LUCAMA, NC :: Rusty Daniels had the fastest car all day long in the Limited Late Model division.  He started the first of two twin Limited Late Model features on the pole and held back every single challenge en route to victory, his third consecutive win at Southern National.  Taylor Howard finished in second with Michael Fose, Haley Moody and Andrew Grady rounding out the top-five.

Daniels’ streak came to an end in the second race when Fose held Daniels off and pulled away late for his third win of the season after an early incident ended Grady’s night.  Daniels finished in second with Moody, Howard and Dillon Spain rounding out the top-five.

Rough Night for Grady

Andrew Grady, who has wins on the season at Southern National and Wake County Speedway, had a rough night.  Late in the first of two Limited Late Model feature races, Grady was penalized to the rear of the field for jumping a restart.  Grady made quick work of getting back in to the top-five.

“They screwed me on the first race,” Grady remarked.  “The other guy was playing mind games.  Southern National said, at the beginning of the year, no playing games at the beginning of the year because they don’t want their cars all torn up.  The first one I jumped.  The second one, I didn’t and third one I timed perfectly.  If the racetrack’s going to make that call, they need to make it quickly instead of waiting two or three laps.”

Grady’s luck took a turn for the worst in the second race.  While leading and trying to fend off the challenge of Fose and Daniels, a left-rear wheel broke causing Grady’s car to loop around before careening in to the outside wall with a vicious driver’s side impact.  Grady was okay but he was taken to a nearby medical center for observation and released with a sprained ankle.  Grady told RACE22.com he would be back in two weeks and ready to race again.

“I’m really sore and my ankles wrapped up and I’m on crutches but I’m, okay,” Grady explained.  “No concussion, no major problems but I bruised my ankles and that’s all.  The wheel broke. It’s one of those things NASCAR needs to test.  They test it for the Cup guys but they don’t test the circle wheels like they should.  I had a vibration and thought I had a rotor problem or something then I’m in the fence.”

Moody Increases Points Lead

Haley Moody finally overcame a string of bad luck that had been plaguing her through the summer months to click off two top-five finishes.  Ever since scoring her first win of the season back in May, Moody has been clinging to the points lead in the Limited Late Model division which has gotten slimmer each week.  Two weeks ago, her championship chase took a serious dent when an early race incident with Daryn Cockram took her out of contention.  On Saturday night, Moody’s luck finally changed.  She not only clicked off a fourth and third place finish in the races respectively, she finished ahead of her main championship rival, Dillon Spain, and increased her points lead.

The Limited Late Models will be back in action on August 2nd at Southern National Motorsports Park.