Lemons Looks to Change Winless Season at Southern National

In the first two months of the 2015 racing season, victory has eluded Tommy Lemons, Jr. in several ways.  Lemons has found himself leading races only to be swept up in accidents and found himself running in unfamiliar territory in other races.

To date, the best finish Lemons has scored is a second place finish which came in his most recent start at Langley Speedway on May 16^th.

“So far, we’ve been a little bit too slow,” Lemons said of his season.  “We had a pretty good car in Kenly and got shuffled back on a restart on the outside.  We lost power steering at Orange County.  We didn’t have forward drive at Hickory.  We’ve got to work on it and get better for the Southern National race on May 30^th.  We’ve got a little monkey on our back but hopefully we’ll shake it soon.”

Lemons has been running regularly in the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Late Model Stock Tour where he entered as a preseason favorite but, so far, he has only scored one top-five finish, a fifth in the series debut at Southern National on March 28^th.  His past success at Southern National gives him reason to be optimistic about the upcoming race on Saturday, May 30^th.

“I feel like we should have a good piece at Southern National,” Lemons remarked.  “Should be better than the first race.  I think we’re finally getting this new car figured out to some degree and, once we get it where we need it, we’ll be able to contend.  We used to struggle at Southern National.  We finally kept beating our head and figured some stuff out.”

At Orange County Speedway, Lemons fought a power steering leak and still finished in the sixth position.   The most recent CARS Tour race, which was held at Hickory Motor Speedway, brought frustration to Lemons.  Trying to salvage a top-10 run, he was involved in a late race incident with another driver and ended up having to settle for a 16^th place finish.  Despite that, Lemons feels he’s not out of contention in any way.

“We’ve got a long way to go.  We rack up a few wins and keep the car in one piece and we’ll be alright.”

Last Saturday night, Lemons had his best night of the season, scoring a third place finish and a second place finish at Langley Speedway.  He had raced at Langley Speedway on April 4^th and qualified on the pole but, while running second and battling for the lead, Lemons slipped in some oil and slammed the wall ending his most legitimate chance at victory thus far this season.  Lemons’ return to Langley, which resulted in two podium finishes, gives him peace of mind as he sets his sights on the Hampton Heat 200 on July 25^th.

To date, Lemons has four top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes in the 2015 season.