The start to the 2018 CARS Response Energy LMSC Tour season has been filled with close competition, and new but familiar names finding their way to the front of the field. Bobby McCarty led 110 out of 150 laps in the Do the Dew 150 at Tri-County Motor Speedway to secure his first CARS LMSC Tour victory, while four-time Whelen All-American Series champion Lee Pulliam drove from 27th to 1st in 90 laps to pick up his first CARS LMSC Tour victory at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
As competitive as both McCarty and Pulliam have been to start the season, neither driver has led laps in both races this season, nor has defending CARS LMSC Tour champion Josh Berry. That honor belongs to Rougemont, North Carolina native Ronald Hill, who has opened up his 2018 season in the CARS LMSC Tour with a 15th place finish in the Do the Dew 150 at Tri-County Motor Speedway, which he followed up with a second place finish at Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday afternoon.
Hill found himself in a position to pick up his first career CARS LMSC Tour victory at Myrtle Beach in the closing stages of the race, but was unable to hold off Pulliam, who passed him for the lead with ten laps remaining. Hill believed that he had accomplished everything that he needed to do in order to win the race, but admitted that he was just unable to hold off the hard-charging Pulliam.
“I thought I was saving enough,” Hill said after the race. “Lee just saved more, and he’s ran more races here than I have, so he knew exactly what to do. When it came down to it, I got a little loose in and a little loose off, and I lost the drive out of the hole, which is where he was getting me all race.”
A long-time veteran of Late Model racing,, Hill made his CARS LMSC Tour debut at his home track of Orange County Speedway in 2015, where he brought his #74 Gardner Marsh/Puryear Tank Lines Late Model home in the 12th position after running out of fuel near the end of the race. Hill ended up joining the CARS LMSC Tour full-time in 2016, but was only able to secure one Top 10 finish during the season, which was a ninth place finish at Tri-County.
The 2017 season saw Hill quietly improve upon his performance from the previous year, as he recorded five Top 10’s, and increased his average finish from 14.6 in 2016 to 12.5 in 2017. Hill’s most notable performance of the year came at Orange County, where he surprised many people by finishing in front of championship contenders Josh Berry, Layne Riggs and Anthony Alfredo, and crossing the finish line in second behind Deac McCaskill.
Hill finished the season with a strong sixth-place showing in the CARS LMSC Tour point standings, and was ready to carry over the momentum he established from 2017 into the 2018 season-opener at Tri-County. After barely making the field with a 27th-place qualifying run, Hill quickly charged through the field, cracking the Top 10 before the halfway point and briefly holding the lead after pit stops, before losing a cylinder late in the race, which relegated him to a 15th place finish.
Despite the strong showing at Tri-County, Hill was unsure of his car’s speed at Myrtle Beach, believing that it was only good enough to qualify in the middle of the pack. Hill quickly proved himself wrong, as he posted the 6th fastest lap in qualifying for the CARS LMSC Tour feature at Myrtle Beach, and would remain a factor at the front of the field before taking the lead away from Justin Johnson on Lap 64.
Hill would hold the lead for 27 laps before Pulliam drove past him on Lap 91, which denied him the opportunity to earn his first CARS LMSC Tour victory. Although he came up a few laps short, Hill was proud of the hard work that he and his team put into his Late Model throughout the weekend, but was still disappointed that he could not hold Pulliam off the lead for nine more laps.
“I was trying to run a straight line out of the hole the best I could without buzzing the tires,” Hill said. “Once he started to put pressure on me, I noticed that Lee could get a lower line out, and he could get it straighter than I could. I just had to turn it loose at the end and drive it for what it was worth.”
Hill will have plenty of other opportunities to earn his first career victory, as he is a part of the CARS LMSC Tour’s inaugural Touring 12 program, which is designed to provide benefits to teams and drivers who run the full season with the series. His next race will be the Solid Rock Carriers 123 presented by JEDCO Lawncare at Wake County Speedway, which will mark the first time that many CARS Response Energy Tour competitors, including Hill, have ever competed at the quarter-mile short track.
