LUCAMA, NC – Matt McCall started on the pole but he did not make the move that would win him the race until lap 74 of the I Dig Pigs 100 Late Model feature in Sunday’s Jerry Moody Memorial at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina.

McCall won a UARA championship driving for Jerry Moody.  He is now a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief and Sunday’s victory is his first win in his first race in a Late Model since winning at Southern National on July 19, 2014.  The win was special for McCall in a race honoring his longtime friend.

“It was fun,” McCall said in victory lane after the race.  “When the car’s that good in the second half to be able to pass cars, quality cars too, you don’t get to do that every week.  To get to do that is pretty fun.  To be able to race in the Jerry Moody Memorial is pretty special.  Every time you come to a race, you come for the trophy so that’s what we did…

McCall was driving a car prepared by Wendell Davis, a longtime friend of Jerry Moody.  Davis said that a victory by either McCall or 20-year-old Haley Moody, Jerry’s daughter, would have been storybook.

“Matt and Haley, they were the two picks,” Davis said.  “She didn’t have good luck and we had a perfect car.  That makes it easy.  Good driver, good team and we usually do decent when luck’s on our side.”

After winning the race, McCall gave the trophy, which was decorated with Moody family pictures and a pig on top, to Haley, who finished ninth in the race after being caught up in two accidents not of her doing.

“It meant a lot to me for him to give that to me,” Moody said.  “Matt is a good guy and I grew up watching him race.  I wish we could have won it but I’m glad he won it.”

Bradley McCaskill finished second in the race, prevailing in a thrilling battle with Tony Grady, Deac McCaskill, Jonathan Findley and Mike Darne.  Before the race, McCaskill felt that a second place finish to McCall would be like a victory, thoughts he echoed after the race.

“He had an awesome car,” McCaskill said.  “I don’t think we ever saw him push it.  Like I said earlier, we were racing for second.  We had a good car.  It’s just one of those deals where we got outrun… We’re definitely happy with our run.  I’m not beating it down one bit.  Second place sucks in general still.”

Tony Grady finished in third while Deac McCaskill finished fourth and Rusty Daniels, fresh off a victory at East Carolina Motor Speedway (Robersonville, North Carolina) on Saturday, finished fifth.  Rounding out the top-10 were Adam Resnick, Mike Darne, Jonathan Findley, Haley Moody and Tyler Matthews.

Tempers Boil Over

While the race ended with a feel good story in McCall’s victory and him giving the trophy to Moody, the late stages of the race saw tempers boil.  Contact with Tyler Matthews forced Andrew Grady to retire from the race on lap 52.  Matthews would also be involved in incidents with Haley Moody and Mike Darne – including one that triggered a crash in which he and both Darne sustained heavy damage but were both able to continue.  Grady, the son of second place finisher Tony Grady, was less than pleased with Matthews’ aggression after the race.

“I got dumped by [Matthews], not once but twice,” Grady said.  “He went on the apron to get me.  He needs to go back to Street Stocks or race lawnmowers at your local county fair.  We can rebound if he would just get some common sense and maybe take some driving lessons, maybe go to the local DMV and learn to drive for free.  I don’t know what this kid’s problem is.  He got me, he got Haley, he got Mike Darne.  Someone’s going to put him in the fence if he keeps racing like that… hopefully we’ll rebound next week and win both races.”

Moody sustained damage in an incident with Matthews but was able to continue and rebounded to get as high as fifth only to get swept up in an accident when Jonathan Findley wrecked on a restart, collecting her as well.

RACE22.com was unable to get comments from Darne and Matthews after the race.