NEWTON, N.C. – Bubba Pollard came to Hickory Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Easter Bunny 150 with a singular goal in mind: finishing inside the top five to garner a guaranteed starting spot for the Oxford 250.

It was only the second time since 2008 that Pollard had even brought a car to race at the .363-mile oval, as well as his debut in the holiday weekend classic, but he had high expectations coming into the day.

“I believe we can contend for the win,” he said prior to practice. “I want Oxford.”

Unfortunately for Pollard, circumstances intervened and he was left with nothing to show for his efforts.

After fighting a distributor issue during practice earlier in the day, Pollard rallied back in time trials and posted the second-fastest lap, trailing only Preston Peltier in the rundown. He redrew the eighth starting spot prior to the race and spent the opening stint of the race battling hard among the back half of the top 10.

However, the gremlin Pollard battled in practice reared its ugly head under caution on lap 17, forcing his No. 26 Ford to a silent halt and seeing his quest to lock into Oxford put to an early end Saturday night.

Pollard was the first car forced to his trailer for the night and finished last among the 32-car starting field.

After climbing from his car, a dejected Pollard could only shake his head at what might have been, knowing he had a car capable of running with the leaders.

“We fought some issues at the end of practice with the distributor, and we thought we had it fixed, but we just broke the ring ear off the distributor for the second time,” Pollard explained. “We don’t know what’s going on, but I thought we had a good race car. We had a lot of speed, just nothing to show for it.

“It’s been a tough year for us, trying to get anything going (momentum-wise). We’ll come back and try again somewhere soon, but you hate to end your night like this.”

Despite a chaotic first half to the race, which featured five cautions for incidents in the first 70 laps, Pollard still wished he could have been on-track fighting at the front of the pack.

“I definitely wanted to be out there,” he stressed. “We had a car that could win the race. It’s tough to sit back and watch the end play out.”

As far as Pollard’s wish of racing in the Oxford 250?

That’s a quest that will have to wait for another day, much like his hopes of winning the Easter Bunny 150 will have to wait for another year.