As the Summer gets ready to come to a close we thought it was time to look at the most powerful Late Model Stock Car drivers of the year to date. It’s been another great year of Late Model Stock Car racing with competition levels rising at many tracks and the cream rising to the top.
First we’ll start off with the Honorable Mentions.
Will Burns
He’s had a fantastic season at Greenville Pickens Speedway winning three races and heading to his first championship when the season completes with twins on September 16th.
Andrew Grady
He hasn’t really raced enough to make the list but when you outrun Lee Pulliam to get your first win of the season you deserve recognition and he did just that last weekend at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Now for the Best of the Rest that didn’t make the Top 22….
Ryan Repko
This kid is coming into his own in Late Model Stock Cars and after getting a win at Anderson Motor Speedway he can’t be far from breaking through as one of the guys to beat week in and week out.
1 – Philip Morris
There’s really not a lot that needs to be said about the undeniable “King” of Late Model Stock Car racing. Philip Morris has pretty much owned this world for the last decade or more. This season has been one of his most dominant at Motor Mile and South Boston. He’s also added wins at Langley Speedway and most recently Dominion Raceway, where he doubled up on victories last weekend. Those two wins brought him to 15 total for the season against arguably the toughest competition of any other driver racing this season.
2 – Lee Pulliam
He’s the heir to the King’s throne but unfortunately for Lee Pulliam, Philip Morris simply won’t go away anytime soon. But there’s no shame in being the second ranked driver to the divisions King and Pulliam has made his own way this season while still battling Morris at every chance. Pulliam has accumulated 14 wins but Pulliam has only beat Morris once this season at Motor Mile and not at all when racing his at South Boston Speedway. 11 of Pulliam’s victories have come at Myrtle Beach Speedway where car counts have been strong but he’s persisted to dominate only losing twice to Justin Milliken. Pulliam’s other two victories have come at Southern National Motorsports Park.
3 – Josh Berry
He hasn’t raced a lot this year but in the CARS Tour he’s won three of the 11 events held to date. He also picked up a win earlier this year at Hickory Motor Speedway bringing his season total to four but on four different race tracks. That’s one of the biggest measure we use here at race22.com to determine a drivers overall value and that’s how many races he’s won at different venues. The more tracks and more wins, the higher the ranking.
4 – Kres VanDyke
He’s dominated the Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia tracks and his win total reaches far above anyone else on this list with 24 wins to date this season. VanDyke could easily be placed at the top of this list but the majority of his triumphs have been at Lonesome Pine Raceway where the level of competition he faces can’t be compared to his home track of Kingsport where he has nine wins or Hickory Motor Speedway where he’s won once this season not to mention Motor Mile, South Boston or Langley Speedway just to name a few tracks. That’s not to discredit VanDyke as his other 10 wins give him an elevated position in the standings.
5 – Peyton Sellers
He had a string of three wins in three starts at Dominion Raceway before Philip Morris slowed his roll this past weekend. Peyton Sellers also has three wins on the season at South Boston Speedway where he’s the points leader with just a couple races to go in the season. Sellers has performed everywhere he’s traveled this season and looks to be on his way to another track championship.
6 – Bobby McCarty
His win in the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway back in July easily gave Bobby McCarty a boost this summer but he’s been one of the cars to beat at the highly competitive South Boston Speedway all season. McCarty has just four wins total including the three he’s won at South Boston. McCarty is a threat to win everywhere he travels and proved it at Langley where he was in the right place at the right time to take home the win.
7 – Justin Carroll
No, not that Justin Carroll …. the other one. Yeah it’s confusing to everyone but Justin Carroll from North Carolina has outshined his counterpart by the same name this season. Carroll has four wins this season, all coming on the same track at Hickory Motor Speedway but in two different series with one of the wins coming in the most recent CARS Tour event. His other three wins came against the Saturday night contingent racing in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Carroll also performed at a high level racing amongst the tough competition at Langley Speedway despite being one of few drivers without a Spec engine racing on the flat track.
8 – Mike Looney
He doesn’t have but three wins on the season but racing against the tough competition that Motor Mile Speedway provides winning isn’t the only measure. Mike Looney has two wins at Motor Mile with another one coming at Franklin County Speedway early in the season before the track was shuttered due to a management/ownership clash. Looney has steadily been the second man behind Morris all season at Motor Mile and with Martinsville right around the corner the veteran driver is looking to heat things up headed into the Fall big race season.
