Hessert brought his No. 77 Caregard-AxiomWarranty.com Dodge to victory lane with a big push by teammate Austin Wayne Self, who finished third behind Watkinsville, GA's John Wes Townley. Mason Mitchell finished fourth and Spencer Gallagher fifth in the Allegiant Travel Chevrolet.
"We had a really good car, but we were sort of bound up for most of the day," Hessert said. "I finally got a chance to lead at the end and I took it. I got a great push from Austin (Self) to get around the 5 car. I wouldn't be here without Austin."
The victory was Hessert's fourth all-time ARCA win and first on a superspeedway. He's won before at Iowa Speedway and twice at the half-mile Salem Speedway short track. Inside of five laps to go, Hessert pushed to the front and was one of three cars to lead in the final stretch.
"My car was good on the outside, but I couldn't get much help out there," Hessert said. "Once we got around the 25 (Justin Boston) and the 5 car (Bobby Gerhart) jumped out. He was fast, but I still felt like I needed to lead."
Self, who won the SCOTT Rookie Challenge of the Race award for the second consecutive week, made his superspeedway debut a memorable one.
"People told me that if you finish Talladega you've done a good job," Self said. "We came home third and our teammate won the race."
Self, in the No. 22 AM Technical Solutions Dodge, said he was zeroed in on his teammate at the end of the race.
"I don't think I've ever had to work with someone like that before," Self said. "I locked in on the 77 and followed him through everything. He did a great job out there."
Townley, in the Zaxby's No. 15 Toyota, led 19 laps, including laps 54 through 71 and again on lap 73 before Hessert passed him with three to go. It was an exciting finish to the race with several cars jockeying for position inside the final 10 laps.
Fifteen cars were on the lead lap after the one and only caution ended with 13 laps to go. Mitchell, in the No. 98 Thermal Technology Services Ford, took the lead on the restart, but was shuffled back.
"Things started heating up out there; guys were pushing and banging off each other," Mitchell said. "I had the lead, but unfortunately I got caught up behind a lapped car and lost it. But, those things happen."
Gerhart, in the Lucas Oil-MAVTV American Real Chevrolet, moved out of a single file line that was hugging the bottom and, with Hessert and Self behind him, pushed into the lead inside of 10 laps from the finish.
"I had to go when I had to go," he said. "It may have been a little bit too early as it turned out, but that's racing."
On the first round of green flag pit stops, 16 cars were penalized for speeding either into, on or out of pit road. Until then, Menards Pole winner Grant Enfinger had led every lap.
"I felt like we had the car to beat; I just made a mistake on pit road," Enfinger said. "It was my own fault. I started slowing down, then I saw cars going beside me and I didn't want to lose track position and I sped up. It was my error, my mistake."
Enfinger battled back and was in the lead pack with 10 to go, but came up short in a bid to become the first driver in series history to win the first four races of a season.
"Track position meant so much today and there at the end, while I was happy with the car, I just couldn't get any momentum," he said. "I'm still happy with the day."
Frank Kimmel also took home a ninth-place finish after starting 22nd. He was at the back of the lead lap cars when the race restarted after its only caution.
"I got a little greedy at the end," Kimmel said after extending his top 10 finish streak to 36 races. "I got up to fifth, but lost it a little there. It was a good finish for the kind of day we had."
Derrick Lancaster finished sixth, his career best finish.
"This was only my second superspeedway race," Lancaster said. "I learned a lot about the car. We're going to build a new car over the winter and we'll be even better."
Buster Graham, in the Jwire-Don Mashburn Ford, finished 10th.
