NEWTON, N.C. – Brandon Setzer and D.J. Shaw have both become well-known for hard racing over the years, and both had to put their skills to the test by rallying from deep in Saturday’s Easter Bunny 150 field.

Setzer was the last driver to make the race on speed, qualifying 20th and starting from the outside of the 10th row, while Shaw was mired in 29th following time trials and had to race his way in through one of two 15-lap last chance races on Saturday.

Shaw won that consolation event and gridded up 21st, one spot behind Setzer, for the start of the 150-lap feature.

By the end of the night, both veterans had made their presence known. Setzer and Shaw ultimately charged through a slew of cars to finish third and fourth, respectively, after a hard battle between one another on two late-race restarts.

Though Shaw got the better of Setzer on the first restart following a debris caution with 20 laps left, it was Setzer who eventually rolled the outside on the final 13-lap sprint to the finish and claimed the final spot on the podium from Shaw in the end.

That fight didn’t come without some contact in the final laps either, as the duo traded paint on the restart in an effort to hold down the position.

Afterwards, both drivers had differing views on the battle and their eventual finishes.

“Our car just stayed the same the whole race; we didn’t start off very good, but the car didn’t wear out and everybody else came back to us as they got worse and worse,” said Setzer, who didn’t even crack the top 10 until he avoided a multi-car accident on lap 62. “I’d have liked to have seen the race to go 200 laps honestly … because I was just catching up to them when the checkered flag waved.

“I’m not sure what that deal at the end was all about. I guess D.J. decided he was just going to door us every lap and try to take us both out there after that last restart,” Setzer added. “It is what it is, though. We came out ahead of him, so as far as I’m concerned, it worked out just fine for us.”

Shaw admitted he fought with everything he had throughout the race, not just in the final stages, and that was evident early after he moved up from 21st to 10th in the first 35 laps.

“I did all I could,” Shaw said. “We had the best car, I think, on that long, long run in the middle of the race. That caution with 20 to go really hurt us, though. I needed long runs and the car never came back to us after the yellow. If it had gone green, we might have been able to at least get to Shane, but all in all it was a pretty good day.

“We had a good battle for third there at the end. I guess Brandon’s all pissed off, but I thought it was good short-track racing and he came out on top … so he ought to be happy.”

Shaw’s day was eventful long before his battle with Setzer, however, after a practice crash earlier in the day saw the left-rear wheel come off the car coming out of turn four towards the frontstretch. Shaw narrowly missed hitting the same tire barrier that destroyed Jimmy Doyle’s car later in the program.

When asked whether he knew all along that his car could contend for the win, even after starting in the back half of the field, Shaw simply smiled.

“It felt like all through practice that this car had (winning) speed. I don’t really know why we qualified so badly; that’s just about as fast as we’d gone all weekend, and then in the last chance race I ran a fast enough lap to have timed my way in,” said Shaw.

“No explanation really, just that I might have been a little tender with it because it was my first laps after the crash. All in all, after the way our day was looking at that point, this is a pretty good result for us.”