Cars lined up on the frontstretch for the start of the 2018 CARS Tour race at Carteret County Speedway. (Andy Marquis photo)

The Crystal Coast of North Carolina will host round eight of the CARS Late Model Stock Car, at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway in Swansboro, North Carolina. The 125 lap event will be yet another “big money” race for Late Model Stock competitors. Solid Rock Carriers and the CARS Tour have teamed up to make Saturday night’s Crystal Coast 125 a total paying purse of $40,000. The bonus structure has led to the largest field of Late Model Stocks ever set to compete at the 4/10th mile track. In addition to tour regulars, several local racers have filed entries for the event. One of those is defending track champion (2018) Brandon Clements, who will make his CARS Tour debut

Solid Rock Carriers Crystal Coast 125 NOTES & QUOTES

NOTES:

Track/Location: Carteret County Speedway-Swansboro, NC
Track Size: .410 mile

Event Name: Solid Rock Carriers Crystal Coast 125                                       Laps/Distance: 125L (LMSC)

Event Schedule: Practice: 3PM-4:15PM, Qualifying: 5:50PM, Green Flag: 7:30PM

Twitter Handle/Event Hashtag: @CARSTour / @carteretcoswy / #CrystalCoast125

CARS LMSC Tour Pre Entered Drivers:

  1. #08 Deac McCaskill
  2. #07 Camden Guillie
  3. #1 Craig Moore
  4. #2 Brandon Pierce
  5. #2Y Josh Yeoman
  6. #4 Jonathan Findley
  7. #7 Brandon Clements
  8. #12 Sammy Smith
  9. #16 Chad McCumbee
  10. #17P Stacy Puryear
  11. #19 Cameron Bowen
  12. #19C Jessica Cann
  13. #22 Bobby McCarty
  14. #22W Eric Winslow
  15. #27 Tommy Lemons
  16. #51 Matt Cox
  17. #54 Drew Dollar
  18. #57 Justin Carroll
  19. #63 Tyler Matthew
  20. #74 Ronald Hill
  21. #77 Trevor Ward
  22. #81 Mini Tyrrell
  23. #88 Josh Berry
  24. #90 Terry Carroll
  25. #91 Justin S. Carroll
  26. #98 Adam Lemke
  27. #99 Layne Riggs

(27 total)

Media Coverage:

-Race22 (race22.com) will provide Raceday Live Coverage

-CARS Tour TV (www.carstour.tv) – LIVE Broadcast Video Production Coverage
-CARS Tour Facebook (facebook.com/CARSTour) / CARS Tour Twitter (@CARSTour)

QUOTES:

Tyler Matthews a Former Mainstay at Carteret:

Beulaville, North Carolina native Tyler Matthews is currently running his first full season with the CARS Tour in 2019. Matthews whose home track is Carteret County, was the 2017 track champion. Matthews dominated at times around the 4/10th mile track along the coast, before moving on to the CARS Tour and NASCAR Truck and Xfinity competition. Now with the opportunity to compete at his home track close to family and friends, Matthews is anticipating the best weekend yet on the tour for himself and his team.

“I would consider Carteret my home track. We should have some pretty good local support from folks when get there Saturday. We’ve been running pretty well lately. This year has been pretty tough seeing most the tracks for the first time, so getting to a track we know we can run well at will help our chances a lot. Carteret is a track you have to be consistent each and every lap. It’s more about how much does your car fall off after those initial five or ten laps. I think if we rely on what we’ve done in the past and stick to what we know, this weekend could be our best opportunity to get a win this season.” Tyler Matthews – #63 Dorwarts Garage Toyota

Puryear Staying under the Radar for Sponsor’s Home Race:

One competitor, who all season, stays quiet but end’s with respectable finishes is South Boston, Virginia driver Stacy Puryear. Currently tired with Mini Tyrrell for the fifth place spot in the 2019 championship standings, Puryear heads to Carteret County with possible added pressure on himself and his Jimmy Mooring owned organization. Saturday night is Puryear’s sponsor, Solid Rock Carriers, home track race with many from the company expected to be in attendance. While being in the spotlight isn’t exactly Puryear’s style, he hopes that if he is going to be, he can at least deliver a season’s best finish on track.

“You could say I am very happy to be 5th in CARS Tour points, but at the same time I’m very disappointed in our performance on the race track. We have finished every lap of competition except one, and that consistency is what has put us 5th in the standings. There’s a few tracks like Orange County and Ace that I thought we would be more competitive, but a few mechanical issues set us back some. But for this weekend we are rather excited about being at Carteret, we got a win earlier this season there in the weekly program, and we are hoping to perform well for Solid Rock Carriers, and my car owner Jimmy Mooring. There’s no one that puts pressure on me like I do myself, I’ve been learning each and every week with the new bump stop technology, so I feel like this weekend you might see our best finish of the year. And that would be a huge boost for our program.” Stacy Puryear – #17 Solid Rock Carriers Chevrolet

Solid Rock Carriers Goes Above and Beyond:

It’s no secret that Solid Rock Carriers is huge supporter of short track racing throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Sponsoring races and the short track racers competing in them. But who is Solid Rock Carriers? Based in LaGrange, North Carolina and owned by North Carolina native Kirk Ipock, Solid Rock Carriers is a refrigerated trucking company established in 1997 and has grown to 50 plus employees. While Solid Rock Carriers has sponsored several CARS Tour races via already established direct partnerships with the tracks, this will be the first ever sponsor partnership with between Solid Rock Carriers and CARS Tour this weekend. With the goal of attracting the most Late Models to compete in track’s history, the tour and Solid Rock Carriers will distribute a $40,000 purse Saturday night with 90% of the additional purse being awarded to finishers in positions 2nd through 12th.

“I’ve fell in love with the CARS Tour and the quality of racing they’ve had this year. Carteret County is a track that I support a lot, so I came to the tour and said let’s come up with a way that we can make the CARS race the biggest race they’ve had yet, when it comes to car count. Chris (Ragle) with the tour came up with excellent way to distribute the money that it would go to as many people that came out and raced. With the car count we will have this weekend, I couldn’t be happier about Saturday night’s race. I think there are a lot of fans that might decide to finally make their way out to Carteret this weekend, if they do they won’t be disappointed with the facility or the race.” Kirk Ipock – Solid Rock Carriers, Owner

For more information and to stay up to date with all the latest news and information about the CARS Solid Rock Carriers Tour presented by SRI, featuring both Late Model Stock Car and Super Late Model divisions, visit www.carsracingtour.com or contact the tour’s office directly at 704-662-9212. Stay social with the tour by “liking” the CARS Tour Facebook page and following along on Twitter @CARSTour.