The weather matched the mood shared by drivers, crew members, fans and staff of Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday evening as rain fell on the track less with over 25 laps remaining in the final LMSC race at the facility.
Sam Yarbrough took the last checkered flag in the rain-shortened event and claimed his sixth LMSC championship at Myrtle Beach, but emotions were slightly subdued in victory lane, as Yarbrough knew he would never have another visit there.
“Everything is kind of surreal right now,” Yarbrough said. “It’ll probably be pretty shitty later when we pull out of here and don’t ever come back, but right now we’re overjoyed. We conquered all of the goals that we came out to do this year except for winning every single race. I don’t know what to say, but this is what happens when you put in the hard work and the effort.”
Yarbrough started his final race at Myrtle Beach by taking the last LMSC pole with a time of 20.389 in qualifying, and jumped out to an early lead before being passed by Ryan Glenski after only 15 laps.
Yarbrough had intended to conserve his equipment for the closing stages of the race, but he said that the approaching rain clouds from all around the track forced him to be more aggressive as opposed to other events.
“The rain was kind of a question the whole time,” Yarbrough said. “We never really rode that much. The first 20-25 laps had a fairly quick pace and I tried to slow it down for a little bit before Lap 50. You never knew when it was going to rain once we got to halfway, so you just had to go and hope you had enough.”
After several cautions slowed the race shortly before halfway, Yarbrough rocketed past Glenski on a restart and never surrendered the lead. He faced a strong challenge from Will Burns until a caution for Justin Hicks’ crash on Lap 72 brought the race to a premature end.
Burns, who won the final Myrtle Beach 400 in 2019, finished a close second in the LMSC point standings at Myrtle Beach after battling Yarbrough hard all season long, but he admitted that he was still processing the idea of never racing again at a track that was instrumental in developing his skills as a driver.
“I’m feeling a little bit sad,” Burns said. “The race track is going to be gone and I hate the way that it all ended. I’m sure it’s all going to hit me when I pull out of the gate that this is the very last time, but I’m thankful that we still have Steve [Zacharias] to go race with. I’m really going to miss this place because I have a lot of good memories here.”
Yarbrough ends his last race at Myrtle Beach as one of the most successful LMSC drivers in the history of the speedway, and expressed his gratitude towards his crew for all of their hard work in building efficient cars on a weekly basis.
“Standing here in victory lane so many times will always be special,” Yarbrough said. “It gets easy but it doesn’t get old. We’ll cherish all of these memories through photos of family, friends and our teammates, so that’s the most important thing.”
Austin McDaniel enjoyed a strong performance to come with a third position while Jacob Heafner charged up through the middle of the pack to obtain fourth. Glenski’s car faded after a strong start, but he still managed to finish in fifth.
LMSC Results:
- 95y Sam Yarbrough
- 41b Will Burns
- 12m Austin McDaniel
- 95 Jacob Heafner
- 28 Ryan Glenski
- 16 Brian Vause
- 63 Chris Throckmorton
- 07m Bradley McCaskill
- 08 Justin Johnson
- 99 Austin Somero
- 61 Justin Hicks
- 81 Jeremy Burns
- 13 Bobby June
- 2 Gracie Trotter
- 55 Isabella Robusto
- 2w Braden Rogers
- 70 Stuart Ricks
- 11 Paul Green
- 81b Sam Butler OUT
- T2 Travis Truett OUT
- 25 Robbie Mew OUT
- 02 Justin Milliken OUT
- 60 R.A. Brown OUT
- 6 Rajah Caruth OUT
- 41 Whitney Meggs OUT
- 51 Perry Patino OUT
- 94 Jamie Weatherford OUT
- 47 Chase Janes OUT
- 22 Jason Tutterow OUT
- 96 Sam Scarpelli OUT
- 51c Brandon Clements OUT
- 21 Jimmy Wallace OUT
- 15w Mitch Walker OUT
- 4 Michael Faulk OUT
