11th — Lucas Ransone(4)
Lucas Ransone was expected to be one of the drivers contending for the win, but this just wasn’t his year for the driver who had ran in the top three the last two years straight and had won the race last fall. Lucas never got himself in contention for the win, but he was able to rally late to pick up a top ten position, which kept him in the top 11 of the Power Rankings.
10th — Justin Milliken(15)
Justin Milliken might not have been a player toward the end of the race, but he was the “local driver” to beat all weekend long. Justin was fast all weekend and was strong during the race, but only a 12th place finish would be all he could muster in the Myrtle Beach 400 as he seeked yet another victory on the track that he had been on a roll at over the final races of this season.
9th — Nick Smith(n/r)
Nick Smith isn’t the kind of driver you expect to be good at Myrtle Beach Speedway. I mean, after all he’s not exactly one of the guys you think would be easy on tires as he’s a balls to the wall kind of racer every lap. However, apparently he must have got some good advice and he must have listened as he put himself in contention for a 10th place finish toward the end of the race.
8th — Garrett Campbell(n/r)
Garrett Campbell is another one of those drivers that you wouldn’t think that he would be in position to grab a great finish toward the end of the race. He too is balls to the wall and he isn’t likely to take it easy on his tires, but apparently he did in the Myrtle Beach 400. Garrett kept himself in position all weekend long and he was able to come away with a sixth place finish.
7th — Marty Ward(7)
Marty Ward was one of the guys that we knew he could save tires and we knew he would be around at the end of the race. Boy, were we wrong about this on as Ward took off from the field and burned his tires up, costing himself a chance to race for the win. It was a simple mistake of being over-aggressive at the wrong time in the race and we can’t fault him for that as he looked good out front … for a while.
6th — Kyle Grissom(20)
We knew that Kyle Grissom would be one of the drivers in the top half of the field all race long, what we didn’t know is that he had figured out the tire saving deal too. Kyle, unlike eventual race winner, Frank Deiny, did his tire saving from the front of the field as he ran in the top three all race long and still had some stuff left at the end to post a strong fourth place finish.
5th — Brandon Butler(12)
Brandon Butler should never be overlooked, we as much as said that in the pre-race Power Rankings, but still yet we sorta overlooked just how good he would be. Of course, we should have known as he’s good everywhere and he was again as he raced in the top ten all race long and then sealed off a solid performance with a third place finish just behind the FDJ Motorsports tandem.
4th — Justin Johnson(14)
Justin Johnson hasn’t really been known for getting the job done in the “Big Races”, though he would argue that point 1,000 different ways. In the Myrtle Beach 400, he wasn’t really expected to be that good, but driving for FDJ Motorsports under the direction of Frank Deiny proved to be worthwhile for the young driver as he nearly beat his boss in an FDJ Motorsports 1-2 finish.
3rd — Jonathan Cash(6)
Jonathan Cash has certainly been up on the wheel as of late as he continues to impress people with strong performances. At Ace, he turned in the performance of his life, only to get swept up in a crash with Matt McCall while racing for the lead. Turn the page to Myrtle Beach and he was in position right behind Frank Deiny to possible steal away a win, but he was spun coming to the white flag and finished 16th.
2nd — Matt McCall(1)
Matt McCall has certainly flexed his muscle since jumping behind the wheel of one of Fat Head Racing’s, Marlowe Chassis’ as he’s been one of the guys to beat since July in every race he’s been in. While he never played a huge factor at Myrtle Beach, everyone had to know he was lurking in the shadows and if not for getting caught up in a crash, he might have had something for Frank Deiny at the end.
1st — Frank Deiny, Jr.(2)
He proved it … he was out to silence his critics with a solid performance in the Myrtle Beach 400. After all, this was the race that he was most likely to have a chance to win, since he’s won it three times before and been in contention to win it for the last ten or so years. He looked to be off the pace around the midpoint when he had a tire going down and afterwords as he raced behind the field at a snails pace, nearly getting lapped. Turns out he was just playing possum and he turned up the wick when he needed to and then raced his teammate for the win. It was probably the biggest win of his career and certainly one of the most emotional as Deiny teared up in his post-race interview.
