LUCAMA, NC :: Jamey Caudill made his triumphant return to Southern National Motorsports Park on Sunday, sweeping twin Late Model feature races to score his 100th and 101st career wins. The victories, which he scored in a brand new car, come just as the season’s biggest race is approaching.
Caudill dominated the races, taking the lead from Mike Darne early in the first of two races to score the victory and then working his way from the fifth position in the second race to take the lead and complete the sweep.
“It really felt good to get back in the car,” Caudill stated. “We had a really good car and we all worked hard trying to get there. We’re going to Martinsville and e didn’t want to take a new car there. We wanted to race at Southern National and almost ran out of season but we finally made it there for the last race. Now we’ll take it to the Martinsville test and the next race will be Martinsville.”
The victories capped off a long week in which Caudill spent five days at the track, shaking the car down on Wednesday and Thursday and then racing on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and racing again on Sunday after Saturday night’s races were postponed.
The weekend’s races were the first races of the year that Caudill has competed in and the victory in the first of two races on Sunday was his first since April 20, 2013. Now, Caudill’s looking ahead to the Martinsville DuPont Credit Union (MDCU) 300 at Martinsville where he feels good about his chances of scoring a second win in Late Model Stock Car racing’s most prestigious event.
“I’m looking forward to going back,” Caudill remarked. “We’ve always run pretty well there but not had good luck there. We won it in 2003 in Charlie Long’s car. We’re trying to get a win in our own car there and been really close but not able to pull it off. We’re excited about going. The car was good in Kenly. We’ll work on it and get it close and get it dialed in there.”
Caudill will take the car to Martinsville next Wednesday, September 24th, to shake it down during open testing before heading to Martinsville on October 5th where he will try to get his second grandfather clock.
The sweep of Late Model features wasn’t the only victory for Caudill on Sunday either. Caudill, who used to drive for the late Jerry Moody, has also been working with Jerry’s 19-year-old daughter, Haley, who picked up her third win of the season on Sunday and secured the championship in the Limited Late Model division.
“We’re proud of Haley,” Caudill commented. “She’s done an awesome job this weekend. She could’ve ridden around but she went in there and won one of the races. She was there to win and not just points race. We’re proud of her for what she’s done.”
Caudill finished 13th in his most recent Martinsville attempt, which came back in 2011. Now, with a lot of experience, a fast car and plenty of confidence, Caudill threatens to be a contender in the MDCU 300.