9 – Tyler Hughes
With six victories to his credit, Tyler Hughes has had a great season to date. With five wins coming at Dominion Raceway and a lone win at Southern National Motorsports Park. Dominion has been a tough place to win this season with outsiders like Philip Morris and Peyton Sellers coming in and stealing away wins but Hughes and his points contending counterpart Doug Barnes, Jr. have held thier own with 11 wins between the two of them on the 4/10 mile track.
10 – Mason Diaz
With six total wins already Mason Diaz has come into his own this season as one of Late Model Stock Car racing’s elite drivers. His biggest achievement to date was a win in the Rusty Harpe Memorial at Caraway Speedway. The biggest knock on the young driver is that five wins have come at Southern National Motorsports Park, a facility owned and managed by his father Michael which we don’t care about necessarily but we know that’s the first thing everyone mentions when talking about him. We care more about how he’s defended his home turf and Diaz has failed to keep outsiders like Tyler Hughes and Lee Pulliam from victory on his home turf and has shared victory lane all season with his Mike Darne Motorsports teammates Jonathan Findley (3 wins) and Andrew Grady (1 win against Lee Pulliam).
11 – Randy Porter
He hasn’t raced a lot this season, in fact some people might have thought he had retired but Randy Porter has won four of seven races so far this season at Greenville Pickens Speedway. A three-time champion of the Easley, SC facility Randy Porter has shown that even in his older age he can compete and win against some of the best competition around.
12 – Greg Edwards
With five wins on the season Greg Edwards continues to show he’s the class of the field at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway. If he traveled more during the season Edwards would likely not only have more wins but be way higher on our list.
13 – Tyler Matthews
With five wins on the season between two tracks Tyler Matthews has been one of the toughest competitors in Eastern North Carolina this season. He has won at both Carteret County Speedway and East Carolina Motor Speedway. The biggest strike against him is having not competed at the other NASCAR sanctioned track in the region, Southern National Motorsports Park where the car counts are typically higher and the level of competition is thought to be better.
14 – Charlie Watson
With eight wins on the season Charlie Watson and his points challenging counterpart Ryan Millington, who has eight wins as well, have dominated the season at Hickory Motor Speedway. Watson has branched out to Southern National and Caraway for several starts but has yet to produce a win on a track outside of Hickory.
15 – Ryan Millington
You can’t rank one without the other. Both Ryan Millington and Charlie Watson have amassed eight wins each on the season at Hickory Motor Speedway. Millington like Watson has traveled to other area tracks such as Caraway but hasn’t won except on the 3/8 mile bullring.
16 – Layne Riggs
With two wins on the season so far in the CARS Tour Layne Riggs has been one of the drivers to beat consistently in the series. He’s also been consistent with five top five finishes in 11 starts which gives him the points lead with just a handful of races remaining.
17 – Deac McCaskill
It’s hard to think that Deac McCaskill is this far down any list of Late Model Stock Car drivers for any reason but with his sights set on the CARS Tour and not competing regularly on the weekly tracks McCaskill hasn’t been the driver of old. He has only one win on the season and finds himself in fourth in the CARS Tour points standings but that in itself is a huge feat given that the four drivers immediately behind him in the standings have competed in all the events while McCaskill missed one of them.
18 – Anthony Alfredo
While he’s been the most consistent driver in the CARS Tour this season collecting eight top five finishes, he still finds himself in second position in the points behind Layne Riggs. Alfredo has the same number of wins as Riggs but Alfredo’s all came on the same track on the same night. Alfredo, his teammate Josh Berry and Riggs look poised to settle the championship amongst themselves as the races wind down.
19 – Doug Barnes, Jr.
Hes been one of the guys to beat in every race this season at Dominion Raceway and he’s picked up six wins along the way. Unlike Tyler Hughes who has won only five times this season Barnes is further down the list because he doesn’t travel and hasn’t won anywhere else this season but he’s prominently one of the top drivers at Dominion on any given week.
20 – Trey Gibson
With three wins so far this season at two different tracks Trey Gibson has proven that he’s still in the mix when it comes to the UpState South Carolina region of tracks. Gibson has won at both Greenville Pickens and Anderson Motor Speedway this season.
21 – RD Smith
With three wins on two different tracks this season RD Smith has been one of the top guys where ever he travels. He’s won at both Hickory and Caraway Speedway this season but the one win not on his resume is at Ace Speedway where he was unable to beat Timothy Peters in the only Late Model Stock Car race held there this season. Smith seems to not have his program quite to the level of where it was last season.
22 – CE Falk
While he isn’t racing as much as he used to CE Falk is still a contender no matter where he races. He’s got one win on the season at Langley Speedway in his own family owned car and he’s been a strong contender at Motor Mile Speedway in the Doodle Dericho owned machine, even leading many laps in the last race before Philip Morris eventually took the win.
