LUCAMA, NC – Matt McCall started on the pole but he did not make the move that would win him the race until lap 74 of the I Dig Pigs 100 Late Model feature in Sunday’s Jerry Moody Memorial at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina.
McCall won a UARA championship driving for Jerry Moody. He is now a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief and Sunday’s victory is his first win in his first race in a Late Model since winning at Southern National on July 19, 2014. The win was special for McCall in a race honoring his longtime friend.
“It was fun,” McCall said in victory lane after the race. “When the car’s that good in the second half to be able to pass cars, quality cars too, you don’t get to do that every week. To get to do that is pretty fun. To be able to race in the Jerry Moody Memorial is pretty special. Every time you come to a race, you come for the trophy so that’s what we did…
McCall was driving a car prepared by Wendell Davis, a longtime friend of Jerry Moody. Davis said that a victory by either McCall or 20-year-old Haley Moody, Jerry’s daughter, would have been storybook.
“Matt and Haley, they were the two picks,” Davis said. “She didn’t have good luck and we had a perfect car. That makes it easy. Good driver, good team and we usually do decent when luck’s on our side.”
After winning the race, McCall gave the trophy, which was decorated with Moody family pictures and a pig on top, to Haley, who finished ninth in the race after being caught up in two accidents not of her doing.
“It meant a lot to me for him to give that to me,” Moody said. “Matt is a good guy and I grew up watching him race. I wish we could have won it but I’m glad he won it.”
Bradley McCaskill finished second in the race, prevailing in a thrilling battle with Tony Grady, Deac McCaskill, Jonathan Findley and Mike Darne. Before the race, McCaskill felt that a second place finish to McCall would be like a victory, thoughts he echoed after the race.
“He had an awesome car,” McCaskill said. “I don’t think we ever saw him push it. Like I said earlier, we were racing for second. We had a good car. It’s just one of those deals where we got outrun… We’re definitely happy with our run. I’m not beating it down one bit. Second place sucks in general still.”
Tony Grady finished in third while Deac McCaskill finished fourth and Rusty Daniels, fresh off a victory at East Carolina Motor Speedway (Robersonville, North Carolina) on Saturday, finished fifth. Rounding out the top-10 were Adam Resnick, Mike Darne, Jonathan Findley, Haley Moody and Tyler Matthews.
Travis Green picked up the win in the 35 lap Charger feature driving for an injured Bruce Bizzell. Green dominated the race, leading wire-to-wire to score the victory over Paul Williamson and Jeremy Bohne. Tyler Horne made a late race pass to prevail in a thrilling U-CAR feature over Joseph Pittman and Brandon Allen. Dillon Spain won the Legends feature over Will Bristle and Ryan DeMartini. In the Bandolero feature, Kade Lambert scored the win over Josh Kossek and Kailey Murray. Official results are being held in the Bandolero division pending a fuel sample test.
The next race at Southern National Motorsports Park will be on May 30th when the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Tour returns with 125 laps of Late Model Stock Car racing and 125 laps of Super Late Model racing. The inaugural race for the series was held at Southern National Motorsports Park on March 28th where Todd Gilliland, who became the youngest winner in ARCA Series history at Toledo Speedway (Ohio) on Sunday, scored his first career Late Model Stock Car win and Cole TImm picked up his second career Super Late Model win.
For more information about Southern National Motorsports Park, check out SNMP’s website at www.snmpark.com, “like” Southern National Motorsports Park on Facebook or “follow” @SNM_Park on Twitter.
Photos courtesy: Alicia Hackett/Frameworks Photography
Results
LATE MODEL STOCK CAR
- #51 Matt McCall
- #18 Bradley McCaskill
- #4 Tony Grady
- #08 Deac McCaskill
- #16 Rusty Daniels
- #14 Adam Resnick
- #14D Mike Darne
- #4R Jonathan Findley
- #50 Haley Moody
- #63 Tyler Matthews
- #24 Kenneth Mercer
- #1G Andrew Grady
- #07 Ronald Renfrow
- #7W Louis White
- #98 JD Eversole — DNS
- #54 Michael Fose — DNS
CHARGER
- #11 Travis Green
- #29 Paul WIlliamson
- #72 Jeremy Bohne
- #31 Wayne Goss
- #45 Tom Sauls
- #77B Nicholas Fulgham
- #06 Al Coombs
- #61 Michael O’Brien
U-CAR
- #28 Tyler Horne
- #08 Joseph Pittman
- #86 Brandon Allen
- #60 Lee Horner
- #99 Travis Miller
- #89 John Ordiway
- #18 Aaron Miller
- #5 Lynn Waller
- #4 James STroud
- #01 Mickey Connor
- #14 Hailey Rice
- #8 Mike Lucas
- #31 Roger Peeden
LEGENDS
- #7 Dillon Spain
- #91 Will Bristle
- #22 Ryan DeMartini
- #11 Chris Stancil
- #B1 Brent Irvin gn
- #88 Zack Brown
- #20 Shane Irving
- #6 Chris Hammett
- #110 Kade Lambert
- #29 Brandon Rice
- #24 Mason Diaz
BANDOLEROS (UNOFFICIAL)
- #110 Kade Lambert
- #44 Josh Kossek
- #81 Kailey Murray
- #24B Blaise Brinkley
- #25 Dustin Yeoman
- #51 Ethan Johnson
- #47 Xander Broadbent
- #74 Henry Broadbent, Jr.
- #12 Savannah Beasley
- #06 Camryn Rice