MYRTLE BEACH, SC :: 10:00am — Myrtle Beach Speedway has upheld the finishing orders from both races this morning.  All finishes are official following a review by the track.  More details when available.

9:00am
Sam Yarbrough and Anthony Anders picked up wins on the track at Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday night but, when they left, their wins were in jeopardy because of a safety violation.

During post-race technical inspection, all the top finishers’ cars were checked for the width of their roof bar.  The halo bar, as it’s commonly called, or the roof bar, as it is referred to in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car rule book, is supposed to be a minimum width of 43 1/4 inches from center to center.  Yarbrough, Anders, Lucas Williams, Matt Cox’s rides all failed to meet the minimum width requirement for the Roof Bar according to a source at the track.

That’s five of the eight cars reported to have been inspected tonight.  Justin Milliken, Tyler English and Chris Throckmorton’s cars reportedly passed inspection of their roof bars.  According to one of the drivers, Myrtle Beach Speedway is expected to consult NASCAR later today before making a decision around 1:00pm.

Anders, who is on the brink of locking up the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship, is easily the biggest name involved in this controversy.  For his part, Anders said, via telephone, that his roof bar width was three quarters of an inch off while he stated that Yarbrough’s car was just one quarter inch off of the minimum.  He said the other three cars were in the same neighborhood of violation.

According to Anders and several other sources, this problem first came to NASCAR’s attention a couple years ago at Martinsville Speedway during the running of the MDCU 300.  According to the sources, the cars built by Greg Marlowe didn’t meet the minimum width for the roof bars.  At that time Lynn Carroll was the Director of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and, according to the sources, he grandfathered the cars in, so that drivers and teams wouldn’t have to buy another car or spend a lot of money trying to fix the issues with the roof bar.

Carroll left NASCAR earlier this season and, without the grandfathering of the cars being written into the NWAAS rule book and Carroll not being around to ask, this could create a problem for the drivers and teams competing with these cars going forward.  In the meantime, his could also be a huge blow to Yarbrough’s team, owned by former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Chad McCumbee.

Yarbrough came into Saturday night’s racing action as the points leader and the two races were the final two points paying races of the season.  If his finishes of first and second stand, then he’s the Myrtle Beach Speedway track champion.  However, if he and the other four cars are disqualified, then second place points contender Milliken will inherit the track championship.

We were unable to get in touch with any of the other racers or a representative from the track overnight but, with a decision expected by 1:00pm, we hope to get in touch with all the drivers involved as well as a representative for Myrtle Beach Speedway later today.  We will have much more on this story as it becomes available to us.