Boswell broke it. Of all the Motor Mile Speedway regulars capable of winning, it took an outsider to sever Philip Morris’ six-race win streak. In his 2008 debut, Friendship, Md., native Richard Boswell led every circuit of the 150 lap Late Model feature en route to his first victory at the .416-mile short track this season.

With an unprecedented seven-race winning streak on the line, Philip Morris filled the rear-view mirror of the number 72 Champion Spark Plugs Chevrolet throughout the contest. But for the first time in a half-dozen races, Morris had met his match.

"What can you say, Philip is second-to-none down here," said Boswell from victory lane. "I told myself before the race; it’s a lot harder for him to win seven in a row than it is for us to win one."

Boswell -who competes full-time in the UARA series- carried the banner for JR Motorsports Saturday night, although the organization was well represented. Owen Kelly and Curtis Truex Jr. also occupied spots in the top ten at race’s end with a third and seventh place finish respectively. Conspicuously absent was the fourth member of the team and the second place driver in the Motor Mile standings, Davin Scites. Scites, who was reportedly racing at Langley Speedway, opted out of the Toyota/Star Country/AutoAd 150, dropping him to fourth in the standings.


Boswell’s black number 72 took the Price’s Body Shop Pole Award with a blistering lap time of 15.981, and led a healthy field of twenty-seven starters to the green flag.

Only six caution flags were presented throughout the event in what became a relatively calm night of racing. But although crashes didn’t claim cars Saturday night, underbody trouble would relegate a few top competitors to the garage. Derrick Lancaster, Mike Looney, and Tommy Lemons Jr. -who sat fifth in the standings coming into the July 12 event- all had motor complications that resulted in dismal finishes.

For Lemons, the trouble began right from the start. As the field took the green flag, a missed shift stacked up the back-half of the field, and as the number 27 got up to speed, the Bailey’s sponsored Chevrolet made significant contact to the rear of Mike Freeman’s racecar. With severe front-end cosmetic damage, Lemons limped around the oval for the majority of the early going before making similar contact that resulted in a punctured radiator.

"Somebody missed a shift [on the start] and I ran into the back of the 29, and knocked the hood up to where I couldn’t see- I was ridin’ around looking at the billboards," Lemons explained. "I guess my own stupidity took me out; like I said I couldn’t see, and I ran over the back of the 2; and after I ran over Dennis [Holdren] it knocked the radiator back."

Lemons would fall from fifth to seventh after the disappointing outing. Similar motor problems would plaque both Looney and Lancaster, resulting in poor finishes reflective in the point standings.

While his weekly competition continued to find trouble, Morris found himself in a dilemma of his own. The driver of the number 26 was finding it increasingly difficult to maneuver around Boswell’s unfamiliar number 72, although on several occasions the use of the bump-and-run tactic was an available option.

The method wasn’t a consideration for Morris.

"I didn’t want to do it that way," stated Morris. "We’ve been racing fair all year; I could run up and bump him in the corners, but I didn’t want to have that kind of contact."

As the race began to mature, the predicament was made worse by two of Boswell’s teammates. Both Owen Kelly and Curtis Truex Jr. had closed on the pair of frontrunners by lap 68, and although Truex would fade in the waning laps, the presence of the hungry Owen Kelly kept Morris at bay.

Kelly had rallied from his seventh place starting spot to third by lap 33, and the number 73 Chevrolet maintained the ground gained in the early going throughout the remainder of the contest. However, neither Morris nor Kelly had anything for Boswell on the long run. They would need a restart, and the final opportunity presented itself four laps from the finish.

Four laps earlier on lap 142, contact between Rusty Skewes and Forrest Reynolds sent the pair of drivers skating up the racetrack in turn two. Reynolds, who had been running inside the top ten throughout the event, would see his prospect of a top five run shattered. Reynolds would rebound to post a fifteenth place finish, and due to Scites’ absence, the result would be good enough to advance the driver of the number 04 up to second in the point standings.

As the field came to the restart following the caution, Morris pulled to the rear of Boswell’s Chevrolet. Inches apart, the pair rounded turns one and two, with the advantage going to Boswell by half a car length as the duo came to the white flag. Boswell would pull Morris by another half-car length during the final circuit, with Morris mirror racing to keep Kelly relegated to third.

The third place effort bettered Owen Kelly’s best run of fourth in the race prior.

"They just threw us the keys to this thing at the start of the year and we’ve cut the front off of it and changed it- we’ve gone around the world with it. We’re finally starting to hit on something that works," Kelly said.

Kelly Earnhardt Elledge was on hand to witness her team’s best comprehensive performance of the season, making the win even more special to the young Boswell.

"We’ve got the boss woman here, so that’s pretty special," Boswell said. "Philip Morris, he’s a class act. He could’ve knocked us out of the way there several times, but he raced us clean."

"What else can you say; we beat the best at Motor Mile."