Bubba Pollard Shows Resolve in Latest Rattler Effort

Bubba Pollard didn’t practice well.
Bubba Pollard didn’t qualify well.

The case could be made that Bubba Pollard has the field exactly where he wants them on Sunday in the Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway.

Pollard will take the green flag from 13th and hasn’t really expressed a lot of confidence in his No. 26 since unloading on Thursday afternoon.

"We've been flipping back and forth on different things," Pollard said. "We just haven’t had the speed we found at (Watermelon Capital Speedway) and we’ve kind of been making adjustments and just running around in circles.

"I really don’t have the speed I’ve been looking for and I’m really not happy. We’ve gone back and forth on a lot of different things. We’ll figure it out."

Historically, Pollard earned a reputation of expressing disappointment with his setup before winning a large number of his races over the past decade. That wasn’t Pollard playing mind games or being disingenuous.

He really believed it, and believes it now, and has just kept working and working.

"Most of the time we win are races where I’m not happy and kept searching until the last minute and then got it right," Pollard said. "I mean, this car doesn’t drive bad, but everyone is so close now. Everyone is buying the same cars, so you have to do a lot of different things to set yourself apart from other people.

"The best you can do is keep fighting until the end."

Pollard expects a procedural race until the end. His theory is that no one drives as aggressive here as they used to because they don’t have to. He says everyone’s cars drive much better than a decade ago and that no one generally feels the need to aggressively get track position early.

He just wants to find a place to ride the first 100 laps and see if he gets a better feel in his car.

"This place is a little more forgiving than it used to be," Pollard said. "You don’t see as many people fall off the lead lap early so if you can just ride and make it to the end, stay on the lead lap, you’ll give yourself a shot.

"That's how all races are going -- just be there at the end and be smart and put yourself in position and we can do that. We'll be fine. We’ll just stick to our game plan that we have about every week and we’ll be there."

Pollard has won the Rattler 250, but it was literally a decade ago. With how equal the competition is these days, Pollard says a win on Sunday would be even more rewarding than his first.

"I shouldn't say this place is tougher, but it is kind of," Pollard said. "That makes it rewarding. This is where I made most of my first starts. We’ve had cars capable of winning this race more over the years but couldn’t make enough of it. That’s what is tough about it.

"Being able to race with John and Sandra (Dykes) Maleah (Hill) and everyone that works so hard here is special to me too. This is a special place for me. It’s a place we feel like we should have won more races at and I want to win here again.

"I hope we can keep coming down here and trying it every year."