Theriault Outlasts Competiton For Win At Southern National

LUCAMA, NC :: Austin Theriault survived several late race restarts on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon to win the rain-delayed Rumble In The Pines 150 at Southern National Motorsports Park. Theriault captured his second career Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model win after the race was postponed Saturday night due to rain showers.

“I’m struggling a little bit, it definitely was hot out there,” said Theriault afterwards. “I just rode around a little while thinking a lot of guys would burn it up. We didn’t have a lot left at the end, but we had enough. I definitely want to thank the fans who came and stuck it out with us through all the weather.”

After a full day of practice on Friday, weather conditions seriously deteriorated over night completely washing out all on track activities on Saturday. PASS officials rescheduled the event for Sunday afternoon, but again weather threated after another thunderstorm rolled through eastern North Carolina shortly before noon. With the threat of more storms looming, the schedule was compacted with traditional single-lap qualifying being scrapped in favor of the more expedient “European-style” qualifying format which saw multiple cars on the track at one time. When all was said and done, Theriault had the quickest lap in the unique qualifying session, but had to start tenth after drawing pill #10 during the redraw.

PASS South Super Late Model rookies Spencer Davis and Trevor Noles would lead the field to the green flag under threatening skies that saw the temperature exceed 90 degrees. Following a lap one spin by Tanner Rumburg that eliminated Justin Allison from contention due to contact, Noles quickly jumped into the lead in the X1R-sponsored machine owned by Coulter Motorsports. Early on though, all eyes were on defending PASS South Champion Kyle Grissom, who had made his way into the top 10 by lap five, despite starting back in 22nd.

Following a spin in turn three by Joe Ryan Osborne on lap 19, Davis moved around Noles to take the lead. The race entered into a grueling 80 lap stretch of green flag racing that saw both driver and car pushed to the limit under the hot Carolina sun. By halfway, Davis continued to lead by a short margin over Theriault, who had made his way into second, with Noles, Grissom, and rookie Cole Timm rounding out the top five.

Theirault’s Brad Keselowski Racing #29 continued to stalk Davis for the lead as the race entered its final third, passing the young Georgia driver with 48 laps to go. The long green flag stint finally came to an end on lap 110 following a spin by Florida’s Dusty Cornelius in turn one. On the ensuing restart, Jay Fogleman, who was now running third, and Davis made contact entering turn one. As the field checked up behind them, Bradley McCaskill and David Quackenbush crashed knocking them both from the race.

With 25 laps to go, Grissom and the lapped machine of Brandon Ward were racing hard for track position when Ward lost a right front tire entering turn three sending him into Grissom’s Chevrolet. The contact sent Grissom spinning and out of his fourth running position.

In the late stages of the race, Theriault continued to lead, but Timm would emerge as his biggest challenger over the final laps of the race. A spin by Bill Catania with two laps to go set up a final dash to the checkered flag. Theriault got a better restart than Timm, who dropped back to fourth after contact exiting turn two from Noles. Theriault made it back to the checkered flag to take his first win since winning the season opening South Carolina Clash at Dillon Motor Speedway in March.

“The car stuck really good on the restarts, on the long run we were pretty equal or just a tick better than everybody else,” said Theriault.

Noles continued to impress, finishing second in just his third PASS South Super Late Model start.

“These races like this are pretty tough on me, but I’m young, I can do it,” said a tired, but excited Noles. “The tires are done, but Randy Renfrow gave me a good car and we’ll just go on and try to get another one.”

Fogleman finished third despite struggling with the heat in his car over the final half of the race with Timm in fourth and Grissom with a nice recovery to finish fifth. Rounding out the top ten were John Batten, Tate Fogleman, Randy Gentry, Davis, and Bobby Gower.

Earlier in the afternoon, the PASS Pro Late Models competed for 50 laps with Spencer Davis scoring the win after passing Harrison Burton for the top spot with 14 laps to go. Davis’ win was especially important since it came driving a new Dodge Challenger that his team debuted at Southern National Motorsports Park. Rounding out the top five were Burton, Trevor Noles, Nick Robinson, and Tyler Audie.

The PASS South Super Late Models, PASS Pro Late Models, CCS Modifieds, and CCS Legends will be in action again on Wednesday night, July 3rd at Anderson Motor Speedway. Fans are encouraged to come out and kick off the Independence Day holiday early at Anderson and enjoy the 8th Annual Firecracker 150 and the Upstate’s biggest fireworks show presented by Zambelli Fireworks.