Tommy Lemons, Jr. was one of the odds on favorites to win the 51st Season Opener at Caraway Speedway but the journey from the drop of the green flag was an unusual one but in the end he made it two for two on the season.
Travis Swaim put his car on the pole for the 150-lap race just ahead of Myatt Snider who’d been the fastest in practice on Saturday and Lemons qualified third. From the drop of the green flag Swaim asserted himself as the dominant car leading the field through the early stages of the race with pressure coming from Lemons at times.
Swaim would fend off his advances with the field staying clean and green through lap 64. The caution waved on lap 65 and teams began to get ready for the new live pit stops as a two-tire pit stop was mandatory for this season. Many teams had brought in crew members from the upper series of NASCAR or former crew members as “ringers”.
The cars rolled down pit road with Swaim leading Lemons who were pitted as the first and second cars at the exit to pit road. Swaim’s team pulled off a fast pit stop and got him back out on the track and he remained in the lead. Lemons team wasn’t made up of “ringers”, it was just his normal every week crew and they were much slower on the stop as he reentered the track in seventh position.
Patrick Coleman who didn’t make his two tire stop when everyone else did came down pit road for adjustments and reentered the track in second position. He took his tires later which he hoped would give his team an advantage. He slipped back immediately on the restart as the cars with new tires moved by.
Following the lap 65 restart three-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion Lee Pulliam who had made a huge charge from his 13th starting position took over third place from Matt Bowling as he chased Snider and Swaim. Pulliam had been suffering from flu like symptoms but had got up on the wheel and looked to be in contention to challenge for the top spot.
Just after lap 100 Pulliam’s day went south as his engine expired and his day was done. This caution gave Coleman the opportunity to make his two tire change after he fell hard through the field following the lap 65 restart with everyone else on fresh right side rubber. By this point Lemons had rallied from seventh on the lap 65 restart to be in third position but he was ready to challenge for the lead.
Lap 105 brought about another caution as Kyle Dudley and Dylan Martin got together in turn two. The two young drivers had struggled all day. This gave Lemons his chance to challenge for the lead as he now found himself in second. Swaim lined up on the inside and Lemons took the outside.
Lemons showed again that he was the master of the outside line. He wrestled the lead away from Swaim and looked to have the strongest car on the track at this particular point in the race. After Swaim tried to rally back to the inside of Lemons he slipped behind Snider to third position. With 21 laps to go Swaim rallied back to second and began putting pressure on Lemons.
All of a sudden Swaim hit pit road as his brand new engine had gone up in smoke and ended his day. Lemons now looked to be poised to win the race but Snider hadn’t showed his hand yet. Snider put in a valiant effort restarting on the outside then lifted Lemons up a little and slipped by him but his move to the lead was negated when the caution flew before the lap could be completed.
Snider now readied to battle Lemons again and put on a show as he and Lemons banged doors and raced hard. Snider gives Lemons the bumper as the cars roll into and off of turn two and takes the lead. Lemons would return the favor as the cars went into turn two and began to pick the throttle back up. The contact would send Snider spinning sideways.
Snider would spin in front of the field but was able to avoid contact from other cars. Lemons was now leading again without any of the early contenders to pressure him for the top spot. Bradley McCaskill who had been good all day had worked his way back up to third before Snider’s spin and found himself in second for the next restart.
Lemons would now take the outside lane for the restart after Snider had been able to give him a fit on the previous two restarts. Giving McCaskill the inside lane appeared to be the right choice as he survived several late race restarts using the high line and drove off from McCaskill to pick up the victory.
Lemons was excited in victory lane as he’d picked up his second win in eight days.
“We had a great car,” said Lemons in victory lane after the race. “I messed up pit stop for my guys trying to turn the wheel to be able to get out from behind Travis (Swaim) but we rallied back. They’ve given me a really good car everytime we come to the track and I’m glad we could win today.”
He admitted that the wreck with Snider was his fault but said there was no love loss between them.
“There’s definitely no love loss between Myatt (Snider) and I but that was 100% my fault. It wasn’t intentional but I’ll take the blame. Just racing hard.”
Snider was obviously not happy about the contact.
“I was racing Tommy (Lemons) hard and of course we rub together constantly,” said Snider following the event. “Then after I took the lead for the second time he just drove into me and hit my bumper and spun out. I don’t know what happened there. I don’t know what he was thinking but that’s racing sometimes.”
Snider rallied back to finish sixth despite getting together with Jonathan Findley in the closing laps as he tried to get back toward the front of the field. McCaskill finished second with Ryan Wilson coming back to the front late to finish third. Findley and Coleman completed the top five finishers.
Unofficial Results:
1 – Tommy Lemons, Jr. #27
2 – Bradley McCaskill #18
3 – Ryan Wilson #12
4 – Jonathan Findley #4
5 – Patrick Coleman #81
6 – Myatt Snider #2
7 – Dylan Martin #82
8 – RD Smith #16
9 – Mike Darne #21
10 – Kyle Dudley #4
11 – Dan Moore #10
12 – Dean Fogleman #71
13 – Travis Swaim #21
14 – Matt Bowling #83
15 – Lee Pulliam #5
16 – Jason York #18
17 – Craig Thomas #5
