There is just something about Orange County Speedway that has always suited Brandon Setzer and his ragged edge driving style.
Setzer again asserted his comfort at the storied half-mile, earning his first career Super Late Model victory in the CARS Tour Summertime Shootout 125 in Roguemont, North Carolina on Saturday night. He led wire-to-wire but was forced to survive several late restarts and a hard charge from Stephen Nasse over the final 25 laps.
Not only was this his first victory in a straight rail car, Saturday also represented only his second top-10 of the season since swapping to Supers to run the CARS Tour at the start of the season. The track where he posted his other top-10 this season?
Orange County.
“I knew we were good,” Setzer said. “But you never expect to be this good. You don’t expect this. My first Super Late Model victory? You never expect that.
“I just love this track. It’s a home track for Tim Robbins and we’re just good here.”
Setzer is the 21-year-old son of perennial 1990s/2000s NASCAR Truck and XFINITY Series contender Dennis and has slowly becoming a solid contender in his own right. He scored the pole in time trials earlier in the day, pulled away from Kyle Grissom at the start, and never looked back.
The race was slowed five times by the caution and once for the red flag for the most dramatic incident of the season — this time involving Rich Gould and Clay Jones. It crash occurred on Lap 97 and ended with a shoving match on the track in Turns 3 and 4.
It began when in the middle of the pack when Joey Moochicharo cut off Gould on the backstretch. That forced Gould to slow down on his entry into Turn 3 and Jones had nowhere to go but into Gould. Jones’ car literally had its right sides up on the top of Gould’s driver side and both came to a rest in the center of the corner.
Afterwards, Gould got out of his car and came running towards Jones, throwing his neck restraint towards his defendant. The two started pushing and shoving each other and had to be split up by CARS chief Jack McNelly.
Having had the undercarriager of a car a few inches from his face, Gould was emotional in the immediate aftermath of the race.
“He drove right over the top of me,” Gould said. “I don’t know where I was supposed to go.”
Championship leader Cole Timm finished third and will gain three points on Kyle Grissom, who finished fifth. His championship advantage is now unofficially 11 points.
The complete results can be viewed below.
- Brandon Setzer
- Stephen Nasse
- Cole Timm
- Quin Houff
- Kyle Grissom
- Kaz Grala
- Zane Smith
- Dominique VanWieringen
- Garrett Campbell
- Lucas Jones
- Joey Mucciacciaro
- Richard Gould
- Clay Jones
- Roger Lee Newton
- Steve Wallace
- Harrison Burton
- Stephen Leicht
- Christian Eckes
- Lucas Ransone
- Trevor Noles
