't a track I really expected to win a race at," Pierce said after padding his early points lead on the month-long Summernationals series. "I'm normally good on these small tracks, but I haven't been good here before … so this win is pretty shocking to me. I want to stay consistent with this deal, and when I can get a win I'll take it so this is an extreme confidence booster. It's the fifth race of the tour so it's still real early, but hopefully now we can knock off a lot more of these races."


It was an up and down weekend for Team Pierce. On Thursday night at Macon, Bobby was leading until a flat tire on lap 58. At Tri-City on Friday, the Smooth Operator was leading again with 14 laps to go but damaged the right rear of his car and faded back. On Saturday at Paducah he started 13th and finished 4th. A good run to close the weekend!


Bobby and Team 32 were at Macon on Thursday night hoping to repeat the success at this race one year ago as Bobby collected the $12,000 top prize in a dominating performance. It looked for a while on Thursday that he might indeed go back-to-back. Winning his heat race put him on the front row of the 100 lap feature. At the start, Bobby jumped out to a two second lead until heavy lapped traffic would slow him down on lap 10. He stayed out front until lap 21 when Billy Moyer would get by. Bobby stayed close and grabbed the lead back on lap 32. From there the Smooth Operator build an over four second advantage at the halfway mark.

While leading on lap 58, misfortune strikes as a flat right rear tire would stop the great run and put Bobby in the back after his crew changed the deflated tire. Restarting 14th, he moved up to eighth at the checkers.


peoria5000apr11Bobby worked under leader Scott Schmitt near midway in the 50-lap Bohlander Tribute at Peoria on Saturday night and went on to collect the $5,000 victory. It's been a great month of April for Bobby and Team 32 with three wins out of four starts and $25,000 in winnings.


lasalle15000apr4Taking 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


lasalle5000apr3What better way to break out of an early season slump then return to the quarter-mile bullrings of Illinois. Making his first home-state start of the season, Bobby took the lead on the fourth lap of the ALMS Thaw Brawl opener on Friday night at LaSalle and led the rest of the way picking up the $5,000 top prize. He built up a 5.4 second advantage at one point before entering lapped traffic on lap 16. He led 47 of the 50 laps and won by 1.916 seconds.

"We've been in a slump big time," said Pierce, who entered the Sunoco American Late Model Series doubleheader with just a single top-five finish to his credit in eight 2015 starts spread between February's East Bay Winternationals and last month's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events in Ohio and Indiana. "Heck, I haven't won a heat race in so long. Tonight was my first heat win since I-don't-know-when, so it was a good feeling to finally start winning races again." -- Jim DenHamer Photo


new smyrna feb18Bobby turned his first ever laps in a pavement Super Late Model on Wednesday at New Smyrna (FL) Speedway in the World Series of Asphalt. He started 25th in the feature and moved up to 14th. A solid run in his pavement Super Late Model debut!


Bobby and Team 32 opened the 2015 season on Tuesday night in Florida at East Bay's Winternationals. 42 cars were on hand with Bobby clocking in second fastest in his qualifying group. On the third lap of his heat race while running second, Bobby spun to bring out a caution. He rallied from the tail to get the final transfer spot in fourth. Starting 16th in the feature, the "Smooth Operator" worked his way towards the front, climbing all the way to fourth at the checkers. "The car was excellent and the track was tricky but a lot of fun tonight. Thought it was going to be a long night after hitting the berm in the heat race and spinning out, but we kept digging and had a good run." Pierce said.


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