MYRTLE BEACH, SC – Josh Lowder dominated for much of the Myrtle Beach 250 at Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday night, but a late race restart proved to be his undoing.
After surrendering the lead, Lowder was struggling on the restarts and losing time to Jamie Weatherford. Lowder felt Austin Green had been too aggressive when pushing him on the restarts. On the next to last restart, Lowder ended up making contact with Chris Chapman in turn one, and then Austin Green in turn three. Green ended up hitting the wall and Lowder was penalized for aggressive driving – before he ultimately parked it.
“We had a really good car,” Lowder told Race22.com. “It was real good on the long run. We could ride real easy and still pull away. The restarts killed it and Weatherford definitely had the better car on the short run. I think we would have got him back. We were coming back but the last caution killed us. [Austin Green], every time he got behind us, jacked us up. The last time, he really jacked us up and turned me in front of the whole field.
“We got into three and I tried to move him but he spun,” Lowder continued. “It is what it is. I decided to park. There wasn’t any need to start in the back with two laps to go.”
Austin Green and the Lee Faulk Racing team were perturbed after the incident ended what would have been a podium finish for Green.
“We were riding around, track position’s a real key,” Green explained. “I knew once we had that Green-White-Checker, it was time to go and [Lowder] and the leader, they burned their stuff up the whole race. I felt like I had one of the better cars so, long run, we were really good. Short run, I was worried about it. [Lowder] spun his tires and got into him. Then, next corner, we got dumped. It sucks for all the Lee Faulk guys.”
Lowder, for his part, was miffed with Green over the restart.
“He jacked me up on the restart, turned me on the restart,” Lowder said. “I bounced off [Chapman] and of course they all went around me at that point.”
Green responded to Lowder’s point.
“He burned his stuff up and didn’t have any grip for the last four or five restarts so, you know, I was off of him,” Green remarked. “It’s three to go. If I didn’t go for it, then I wouldn’t be here.”
Lowder ended up 25th in the final rundown while Green was 26th. Neither driver finished the race.
