LUCAMA, NC – Jonathan Findley scored his first career Late Model victory in the early morning hours on Sunday, beating out teammate Andrew Grady in the second of two Late Model feature races.
“Feels good,” Findley said after leading every lap in the second race to score his first career win. “Been working on this win for quite a while this year. Finally got one. It’s a sigh of relief. This is my first win in almost four years. It feels good. Hopefully many more to come.”
Findley’s victory was his first of any kind since racing in the Bandolero division at Old Dominion Speedway, which is no longer in operation, in Manassas, Virginia. While Findley dominated the second race, the first race was the spectacle.
Findley was leading the race but a series of late race cautions changed the complexion significantly. Behind him, points leader Rusty Daniels was running in second with Andrew Grady in third. Entering turn three, the two drivers made contact sending Daniels hard into the outside wall. On lap 40, after Grady took possession of the lead, Findley made contact with Tyler Matthews. Race officials sent Findley to the rear of the field for the contact. Grady went on to score the win, his fourth win of the season, in controversial fashion.
“Controversial is a very strong word,” Grady said. “I like hard fought, not easy to come by. It got a little rough between the top four. Everybody was beating and banging. We went down the backstretch and Rusty crowded me up in the wall. I had to get him off of me. I touched him and he lost it and stuffed it in the fence. I’m very happy for everybody on this team. This win is for Tommy Hartman. That’s four for him.”
Rusty Daniels was miffed with Grady after the incident while Findley called out track officials for penalizing him and not penalizing Grady.
“My emotions got to me,” Findley stated. “I see why they penalized me. I spun [Matthews] out. [Grady] just deliberately flat out destroyed [Daniels] and I don’t really get that one but it is what it is. I did turn him, got into him a pretty good ways. Just one of those deals, Grady flat out turned the 16.”
Track officials said they did not have a conclusive view of the incident between Grady and Daniels but that they did have a conclusive view of the incident between Matthews and Findley. Despite having the fastest car, Grady felt that a late race penalty would have hurt him had track officials elected to send him to the rear of the field.
“That late in the race, a penalty could have hurt us,” Grady remarked. “I would have had to use the right rear to get back to the front. I’m points racing now. I try to pick and choose my battles but it’s hard to when you get jacked up by everybody. “
Grady’s win in the first race was his fourth of the season.
