The third race of the 2018 CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car season was completed at Orange County Speedway and much like the first two races, it was a big shakeup among the performances of the PRW Chassis Rookies. Here’s how the rookies performed.
Brandon Pierce
He’s been on a steady climb since the season opener back at Tri-County Motor Speedway. There he qualified eighth and finished 20th then grabbed a top ten in tenth at Myrtle Beach Speedway before running the race of his life at Orange County Speedway. There he qualified on the pole and ran up front the entire race before finishing second to former CARS Tour champion Deac McCaskill. It was the best performance by a rookie this year and he isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
Charlie Watson
After starting the season off by missing the race at Tri-County Motor Speedway and finishing 27th of 27 at Myrtle Beach, Charlie Watson looked like a fish with no water. However, at Orange County Speedway he qualified 19th and finished sixth. His best performance by a long shot but even more it was a boost of confidence for him at the perfect time as he heads to his home track of Hickory Motor Speedway. He could come out of this weekends race the rookie hero of the weekend.
Sam Mayer
A third-place run in the season opener at Tri-County Motor Speedway had Sam Mayer looking like the rookie to beat but a 15th place finish at Myrtle Beach brought him back to earth with the rest of the rookies. He managed a 7th place effort at Orange County and has run really good in the past at Hickory as they head there this weekend.
Cody Haskins
Three ninth-place finishes in three races shows the consistency so far this season for Cody Haskins. Three ninth place finishes …. he couldn’t do that again if he tried but Haskins consistency is incredible and shows he’s there for the long haul and could very well win the Rookie of the Year award by just being consistent. He’ll be looking for better this weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Grayson Cullather
Coming into the season we expected Grayson Cullather to be the rookie to beat. His performance at Martinsville last year, his season at Southside, driving for Jumpstart Motorsports … everything was there for him to have a great season. The season didn’t start off that way but he’s gaining on it. A 12th place finish at Orange County Speedway was his best so far this season and he and the Tommy Lemons, Jr. owned team is beginning to show signs of progress. Hickory Motor Speedway could be a great place for him to break into the top 10.
Trevor Ward
He’s just had a bad season in the CARS Tour with two 18th place finishes and a 26th place effort in the three races so far this season. It’s not the kind of finishes he’s capable of but so far this season he can’t seem to get it all together. Hickory Motor Speedway could be just the place for him to put it together.
We were planning to start ranking the rookies this time around but we’re going to save that for next week after Hickory this weekend. Stay tuned to see where the Rookies stack up with four race completed.