ARCA Racing Series
Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
International Motorsports Hall of Fame 200 (Unofficial) - May 3, 2014
FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS
1 7 77 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ Caregard-AxiomWarranty.com Dodge 76 Running
2 5 15 John Wes Townley/Watkinsville GA Zaxby's Toyota 76 Running
3 10 22 Austin Wayne Self/Austin TX AM Technical Solutions Dodge 76 Running
4 2 98 Mason Mitchell/West Des Moines IA Thermal Technology Services Ford 76 Running
5 18 23 Spencer Gallagher/Las Vegas NV Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 76 Running
6 12 56 Derrick Lancaster/Christiansburg VA Total Car And Truck Service Dodge 76 Running
7 13 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA Lucas Oil-MAVTV American Real Chevrolet 76 Running
8 22 44 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Ansell-Menards Toyota 76 Running
9 1 90 Grant Enfinger/Fairhope AL Motor Honey-Advance Auto Parts Ford 76 Running
10 17 99 Buster Graham/Lafayette LA Jwire-Don Mashburn Ford 76 Running
11 21 6 Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford 76 Running
12 3 25 Justin Boston/Baltimore MD ZLOOP Toyota 76 Running
13 16 20 Scott Sheldon/Las Vegas NV Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 76 Running
14 8 55 Leilani Munter/Rochester MN Blackfish Toyota 76 Running
15 4 4 Mark Thompson/Cartersville GA Phoenix Air Chevrolet 75 Accident
16 20 66 Matt Kurzejewski/Mansfield PA Venturini Motorsports Toyota 75 Running
17 19 3 Kevin Powell/Winston Salem NC Polaris Chevrolet 75 Running
18 24 11 Garrett Smithley/Kannapolis NC Goodwill Helping Heros Ford 75 Running
19 25 88 Justin Allison/Salisbury NC HAVACOSales.com Ford 75 Running
20 15 17 Alex Guenette/Terrebonne Quebec Motor Illimitees-DLGL Chevrolet 74 Running
21 29 10 Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY Milton CAT-Double H Ranch Chevrolet 74 Running
22 28 2 Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL Realtor-Nudraulix Chevrolet 74 Running
23 32 97 Tim Viens/Daytona Beach FL Carter 2 Motorsports Dodge 74 Running
24 14 7 Scotty Hubler/Coplay PA Advanced Mobile Power Systems Chevrolet 73 Running
25 26 46 Maryeve Dufault/Sorel Quebec Shooters Restaurant Group Ford 73 Running
26 30 57 Bryan Dauzat/Concord NC O.B. Builders Chevrolet 73 Running
27 35 0 Barry Fitzgerald/Sykesville MD OperationShoeBox-Race Against Drugs Ford 73 Running
28 36 75 Benny Chastain/Tallahassee FL Bob Schacht Motorsports Chevrolet 72 Running
29 9 52 Clay Campbell/Martinsville VA Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet 72 Running
30 31 40 Donnie Neuenberger/Brandywine MD Carter 2 Motorsports Dodge 71 Running
31 34 06 Joey Gattina/Pelham AL RobbyWell2016.com Chevrolet 71 Running
32 33 48 Rick Clifton/Circleville, OH Radon.com Ford 50 Axle
33 27 03 Brent Cross/Cortland NY Northeast Transformer-Johnson Tool Chevy 41 Transmssn
34 11 32 Terry Jones/Amherstburg Ontario Jones Group Toyota 40 Battery
35 23 86 Bobby Grewohl/Hollister CA 989 On Demand-Fox Realty Chevrolet 28 Engine
36 6 68 Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN Ingersoll Rand Tools-Messinas Ford 27 Engine
Menards Pole Award Presented by Ansell: Grant Enfinger 52.143 (183.649 mph)
Margin of Victory: 0.140 seconds Cautions: 1 for 8 laps
Time of Race: 1:15:34 Average Speed: 160.515 mph
Lap Leaders: Enfinger 1-35 (35); Jones 36-38 (3); Gerhart 39-40, 72 (3); Mitchell 41-42 (2);
Boston 43-53 (11); Townley 54-71, 73 (19); Hessert 74-76 (3)
Tom Hessert scored the win in a frantic finish in the ARCA Racing Series event Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. / Photo: ARCA Media
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