Deac McCaskill and Quin Houff shared victory lane on Sunday afternoon when the CARS Tour Series came to life at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Trevor Noles led the field of Super Late Models to green flag with 2015 CARS Super Late Model Tour powered by VP Fuel champion Cole Timm alongside on the front row. Timm wrestled the early lead away from Noles and held the top spot through the first eight circuits. On lap nine, the No. 17 Chevrolet of Quin Houff took the lead away from Timm.
Houff began to set a torrid pace as the race settled into a long, green flag run until the only caution flag waved for a minor spin in turn four at lap 108. Timm once again had the better restart restart and retook the lead at the stripe on lap 109. However Timm’s glory was short-lived as just a few laps later Houff bypassed him once again on lap 116.
Houff skillfully negotiated slower traffic and held off late-race charges by both Timm and Zane Smith en route to his second career CARS Tour win. Timm, Raphael Lassard, Noles and Matt Craig completed the top five. The aforementioned Smith cut a left rear tire with five laps to go and fell deep into the final rundown.
“It was unbelievable how smooth it was. That is why I couldn’t even stand up because my legs got so tried from just relaxing from driving,” said an exhuberant Houff in Edelbrock Victory Lane.
“What a great field today,” he continued. “CARS Tour puts on a great show and I can’t thank LFR Chassis enough and the Duke Cancer Institute for coming on board. I’m also proud to be wearing the Kulwicki colors and the Mighty Mouse for Alan Kulwicki who is up for the [NASCAR] Hall of Fame this year and it is very special for us and the Kulwicki Driver Development Group. What a special day.”
Once again, it was a home game for Deac McCaskill and he used that experience to dominate from start to finish and collect the big check at the end of 150 laps. Deac qualified on the Hedgecock Racing Pole earlier in the afternoon and started alongside cousin Bradley McCaskill, the first all-family front row in CARS Tour history.
But McCaskill’s second career race triumph wasn’t as easy as it seemed on paper.
Josh Berry, driving a car owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., stalked McCaskill’s every move during the vast majority of Sunday’s event. Twice, on restarts, Berry made an attempt to overtake McCaskill on the outside of the speedway but was unable to succeed.
Within sight of the finish, Berry began to backslide, but Tommy Lemons, Jr., was quickly able to take advantage of Berry’s slower pace, moving his way up to second after starting the event in 18th. Over the final ten laps, Lemons quickly closed the gap on McCaskill but arguably ran out of time, coming up mere car lengths short of his first series win at the checkered flag.
“This is way up there man,” expressed a jubilant McCaskill in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “The CARS Tour, I just can’t thank you guys enough. You put on a phenomenal event and I’m just glad to be a part of it. I had a really great year last year and I just did not want to lose this race.
“Josh Berry is one heck of a driver,” he continued. “I hate that he lost out on second there at the end, but he’s going to go on in this sport and it is a real honor to be racing with so many great drivers like this.
“This is by far one of the best cars I’ve ever had at this racetrack and I’ve got a lot of laps around here,” the driver of the No. 08 elaborated. “I knew I had a good piece, laid down a good lap in qualifying and was just trying to save the tires. I knew once we had one caution we were going to have a lot of cautions. The car really fired off good on restarts so that didn’t bother me. I’m just really proud to be here. As you know last year, I was in tears with mom battling breast cancer and she has overcome that. Just coming to victory lane and seeing your family, their expressions on their face, man, it is just what this sport is all about. Really, really proud to be standing here today. This is a great day for us.”
#CARSTour300 Unofficial Results
Super Late Model Tour
POS DRIVER/CAR # LAPS
1 Quin Houff (17) 150
2 Cole Timm (57) 150
3 Raphael Lassard (99) 150
4 Trevor Noles (22) 150
5 Matt Craig (54) 150
6 Jared Irvan (2) 150
7 Harrison Burton (12) 150
8 Joey Mucciacciaro (45) 150
9 Jeff Fultz (40) 150
10 Kevin Flores (55f) 150
11 Brandon Setzer (6) 150
12 Stephen Nasse (51) 149
13 Gus Dean (44) 149
14 Nicole Behar (97) 148
15 Garrett Jones (88) 148
16 Jeff Batten (49) 148
17 Stephen Leicht (25) 146
18 Lucas Jones (16) 146
19 Zane Smith (77) 145
20 Clay Jones (67) 132
21 Jake Crum (41) 95
22 Tyler Ankrum (58) 91
23 Tate Fogleman (8) 74
24 Dalton Sargeant (55) 29
Late Model Stock Tour
POS DRIVER/CAR # LAPS
1 Deac McCaskill (08) 150
2 Tommy Lemons (27) 150
3 Josh Berry (88b) 150
4 Myatt Snider (2) 150
5 Matt Bowling (83) 150
6 Chad McCumbee (95) 150
7 Bradley McCaskill (18) 150
8 Jeb Burton (43) 150
9 Justin Johnson (44) 150
10 Justin Crider (7) 150
11 Mike Darne (21) 150
12 Christian Eckes (1) 149
13 Chase Purdy (41) 149
14 Tal Davidson (77) 148
15 Ryan Wilson (12) 148
16 Jeff Oakley (16) 148
17 Austin McDaniel (12m) 147
18 Hayden Humphrey (07) 147
19 Craig Stallard (42) 125
20 Michael Fose (54) 101
21 Chris Hudspeth (28) 101
22 Chris Davis (88) 100
23 Ronald Hill (74) 100
24 Thomas Beane (31) 94
25 Mason Diaz (24) 91
26 Stefan Parsons (98) 47
27 Adam Murray (81) 38
