LUCAMA, NC :: A cold day showed 26 Late Models ready to compete in Southern National Motorsports Park 2014 season opener for twin 75 lap events. Everyone knew that, with a field solid as it was, there was going to be some great racing but little did anyone know of the drama and controversy both on and off off the track. Deac McCaskill comes into the 2014 season as the current and reigning Late Model track champion. Lee Pulliam, coming off his second NASCAR Whelen All American Series (NWAAS) National Championship, along with standout racers like Tommy Lemons Jr, Dylan Bassett and a host of others looked to get off to a good start to their 2014 campaigns.
Justin Snow, whose no slouch at Southern National claimed the pole with a 15.369 sec lap that would bring the 26 car field to the green. Others showing fast laps were Lee Pulliam who started to the outside of Snow, Deac McCaskill was third. Langley Speedway regular Brenden Queen started fourth and Tommy Lemons Jr rolled off fifth. With a good crowd on hand to witness the events, the green flag waved and the season began with Justin Snow on point. But with just two laps into the race came the first of many cautions on the day leading into an always thrilling cone restart for race leader Justin Snow.
After another quick caution on lap three, the field finally settled in for some green flag laps and it was Snow on point. Several laps in to the run, Snow’s lead was at eight lengths. Pulliam, McCaskill, Lemons and Brown were all back and forth changing positions in the top-five. By lap 31 in the race, Snow had caught the tail end of the field and started to put them all down a lap further extending his lead over Pulliam. But that was until the third caution waved for debris on the back stretch and suddenly, the field was bunched up again. Lemons was the first customer wanting to try Snow for the lead on the lap 46 caution/restart.
The caution came out almost as quickly as they restarted when Lee Pulliam spun around in front of Deac McCaskill. Michael Hardin had nowhere to go and ran in to Pulliam in the aftermath of the spin. On several accounts, the contact between Pulliam and McCaskill started well before Pulliam’s spin leading many to wonder if last year’s Martinsville Virginia is for Lovers 300 still had some grudges going on between the two. Call it what you will, obviously, neither driver is backing down as both are willing to sacrifice the quarter panels of their cars for the spot. But this time, Pulliam got the worst of it and became a non-factor in the first feature.
Snow and Lemons battled side by side for six laps after the restart before Snow got the advantage and secured the point. That was the last time anyone ever got close to Justin Snow’s bumper as he would go on to win the first 75 lap feature at Southern National Motorsports Park over Tommy Lemons Jr, Deac McCaskill, Myatt Snider and Dylan Bassett but he was disqualified later on that night for an illegal part in the carburetor. Snow’s disqualification handed the win to Lemons.
In the second feature the field was inverted eight spots putting back the race one winner in the eighth starting position. Pulliam started 19th with hopes of winning the second feature after the Kiker Motorsports team made repairs.
Myatt Snider inherited the lead at the start of the race, leaving a field of 23 Late Models behind. By lap nine into the race, Lemons finally ran down Snider to challenge for the race lead. As they battled, Brandon Brown made a few moves of his own taking second from Lemons and the race lead from Snider on lap 20. On back in the field saw Lee Pulliam coming on through, by this point in the race he was shown 11th on the grid with some really fast lap times compared to the leaders. The race’s first caution comes at lap 23 setting up a thrilling restart with Pulliam taking advantage as well showing ninth on the grid.
Guess who went to the outside line on the restart? Yep, Tommy Lemons Jr and he wanted the lead. The two gave race fans a thrilling show of side by side racing for six laps before the caution waved once again setting up a lap 29 restart. Pulliam was right behind McCaskill at this point. Back to green flag racing and Brandon Brown secured the point but on this restart saw the move of the race as Lee Pulliam went three-wide coming out of turn two. Suddenly, the three-wide hole collapsed on Pulliam which forced him into McCaskill who went into the back stretch wall.
Deac McCaskill was able to continue for just a little while longer before engine troubles ended his day. In this race feature, it was Lee Pulliam getting the better end this time around. Obviously a man on a mission by some or a driver possessed by others whatever the opinion might be, Lee Pulliam was for real and by lap 40, took the race lead and cruised to the checkered flag picking up his first win of the 2014 season.
No doubt, Southern National had a great season opener and will have the hottest rivalry in Late Model racing as well. Certainly the great racing at Southern National will continue but bares one really good question. Can its two hottest drivers in Deac McCaskill and Lee Pulliam continue this rivalry and become champions of anything in 2014 or will they keep getting torn up each time they race? Something may have to give…
