Peltier Ends PASS South Drought with Hard Fought Win

LUCAMA, NC :: Preston Peltier survived a furious battle with Tyler Church and Jared Irvan in the Southern National 150 to claim his first Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model win in over a yearSaturday night at Southern National Motorsports Park.  The win was Peltier’s first since winning the 2013 Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway and pushed his PASS South career wins total to 11, tops among all drivers.

“Man, I tell ya, I just drove as hard as I could and these guys never stopped believing in me,” said Peltier after his first ever PASS South win at Southern National.  “I hope he [Church] isn’t mad at me, I didn’t give him any room that’s for sure.  I needed this win in a bad way and I thank Tyler for driving me clean.”

Peltier started then evening off in fine form claiming his 15^th career PASS South quick qualifying time with a lap 94.259 miles per hour around the high banked, 4/10 mile speedway.  Following the top 10 qualifiers redraw, Peltier would slot into the fourth starting position while rookie Zane Smith and veteran Brandon Ward moved up to the front row.

At the drop of the green flag, Ward jumped into the lead as the field headed into turn one.  Ward would dominate the early stages of the Southern National 150 as the rest of the field plotted varying strategies to try and claim victory.  While Peltier and Church slid back in the top 10, rookie Kiel Spaulding quickly made his way up from 11^th starting position into the top five.

Laps clicked off quickly until the first caution of the night waved on lap 94 when Tanner Rumburg’s Chevrolet came to a stop on the backstretch.  Ward led on the restart, but his first challenge of the night came fromTrevor Noles and Jared Irvan.  On lap 97, Ward and Noles made slight contact just past the start/finish line allowing Irvan to move into the lead entering turn one.  At this point, Peltier, Church, and Tate Fogleman were making a charge towards the top five, while Spaulding and Smith had faded.

Irvan continued to lead through the race’s second caution when Tyler Dippel spun exiting turn two with 23 laps to go.  Irvan led the field to green, but by this time, Peltier and Church had made their way up to second and third respectively.  Despite having the preferred groove, Irvan gave way to Peltier who moved into the lead with a strong run on the outside with 21 laps to go.  Eventually, Church and Fogleman were both able to move by Irvan and set their sights on Peltier.

The final caution of the night waved with 7 laps to go for debris in turn two and set up a classic shoot out for the win.  Peltier and Church raced hard, making contact on several occasions, but Peltier was able to pull out by a couple of car lengths after contact with Church as they exited turn two.  Peltier held off Church to take the win over Fogleman, Brandon Setzer, and Irvan.  Rounding out the top ten were Jody Measamer, Ward, Noles, Cole Timm, and Tyler Audie.

In the PASS Pro Late Model division, Kodie Conner passed Jeff Batten on lap 13 and led the rest of the way for his second straight win.  Several cars were eliminated on lap 14 when Batten and Mason Diaz collided in turn two causing Diaz’s car to go up and over Batten’s hood.  Following Conner at the finish were fast qualifier Lucas Jones, Zachary Dabbs, Walker Yates, and Nick Robinson.

The PASS South Super Late Models will be in action again on Saturday, August 16, at South Boston Speedway along with Twin 75s for the NASCAR Late Model Stocks.  And don’t forget, the best Super Late Model racers in North America will vie for over $25,000 this weekend with the 41^st Annual Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine.  For entry forms and more information, please go to ProAllStarsSeries.com.