The opening race to the 2008 Pro Challenge Playoff was one that the entire BDI Racing organization was eagerly anticipation. Meghan Dillner was hoping to kick off her run to the Pro Challenge Rookie of the Year title, Kyle Plott was to make his first-ever start at historic Hickory Motor Speedway to contend for a top finish in the season-ending PC point standings and Bandolero National Champion Chad Finchum was to make his first-ever Pro Challenge start.

Many of those goals were met on September 20th at Hickory, but some were not due to circumstances certainly not caused by the driver's nor team's faults. Finchum fell ill the night before the event, keeping him from making the trip to Hickory. Plott suffered mechanical issues in his #4 machine in practice and hopped into the #151 Chevy Silverado for BDI Racing for qualifying and the feature. Dillner found herself with the best luck early in the day as she took the #51 Chev-Stang to tops on the speed chart in practice.

Dillner kept that momentum going and qualified on the outside pole for the 50-lap feature. All signs were pointing towards a good finish for Dillner, but those hopes were dashed early on.

“Right up until the race, it was the best day I've ever had in racing,” said Dillner. “The crew all

worked so hard and we were fastest in practice because of it and I qualified second. Everyone was really excited and then going into the first turn of the first lap I got hit from behind, spun and a car a little further back hit my right-front tire and knocked the toe out.”

Still, Dillner was not going to give up on her goal of a strong finish at Hickory. She managed to steer clear of several incidents on the track, but others she was not quite as lucky and the 15-year-old soldiered home with at 10 th -place finish.

“There were a couple other crazy moments in the race, but I earned a lot about trying to get the best finish you possibly can under difficult circumstances.”

With her 10th -place finish and the bad luck for some other competitors, Dillner was still able to gain some valuable points at Hickory and the young driver moved from ninth to fifth in the Pro Challenge Championship standings and second in the Rookie of the Year points.

Plott, like Dillner, suffered through some bad luck in order to gain a solid run come feature time. When the motor in his primary car failed in practice, Plott hopped into the #151 that Finchum was to run and with just a handful of warm-up laps, he was able to qualify ninth. From the drop of the green flag in the feature, Plott found the #151 to be like a second home to him as he steadily moved through the field for a strong fourth-place finish.

“Well, we were good in practice,” said Plott. “I wish we could have run our car, but the crank shaft broke near the motor and just went downhill from there. Bob Dillner was kind enough to let us borrow this truck, and Bond (Suss of BEC and Plott's Crew Chief) helped me, and everyone at BDI did too to get me back out there with a good truck.

“I was just being smart there for a couple of laps. And if we had a little bit more, I think we could have been up there with Clint (King, second-place) and the 13 (Devon Haun, winner), but overall it was a good race.”

Both Dillner and Plott will return to the Pro Challenge Playoff schedule on Saturday, October 11th at Lonesome Pine Speedway in Coeburn, Virginia. That race will now also mark the much-anticipated debut of Chad Finchum in the BDI Racing #151.