From the first time that 19-year-old Michael Pope stepped foot into BDI Racing's shop in Concord, North Carolina, in December as the team's house Super Late Model driver, a breath of fresh air filled the entire BDI operation. Once the SpeedFest 2009 event at Lanier National Speedway was announced as the team's first SLM event of the new season, Pope and the new-look BDI Racing team knew the opportunity for success would come on that Saturday afternoon.

For both driver and team, that desired success came as Pope brought the BDI Racing #51 MAC Tools Chevy Impala SS home from Lanier with a fifth-place finish in the first major Super Late Model event in the country. The event, won by NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch, featured one of the most decorated fields of any Super Late Model event.

The stout competition level at the CRA Super Series-sanctioned SpeedFest event made the top-five finish in Pope's first run in the BDI Racing Chevy even more impressive.

”The whole race weekend was exciting,” said Pope. “Just the adrenaline rush being there with a team of this caliber… I think we can go out this year and win a bunch of races with this team. Being there with the BDI Racing team helped me with my confidence and the team had confidence in me,

as well. Overall, the weekend was awesome. I have to thank Bob Dillner and the entire team for this opportunity as well as Team Chevy, MAC Tools and Racing Electronics.”

From the time the #51 Impala was unloaded off the trailer at Lanier, Pope was wheeling a car to be reckoned with. Pope was at or near the top of the speed charts throughout practice on Friday and Saturday and that gave the entire team confidence going into qualifying. The confidence, combined with a determined young driver and a fast Chevy car, added to a third-place qualifying effort.

With the speed shown throughout the weekend, Pope was a favorite for victory in Sunday's 200-lap feature. When the green flag dropped on the SpeedFest field, Pope and the team were determined to feel the car out for the first half of the race and make any necessary adjustments to go for the race victory in the second 100 laps. While the car did not handle perfectly in the first stage of the race, Pope and the crew put their heads together for changes at the 10-minute halfway break pit stop to make the #51 come alive in the second half.

“We fought a tight condition in the first half of the race, but we never left the top-10,” added Pope. “We had a strategy for the first half of the race to just keep the leaders in sight if we couldn't be a leader ourselves, so we were able to do that. The car was tight through the center of the corner, but I was able to use the apron to help it turn going into the halfway break and we were actually faster than the leaders, so we knew that if we could make some changes, we'd have a good shot to win.

“At halfway, we loosened the car up a good bit and we went right from ninth to the top-five at the start of the second half of the race. Our new crew chief Jerry (Babb) couldn't be at the track this weekend (as he had one more commitment to another team), but he gave us a good game plan and Bob (Dillner, team owner), Dustin (Archer, Car Chief) and Jason (Ricker, Assistant Car Chief) made some great calls for adjustments.”

Wasting little time to make a charge, Pope worked his way through the field after restarting ninth at the halfway break. In fact, he used the toughest way around Lanier – the outside groove.

“The competition was so tough and everyone was so equal in that second half of the race, I knew the only way I was going to be able to make some moves would be to try the outside. Going through turns one and two it really stuck on the outside, so I went into three and four and tried it there. It stuck well there also, so we were able to make passes and get up to fifth. It was a lot of fun using that outside groove and it worked out well for us.”

The top-five finish in their first race as a team, Pope and the entire BDI Racing organization are eager to keep the momentum rolling throughout the 2009 season.

“I'm looking forward to this year,” added Pope. “This is an amazing opportunity to drive for the BDI Racing team and I truly am grateful and blessed to be with this team. It's going to be a great season, and I can't wait for the next race already.”

SpeedFest 2009 kicked off the Super Late Model division of BDI Racing's operations for the 2009 season. Pope will pilot the #51 Chevy for more races throughout 2009, including the Easter Bunny 150 PASS South event at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina .

While Pope's exact schedule will be announced at a later date, further driving opportunities with BDI Racing remain open for other racers throughout the 2009 season. BDI Racing's stable includes a fleet of three Late Models, state of the art equipment and an all-purpose team transporter, all housed in a 10,000-square-foot shop in Concord, North Carolina, the home of all things stock car racing.

BDI Racing currently has openings in its #51 Super Late Model for big early-season events such as Florida Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway and “The Rattler” at South Alabama Speedway, as well as races throughout the 2009 season.  Inquiries from funded and qualified drivers are welcome by contacting Matt Kentfield at (704) 788-2134 ext: 5 and matt@bdiracing.net.