After a seven-week break, both divisions of the CARS Tour were back on track for the series’ inaugural visit to South Boston Speedway. The regulars of the CARS Tour hoped to make a strong impact in qualifying, but a familiar face of Virginia Late Model racing would find himself at the top of the charts.
Four-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series champion Philip Morris proved to be the class of the field early on by earning the pole for the AutosbyNelson.com 250 with a time of 15.047. Morris’ pole did not come easy, as he had to hold off a charge from Layne Riggs, who will start second after barley missing the pole by only one one-thousandth of a second with a time of 15.048
Riggs, who is the son of former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Scott Riggs, entered the AutosbyNelson.com 250 as the points leader for the CARS LMSC Tour. During the course of his first full-time season on the CARS LMSC Tour, Riggs has quickly established himself as one of the best Late Model drivers in the country, by winning his first career race at Dominion Raceway, and by leading wire-to-wire in the Puryear Tank Lines/Thrifty Tire Service 300 at Orange County Speedway.
Josh Berry, who is the all-time wins leader in the CARS LMSC Tour with 12 victories, only trailed Riggs by four points entering South Boston. Berry posted one of the fastest times in the first round of qualifying, and attempted to improve upon his first round run during the final round of qualifying. However, Berry nearly lost control of his car coming off of Turn 2 during his first lap, and although he was able to save his car, Berry posted the slowest time in the second round, which relegated him to an eighth place starting spot.
The only other driver who is mathematically eligible to win the 2017 CARS LMSC Tour championships is Anthony Alfredo, who is Josh Berry’s teammate. After starting off the season by crashing on the first lap at Concord Speedway, Alfredo responded by recording ten consecutive Top 10 finishes in the CARS LMSC Tour, which included a sweep of the Scott McCorkle’s Liberty Buick-GMC 300 twin races at Hickory Motor Speedway. Alfredo’s good fortunes came to an end when he crashed out in the series’ penultimate race at Concord Speedway, and Alfredo will have to climb from the 20th starting position in order to chase down Riggs and Berry for the title.
Deac McCaskill, the defending champion of the CARS LMSC Tour who has recorded four victories in the series, will line up third in the AutosbyNelson.com 250, followed by Ryan Repko in fourth, and 2017 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Timothy Peters in fifth. Bobby McCarty will roll off sixth, followed by Jake Crum in seventh and Berry in eighth. Brandon Pierce and Ty Gibbs complete the Top 10 in ninth and tenth respectively.
Starting Lineup:
1. 01 Philip Morris
2. 99 Layne Riggs
3. 08 Deac McCaskill
4. 14 Ryan Repko
5. 12p Timothy Peters
6. 22 Bobby McCarty
7. 01c Jake Crum
8. 88b Josh Berry
9. 2p Brandon Pierce
10. 18g Ty Gibbs
11. 17 Stacy Puryear
12. 77w Trevor Ward
13. 1m Craig Moore
14. 39 Mike Jones
15. 77 Blake Stallings
16. 24 Craig Stallard
17. 31 Thomas Beane
18. 83 Matt Bowling
19. 74 Ronald Hill
20. 8a Anthony Alfredo
21. 88 Chris Davis
22. 15b Kyle Barnes
