DAYTONA BEACH, FL :: Tommy Lemons Jr. is quietly gaining entry to the upper echelon of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series drivers.
Lemons, 26, of Troy, N.C., is third in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national standings and leads the North Carolina state point race. He’s 24 points behind Deac McCaskill in track standings at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, N.C., where he’s won twice. He also posted a win at Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C. last month. His record to date includes three wins, 14 top-fives and 16 top-10s in 18 starts.
A decade into his NASCAR Late Model racing career, Lemons is building a break-through season.
“We began showing results of what we’ve been working for about halfway through last year,” Lemons said. “We started out with a new Hedgecock chassis. We were trying to do it all ourselves. Sellers Racing helped us get it going. That’s when we started getting competitive. Our crew chief Brandon Davis worked and tweaked on it all winter.”
TOP 500 STANDINGS | STATE/PROVINCIAL TOP 20
Lemons didn’t get his first of four 2012 wins until June 23. The next three came in succession in August at Motor Mile and Caraway.
His first win of 2013 came on April 6 and it was special. The win was his first-ever at Southern National, and it came over defending NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion Lee Pulliam.
“We’d been knocking on Lee’s door for a while,” Lemons said. “That was a good win.”
The battle atop the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national standings took place Saturday night in a pair of hard-fought 125-lap features at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va.
Pulliam, of Semora, N.C., posted finishes of first and fifth, while McCaskill of Raleigh, N.C., placed third in both races. Lemons had a tough night with finishes of fourth and 16th. Matt Bowling of Ridgeway, Va., won the second feature. Pulliam, McCaskill and Bowling are tied for the Motor Mile track point lead. Pulliam leads track points at South Boston.
The top five positions in the national point race remain the same as last week. All are southern pavement Late Model drivers.
McCaskill’s consistency at Motor Mile helped him cut 15 more points off of Pulliam’s national point lead, now 684-649. Pulliam’s 35 point margin this week is down from 50 points last week. The 99 point lead Pulliam enjoyed just two weeks ago evaporated by almost two-thirds.
Pulliam’s 20-race record to date includes 12 wins, 18 top-fives and 18 top 10s. McCaskill has seven wins, 14 top-fives and 17 top-10s in 18 starts.
Lemons maintains third in national standings but is now 78 points in arrears to McCaskill, widening the 50-point deficit of last week.
Anthony Anders of Easley, S.C., holds onto fourth in national points. He had an 11th place at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C., Saturday and lost 10 more points to Lemons who is now 59 ahead. Fifth place C.E. Falk III of Virginia Beach, Va., gained 48 points in his pursuit of Anders. Falk closed to 69 points behind Anders on the strength of wins in two 75-lap features at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., Saturday. Pulliam leads the Virginia point standings over Falk, 471-443.
Keith Rocco of Wallingford, Conn., the series’ 2010 national champion, regained sixth place in points. Rocco had a ninth-place finish in SK Modified competition at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl. He now holds sixth place by 14 points over Brandon Dean who dropped to seventh. Dean, of Huntersville, N.C., had finishes of sixth and 24th at Motor Mile.
Entering June, Lemons was just one win away from matching his total of four last year. He had 24 top-five finishes over the course of the 2012 season, 10 of them in second place. Four of those were runner-up finishes to Pulliam.
So far this year Lemons has finished second to McCaskill three times at Southern National.
“It’s tough the beat Deac at Southern National or anywhere else,” Lemons said. “He’ll be one of the best ones we have to beat.”
Motor Mile and Southern National have partnered to form 12 special events between the two tracks known as “The Dirty Dozen.” The dozen includes six double Late Model features at each track. Three of the events have been completed at Southern National. Wins were posted by McCaskill (2), Pulliam (2), along with Lemons and Michael Rouse.
“Originally The Dirty Dozen was the only thing we were going to try to do,” Lemons said. “We haven’t run for a championship in a while, but we got back in the battle. We had a good start in April and got the point lead at Southern National for a week or two. That’s when we decided to try to race Deac for the track and state titles. Our goals right now are to get back to Victory Lane at Southern National and get some wins at Motor Mile.
“We keep making little gains with the car. Brandon keeps adjusting it and finding things to fine tune,” Lemons said of his crew chief.
Davis has been working with Lemons since 2008. The Kowalsky engine powered Chevrolet is sponsored by Robinwood Enterprises and Lemons Backhoe.
Lemons graduated from go-karts to Limited Late Models at Caraway 10 years ago. He moved to Late Models in 2004. He hasn’t yet won a track championship, although he’s been close on occasion. He’s had a longtime presence in the top-five of track point races at Caraway and Motor Mile Speedway.
Now in its 32nd season, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for weekly short track auto racing. There are 55 sanctioned tracks throughout the United States and Canada that participate.
A NASCAR Division I driver’s best 18 results through the Sept. 15 closing date count toward their state and national point totals and the champions are decided on overall point total. Once a driver reaches 18 starts, their point total increases incrementally as they replace some poorer runs with better results.
Under the point structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, a race winner receives two points for every car in the event up to 20 cars. Second place receives two fewer points and so on through the field. Race winners receive an additional five points. For example, if 20 cars are in the field, the winner receives 45 points, second place 38 and third 36. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 35 points, second 28 and third, 26.
Track operators also designate support classes as NASCAR Divisions II-V and drivers in those divisions compete for points in the NASCAR Finalist program. The program brings added recognition to support division drivers. Points are kept separately for asphalt and dirt tracks.
More information on the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is available at www.nascarhometracks.com.
