LUCAMA, NC – Rusty Daniels picked up his fifth win of the year at Southern National Motorsports Park, leading wire-to-wire in Saturday night’s 75-lap KONI Charger race.
Daniels won the division championship during the Spring Season earlier this year with four wins. He has also won two races at Carteret County Speedway earlier this year, but had not competed in three months prior to Saturday’s race.
Daniels did not skip a beat – qualifying on the pole and leading every lap en route to victory.
“We set a little pace there to start with and kind of put a little heat on them,” Daniels said in victory lane. “We got out front and were able to cruise there and save some tire. The lapped cars were very good tonight. They gave me plenty of room. I appreciate those guys. Just can’t thank everybody enough.”
Tyler Chapman finished in the runner-up position while Brandon Clements, Brandon Head and Hunter Brown rounded out the top-five.
Landon Barefoot started on the pole and held off Michael Bivens to pick up the win in the INEX Legends feature race – his first career victory. The triumph also locked him into the 26th Thanksgiving Classic in November.
“This is the most exciting moment of my life so far,” Barefoot said. “Hopefully more to come. The Thanksgiving Classic is going to be stacked. The Young Lions field, especially this year, has been really stacked.”
Andrew Watson picked up the victory in Any Car competition, making an early-race pass on division champion Michael Sliger to take the lead. In the closing laps, Sliger’s car faded, allowing Watson to cruise away from the field.
“It’s always a hard-fought battle with Mike,” Watson said after the race. “He’s got a fast car. We were able to come out with it. I think he might have went into limp mode or he was playing games, so we’ll find out next race.”
Kyle Siler picked up the win in the Allison Legacy Race Series feature race over Weston Freeman and Bobby Mares.
Saturday night’s race marked the first stop in the Road to the 26th Thanksgiving Classic. The Road to the Classic continues on Saturday, October 31 with the URA I-95 Showdown headlining the Halloween Spooktacular.
Unofficial Results
KONI Charger (75 Laps): 1. 16-Rusty Daniels[1]; 2. 51-Tyler Chapman[2]; 3. 7C-Brandon Clements[3]; 4. 16H-Brandon Head[7]; 5. 11-Timothy Brown[11]; 6. 71Y-Aiden McConnaughey[5]; 7. 3-Landon Burbage[4]; 8. 10-Landon Strickland[10]; 9. 88R-Brian Rundstrom[8]; 10. (DNF) 12J-Wesley Johnson[6]; 11. (DNF) 41-Austin Ferrell[9]; 12. (DNF) 21-David Barnes
Allison Legacy Race Series (20 Laps): 1. 44-Kyle Siler[2]; 2. 5-Weston Freeman[3]; 3. 01-Bobby Mares[1]; 4. 02-Jacob O’Neal[4]; 5. 23-Eric Miller[5]; 6. 83-Bryson McGee[8]; 7. 47-Luke Fisher[7]; 8. 60-Chris Torrence[9]; 9. (DNF) 7-Colby Gurganus[6]
Legend Car (25 Laps): 1. 006-Landon Barefoot[1]; 2. 97-Michael Bivens[3]; 3. 46-Paxton Smith[2]; 4. 19-Jacob Gustin[4]
Any Car (20 Laps): 1. 08-Andrew Watson[3]; 2. 45-Mike Sliger[1]; 3. (DNF) 88-Doug Smoot[2]
