MOORESVILLE, N.C. — The Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour heads to Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway for the Solid Rock Carriers 125 on Saturday night in a pivotal race as the season winds down.
The incredibly competitive Late Model Stock Cars have produced seven different winners in seven races and Carteret County could provide the eighth. The two most recent races in the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour have come down to last-lap passes. At Franklin County, Jared Fryar picked up his first win of the season with a pass on Mike Looney, and one week later, Layne Riggs muscled his way past Corey Heim on the last lap at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway.
Heading into Saturday night’s race, Fryar holds a 13-point advantage over Riggs and a 17-point advantage over Heim. All three drivers will likely be contenders at Carteret County – especially Riggs, who has two career wins at the track. However, a handful of local drivers will also challenge the points leaders for the win, including Carteret County’s two winningest drivers in Late Model competition – Chris Burns and Brandon Clements.
SOLID ROCK CARRIERS 125 NOTES & QUOTES
NOTES:
Track and Location: Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway — Peletier, North Carolina
Length: 0.4 mi (0.643 km)
Laps / Distance: 125 laps / 50 miles / 80.375 km
Event Schedule:
- Practice: 2:15 – 2:45 p.m., 3:00 – 3:30 p.m.
- Single-Car Qualifying: 5:35 p.m.
- Race: Event begins at 7:15 p.m.; Legends (25 laps) and Super Trucks (35 laps) followed by Late Model Stock Cars (125 laps)
Twitter Accounts / Event Hashtag: @CARSTour / @CarteretCoSwy / #SolidRock125
Media Coverage:
– CARS Tour TV (www.carstour.tv) will have the LIVE race broadcast.
– Speed51 (speed51.com) will provide Trackside Now live coverage.
– Race22 (race22.com) will provide Raceday Live coverage.
– WCTI NewsChannel 12 (wcti12.com) will provide on-location coverage from the track.
– CARS Tour Facebook (facebook.com/CARSTour) / CARS Tour Twitter (@CARSTour)
Late Model Stock Car Entry List (22 total):
| DRIVER: | HOMETOWN: | OWNER: | MAKE: | SPONSORS: | |
| 01 | Camden Gullie | Durham, NC | Jason Gullie | Ford | Commercial Refinishers Inc., Solid Rock Carriers, J & H Glass |
| 08 | Justin Johnson | Rougemont, NC | Boyce McCaskill | Chevy | Puryear Tank Lines, Bobby Gregory Welding |
| 1 | Nolan Pope | Harrisonville, MO | Lee Faulk | Chevy | J & P Concrete Pumping, Wiley X |
| 2 | Brandon Pierce | Oak Ridge, NC | Lee Pulliam | Chevy | Fremont Properties, Discount Oil Co., Grand Atlantic Ocean Resort |
| 2s | Jonathan Shafer | Ashland, OH | Barry Nelson | Toyota | AutosByNelson.com, ThunderExhaust.com |
| 4 | Jonathan Findley | Bristow, VA | Lee Faulk | Chevy | Lee Faulk Racing and Development |
| 7 | Brandon Clements | Swansboro, NC | Brandon Clements | Chevy | Viking Turbine Services, Braswell Carpet Cleaning , Davis Farms |
| 14 | Jared Fryar | Trinity, NC | Jimmy Mooring | Ford | Sterling Building Group, Asphalt Services, ADI/PDM |
| 16 | Chad McCumbee | Ocean Isle Beach, NC | Robert Elliott | Ford | Elliott Properties, Heritage Transportation |
| 17 | Stacy Puryear | South Boston, VA | Stacy Puryear | Chevy | Puryear Race Parts, Solid Rock Carriers |
| 19 | Sammy Smith | Johnston, IA | Marcus Richmond | Toyota | R&S Race Cars |
| 18b | Chris Burns | Swansboro, NC | Chris Burns | Chevy | Owens Transport, Atlantic Turf Scapes, Racing Reality, Red Oak |
| 19c | Jessica Cann | Thomasville, NC | Bill Petroff | Ford | Black Acid Apparel, American Sign Craft, Davis Performance |
| 22 | Bobby McCarty | Kernersville, NC | Barry Nelson | Toyota | Autos By Nelson, Solid Rock Carriers |
| 51 | Matt Cox | Longs, SC | Robert Elliott | Ford | Aarons Sales & Lease, Elliott Properties, Renegade Performance |
| 63 | Tyler Matthews | Beulaville, NC | Steve Matthews | Toyota | Dorwarts Garage |
| 74 | Ronald Hill | Rougemont, NC | Ronald Hill | Chevy | Gardner Marsh, Mincey’s Graphics |
| 77 | Trevor Ward | Winston-Salem, NC | Trevor Ward | Chevy | My Racing, Digital Repair, AAR Roofing |
| 78 | Corey Heim | Marietta, GA | Lee Pulliam | Chevy | Lee Pulliam Performance |
