Andrew Grady got his redemption on Saturday night by sweeping twin Late Model features at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Grady had to start at or toward the back in both 50 lap features, but he found himself in victory lane after both races. Grady’s win came after being taken out in an accident in the Jerry Moody Memorial on May 17th.
“I made an unapproved change after qualifying, got put to the rear, drove back from last to win the first race,” Grady said. “The second race, that was fun. Beating and banging, leaning on each other. Just good, close short track racing. Hopefully we can win the rest of them from here on out. Good points night.”
Grady battled teammate Jonathan Findley in both races. In the first race, he got around Findley on a lap 16 restart and checked out to score his second win of the 2015 season. In the second race, Grady took the lead from Rusty Daniels on lap 26 but surrendered the lead to Findley on restart a few laps later. Findley pulled away but a caution with 10 laps to go would prove to be his undoing.
Findley held the lead on the initial restart but, coming out of turn four, Grady gave him shot sending him up the hill. Then, as Findley tried to retake the lead, the field stacked up, forcing Findley to lift and allowing Grady to drive away for his third win of the victory. While a pair of second place finishes were a career best performance for Findley, he felt like he could have and should have won.
“We should have won the last won,” Findley said. “Just, things happen in racing. It’s a shame. The car was really good in the second half. We were just waiting for the caution to come out. Saved my tires, got a good restart then, on the last restart, we just got screwed on it.”
Rusty Daniels finished third in both races.
“They had two good cars,” Daniels said. “This is only the third time out with this car. We’re still learning and working on it. We made some gains tonight and we’re going to make some more improvements for when we come back again. I’m kind of excited about coming back and trying again.”
Kenly driver Ronald Renfrow finished fourth in the first race while Tyler Matthews finished in fifth. In the second race, Brandon Hobbs finished fourth while Gerald Benton finished fifth.