Over the course of his storied career, Bubba Pollard has won at 31 different race tracks in 15 states and Canada.
However, Anderson Speedway has eluded him since his first start at the quarter-mile bullring in April 2012.
In fact, his nine previous starts at Anderson is his most at one track without a win. It hasn’t been for a lack of speed at the facility. Between his Redbud 400 starts and appearances in the Anderson 125 and JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, Pollard has finished second twice and owns six top-fives in nine races.
His best finish in the Redbud 400 came in 2014 when he finished third after leading 129 laps.
“We’ve had good cars that I’ve felt like were capable of winning in the past, but it’s hard putting the whole deal together,” said Pollard. “It’s a tough little place to win at, just making the 400 laps are tough. We’ve got a good program going right now so we’re looking forward to going back and seeing what we’ve got.”
Pollard returned to the Redbud 400 last season for the first time since 2017, but was relegated to a 10th place finish after a mechanical issue knocked him out of the race early. It’s a track that Pollard has always enjoyed making the trip from Georgia to compete at.
With 400 trips around the Central Indiana oval, being there at the end with a chance to win means more.
“The place makes for some great racing, it’s exciting for the fans. It’s a tough little bullring. It’s a long 400 laps and you’ve got to be there at the end, that’s the biggest thing. You can have a good car and not finish the race. A lot can happen in 400 laps and it can happen quick there,” Pollard said.
“It’s a lot of fun, we enjoy Rick (Dawson) and everyone else there and the speedway does a good job supporting short track racing every year and they’ve been a great friend to us.”
He sits fourth in the ASA STARS National Tour standings at the halfway point of the inaugural season, but the finishes haven’t always showed the speed the No. 26 has had.
Pollard won the ECMD 150 at North Wilkesboro in May over Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott and finished second in the Joe Shear Classic at Madison, but also had DNFs at Five Flags after taking the lead and at Hickory while running in the top-three.
He finished eighth at Milwaukee after scoring points in both stages.
“We’ve had our ups and downs. We’ve been fast and I feel like we’ve been in contention to win all the races except for probably Milwaukee. Pensacola, we probably let it slip away and Hickory, I feel like we were a decent car that could’ve possibly run top two or three there, but that one slipped away. We’ve had our ups and downs but we’ve been fast,” Pollard said.
Pollard’s erased a significant points deficit once already this year, and looks to do it again during the second half of the season.
“We just got to keep the momentum going and get through Anderson well. I’m looking forward to going to some of the other places coming up — Toledo and the Dixieland 250 and places like that,” Pollard said. “We’ve just got to keep some momentum, these last couple of weeks these races keep getting canceled and rained out and different things; momentum and keeping that notebook updated and staying in the seat helps.”