| 81 | Mini Tyrrell | Manassas, VA | Timmy Tyrrell Racing | Chevy | Mini T’s Fastest Grease in the East |
| 88 | Connor Mosack | Mooresville, NC | Jr. Motorsports | Chevy | All Things Automotive |
| 99 | Layne Riggs | Bahama, NC | Scott Riggs | Ford | Puryear Tank Lines, Romeo Guest Construction |
QUOTES:
Brandon Clements hoping for another strong Carteret performance
No driver has had more success at Carteret County Speedway than Brandon Clements. Clements has scored 20 feature wins at the track and eight wins in the Late Model division. Last year, Clements ran well for most of the race. In 2020, he hopes to come back even stronger.
“We’re really excited to have another chance to run with the best Late Model Stock Car teams there are,” Clements said. “It’s our best shot at a win in the series. I feel like we have a ‘home field’ advantage but the CARS Tour drivers are the best for a reason. They pick up on the tracks quickly anywhere they go so we really would like to come out of the weekend with a solid top-five finish and all four wheels pointed in the right direction.”
Clements qualified fourth for last year’s Solid Rock Carriers 125 and ran inside the top-10 for much of the race. He ended up being collected in a lap 109 accident and retired from the race a few laps later – finishing 11th.
“A win for us would be incredible,” Clements said. “We don’t have the funds a lot of these teams have but, what we do have is the hunger to win and that goes a long way. It will be quite the celebration if we could pull it off.”
Layne Riggs looking to become first repeat winner of 2020
Layne Riggs muscled his way by Corey Heim on the last lap to pick up the win in the VisitHampton.com 125 at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway last month. This weekend, Riggs is hoping to go back-to-back and become the first repeat winner of 2020 at a track where he has enjoyed a lot of success.
“It would be big to win at Carteret,” Riggs said. “The competition is tougher and stronger than ever. We’ve had seven different winners so far this year. Being a repeat winner would show that we’ve really got it together and we’re a contender for the championship.”
In CARS Tour competition at Carteret County, Riggs has led 312 laps, scored two victories and totaled over $25,000 in prize money. However, he has not won a CARS Tour race there yet. He dominated much of the inaugural race in 2018 before a penalty took him out of contention for the win. Riggs finished second in that race and was fourth a year ago.
“We’ve raced twice with the CARS Tour at Carteret. Everybody knows about the incident in the first race and how wild it was. Last year, we came in and felt confident after winning local races and the car just felt off. We qualified third and finished fourth. It was a mediocre night. Nothing spectacular but a solid night. After running Langley, we’re feeling confident about our flat track program.”
CARS Tour Policies to Prevent Spread of COVID-19 Continue
The CARS Tour’s COVID-19 policies will continue to be in effect for this weekend’s race at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway. They include (but are not limited to) the following:
- All personnel will have their temperature screened before entering the race track.
- Driver Intros will not be held amongst the crowd, per usual; instead, drivers will be introduced from their cars on the grid.
- Trailers will be spread out across the infield to maintain proper social distancing.
- Spotters will be required to wear masks during the race.
- Masks will be strongly recommended for those who are in the infield and required for all Victory Lane celebrations.
About the CARS Tour
The Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour is one of the premier short track series in the United States. Drivers compete in Late Model Stock Cars and Super Late Models at the best short tracks across the Carolinas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. The CARS Tour can be found on Facebook at “CARS Tour”, on Twitter @CARSTour, and on Instagram as @CARS_Tour. For more information, visit www.carsracingtour.com or call their Mooresville, N.C. offices at 704.662.9212. All races of the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour are streamed LIVE on CARSTour.TV.
