Deac McCaskill laid down a blistering fast lap of 16.183 seconds (88.982mph) in Hedgecock Pole Qualifying, earning him the right to lead the late model stock car field to the green flag. To his outside, Layne Riggs was celebrating his 14th birthday as well as his first day of age eligibility for CARS Tour competition.

As the race began, the intensity was high despite the fact that McCaskill shot out to the early lead. Just a car length behind him, a dozen drivers battled two and sometimes three-wide for position. Among those drivers was Tommy Lemons, Jr., who slowly began working his way to the front. His transmission, however, slowly began to leak fluid and the No. 27 Ford began showing signs of smoke as he chased down the leader.

Race control was observing Lemons’ car closely, even when he took the lead from McCaskill on lap 35. But on lap 39, reports of oil from too many drivers and teams forced race control to black flag Lemons and bring him to pit road for the crew to check the machine. A quick, stop-gap repair allowed Lemons to rejoin the field, although one lap in arrears. This handed the lead back to McCaskill on lap 41.

13 laps later, the lead swapped once again as Austin McDaniel found his way around McCaskill for the point on lap 54. McDaniel appeared to be in control of the event until a caution involving Justin Crider and Layne Riggs brought out the first caution of the night on lap 59. Tommy Lemons was the recipient of the free pass and was placed back on the lead lap.

Just six laps after the ensuing restart, the No. 29 of Jake Ruggles and the No. 07 of Hayden Humphrey were involved in an incident in the middle of turns three and four, bringing another break in the action.

A spin by Craig Stallard on lap 83 set up a pivotal restart with only 17 laps remaining. McDaniel and Josh Berry led the field to the restart and Berry won the drag race into turn one, moving McDaniel up the racetrack slightly and stealing the top spot away. McCaskill and McDaniel both wanted the lead to themselves and on lap 85, McDaniel and Berry made contact while racing three-wide with McCaskill, sending the No. 12 of McDaniel spinning in front of the entire field. Numerous cars received minor cosmetic damage, the worst of which was sustained by McDaniel, but all were able to continue.

With 15 laps remaining, Josh Berry jumped to the lead and never looked back despite a hard-charging Tommy Lemons who was battling for second with eventual runner-up Deac McCaskill during the final laps. Robert Tyler and Stefan Parsons rounded out the top five finishers.

“He just didn’t get a good start and we got position on him in one,” said Berry when asked about the pass for the lead in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “It’s just so hard to pass here that anytime you get an opportunity you gotta take it and that’s what we did. We got the lead and, man, I felt like the car really came on there those last 20 laps. I felt like we really did a good job of keeping the tires on it til the end and was fast when it mattered, again, just like at Hickory.

“This is awesome. This is another track I’ve never been to and won in my first trip,” he continued. “I told these guys there’s only one thing I love more than winning, and that’s winning when the boss is watching, and I’m sure he’s watching [on CARS Tour TV powered by RACEFEEDX].”

“There was definitely contact, but I really don’t know what happened,” replied Berry when asked about the incident in turn two on lap 85 that took Austin McDaniel out of contention. “They said we ended up three-wide and I had no idea we were three-wide. It’s just tight racing here. We knew that coming into this, that’s how it was going to be, and everyone – 15 to go or 20 to go or whatever it was – everyone’s racing hard for the win and you’re going to have contact. Luckily we were able to come through it without any damage or a flat tire or anything, but that was fun.”

CARS Late Model Stock Tour
POS NUM DRIVER LAPS REASON OUT
1. 88B Josh Berry 100
2. 08 Deac McCaskill 100
3. 27 Tommy Lemons 100
4. 88T Robert Tyler 100
5. 98 Stefan Parsons 100
6. 57 Justin Carroll 100
7. 95 Chad McCumbee 100
8. 12 Austin McDaniel 100
9. 74 Ronald Hill 100
10. 31 Thomas Beane 100
11. 88 Chris Davis 100
12. 42 Craig Stallard 100
13. 7 Justin Crider 99 Accident
14. 9 Charles Watson 99 Accident
15. 28 Chris Hudspeth 99 Accident
16. 07 Hayden Humphrey 99 Accident
17. 75 Landon Huffman 99 Accident
18. 5 Tyler English 85 Mechanical
19. 29 Jake Ruggles 65 Accident
20. 99 Layne Riggs 59 Accident
21. 1 Christian Eckes 32 Mechanical
22. 16 R.D. Smith 0 DNS – Engine