Justin Crider Impresses with Runner-Up Finish at Orange County

ROUGEMONT, NC — Equally as impressive as Brayton Haws’ victory in Saturday night’s Orange Blossom 300 was Justin Crider’s runner-up finish.

Crider is not considered a heavyweight in Late Model Stock Car racing by any means but the 18-year-old entered a heavyweight class when he made the decision to compete in the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Late Model Stock Tour.  That alone made Saturday night’s runner up finish even more special for Crider.

Crider was in the top-10 all weekend long and spent the entirety of the race, which was held at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina, methodically running inside the top-10.  At points late in the race, Crider even threatened to challenge for the win.  Running in the top-five late in the race, Crider was able to get around Jamey Caudill and Myatt Snider to sneak his way to a second place finish.

“We definitely put a lot of effort into today,” Crider said after the race.  “To come out, we were fifth in the first practice, seventh in the second practice, showed consistent speed all day, we were fast yesterday, qualified eighth and methodically worked our way up through the field.  We had a chance for the win there; we got caught up a little bit right there.  It speaks a lot to this family team how much work we put into it and how much we worked together.  It makes these good finishes much more enjoyable because we earned it.”

Because Orange County Speedway is not a NASCAR sanctioned track, and due in-part to its proximity to South Boston Speedway, the Rougemont track is not a track that is not a regular destination for Late Model Stock Car drivers.  For that reason, the Orange Blossom 300 was seen in many ways as an “equalizer” race.  Crider was honored by the finish when he looked at the names that finished behind, names that include Tommy Lemons, Jr., Deac McCaskill and Jamey Caudill.

“There’s a bunch of competition out there,” Crider explained.  “It was fun racing against all those guys because they’ve been around.  They’ve got the names, they’ve earned their respect.  I’m out here trying to earn my respect and show that I can hang with them and my team can hang with everybody.  It makes this much more enjoyable and a much better experience to come out here and finish second against all these teams with big money.  We come out here on our own budget.”

Crider, who ironically drives car no. 7, was recently selected to the Kulwicki Driver Development Program.  That program, which is named after the late Alan Kulwicki, and sponsorship from JDS Glass constitute about the only external financial support Crider’s racing program has.

“We have about three sponsors that put in as much as they can but racing’s not cheap,” Crider stated.  “We come out here.  Most of it is out of our own pockets.  To get results is truly an honor.”

Crider’s second place finish propels him into the championship hunt after he started the season with a disappointing 20^th place finish three weeks earlier at Southern National Motorsports Park.  However, in racing and in sports, it’s sometimes the moral victories that count the most and, make no mistake, Crider’s surprising second place finish is one of those moral victories.