LUCAMA, NC – Tyler Chapman snapped a winless drought dating back to 2024 during Saturday night’s KONI Charger doubleheader at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Chapman’s win came in the second of the two races. Chapman started from the pole position after an invert and went on to lead wire-to-wire to score the victory over Rusty Daniels and Aiden McConnaughey.
The win was an emotional one for Chapman, who won four races and the track championship in 2024 as well as a track championship at Coastal Plains Raceway in 2023.
“Man, it’s really exciting,” Chapman said in victory lane. “We’ve struggled. We haven’t been to victory lane since 2024. We finally got the monkey off our back. I can’t thank everybody enough. The crew worked their butts off getting us a fast hot rod. We found some stuff in practice we thought we needed to change and we changed it. Thanks to all these sponsors. If it wasn’t for them, it wouldn’t be possible. Thanks to the Diaz family for all they do for us. I gotta dedicate this one to my cousin who has been in and out of the hospital with lung cancer. This one’s for him.”
While Bradley McCaskill picked up the win in the first race, the results of the two races shuffled up the championship picture. A pair of runner-up finishes resulted in Rusty Daniels taking over the lead in the championship standings by just two points over Justin Mitchell.
While the Charger division featured two different winners, the Legends and Any Car doubleheaders did not.
Brody Rhodes led wire-to-wire in the first of two Legends races. Later in the evening, he completed the sweep after starting in fourth and taking the lead within five laps of the green flag.
“Today has been an astronomically great day,” Rhodes said. “I had a friend last week send me a memory he had on Facebook where we swept the night a year ago. I came out and went to dad and said I want to do it again. I’m just so thankful. The Lord up above has given me such a great opportunity and I want to thank him. Willie Ridenhour with Three Sixteen Motorsports gave me an absolute rocket ship. The traffic was a little bit tough but once we got through there, it was smooth sailing.”
With a 10th place finish in the first race and a sixth-place finish in the second, Levi Canup extended his lead to 48 points over Aaron Crumpler in the division championship standings.
Andrew Watson completed the sweep in Any Car competition after having to race his way from the back of the field to the front in both races. After the completion of the second race, Watson celebrated by allowing five-year-old Ramsey Brandner to celebrate with his team, sit in the cockpit of his car, and giving him the trophy – something that has become a hallmark celebration for Watson.
“It would be amazing to be able to watch him come up and be out here one day as long as I live that long,” Watson stated. “The younger generation doing what we like to do, that’s always amazing. Getting them off the videogames and back out here doing real stuff is what I strive to do. Coming away with the sweep is awesome too. Always good, clean racing with these guys out here and we went caution free. That’s what it’s all about. It’s always a blast coming out here.”
Michael Sliger took over the points lead from James Barbour with a pair of runner-up finishes.
Kevin Floars picked up the overall win in Southern National Vintage Series.
Southern National Motorsports Park will crown its 2026 champions on Saturday, June 6. The spring finale will also feature the fifth round of the I-95 Showdown for Late Model Stock Cars, the Virginia Vintage Series, and the Jacksonville-based Vintage Racing League’s Vintage Lites series.
Unofficial Results
KONI Chargers
Twin 1 (30 Laps): 1. 7-Bradley McCaskill[1]; 2. 16-Rusty Daniels[2]; 3. 10J-Justin Mitchell[3]; 4. 51-Tyler Chapman[5]; 5. 21B-Gerald Benton[9]; 6. 71-Aiden McConnaughey[6]; 7. 14-Davis Renfrow[4]; 8. 22-PJ Flowers[7]; 9. J12-Wesley Johnson[15]; 10. 98-Matt Morgan[11]; 11. 10-Landon Strickland[10]; 12. 41-Austin Ferrell[12]; 13. 84-Delaney Gray[13]; 14. 21-David Barnes[14]; 15. 3-Landon Burbage[8]
Twin 2 (30 Laps): 1. 51-Tyler Chapman[1]; 2. 16-Rusty Daniels[3]; 3. 71-Aiden McConnaughey[6]; 4. 7-Bradley McCaskill[4]; 5. 10J-Justin Mitchell[2]; 6. J12-Wesley Johnson[9]; 7. 10-Landon Strickland[11]; 8. 22-PJ Flowers[8]; 9. 14-Davis Renfrow[7]; 10. 21B-Gerald Benton[5]; 11. 98-Matt Morgan[10]; 12. 3-Landon Burbage[15]; 13. 41-Austin Ferrell[12]; 14. 84-Delaney Gray[13]; 15. 21-David Barnes[14]
Any Cars
Twin 1 (15 Laps): 1. 08-Andrew Watson[6]; 2. 45-Mike Sliger[4]; 3. 75-James Barbour[1]; 4. 91-Timothy Medeiros[2]; 5. 99-Gabe Purcella[3]; 6. 07-Jonathan Thompson[5]
Twin 2 (15 Laps): 1. 08-Andrew Watson[6]; 2. 45-Mike Sliger[4]; 3. 99-Gabe Purcella[3]; 4. 75-James Barbour[1]; 5. 91-Timothy Medeiros[2]; 6. 07-Jonathan Thompson[5]
Southern National Vintage Series
Race (30 Laps): 1. 1-Kevin Floars[1]; 2. 0-Billy Ray Lucas[2]; 3. 61-Joe Seeger[3]
Legends
Twin 1 (20 Laps): 1. 9-Brody Rhodes[1]; 2. 2W-Peyton Worm[2]; 3. 11-Marcus Wolfe[3]; 4. 32-Brady Price[5]; 5. 006-Landon Barefoot[7]; 6. 100-Kaedin Ridenhour[4]; 7. 97-Michael Bivens[8]; 8. 00-Aaron Crumpler[11]; 9. 15-Alison Johnson[10]; 10. 7-Levi Canup[9]; 11. 46-Paxton Smith[6]; 12. 28-Kaitlyn Stradley[16]; 13. 711-Daniel Ridenhour[12]; 14. 52-Keith Weatherly[13]; 15. 22-Haiden Thomas[14]; 16. 19-Jacob Gustin[15]
Twin 2 (20 Laps): 1. 9-Brody Rhodes[8]; 2. 2W-Peyton Worm[16]; 3. 32-Brady Price[7]; 4. 006-Landon Barefoot[1]; 5. 100-Kaedin Ridenhour[10]; 6. 7-Levi Canup[3]; 7. 97-Michael Bivens[2]; 8. 00-Aaron Crumpler[4]; 9. 11-Marcus Wolfe[15]; 10. 28-Kaitlyn Stradley[12]; 11. 46-Paxton Smith[11]; 12. 15-Alison Johnson[6]; 13. 711-Daniel Ridenhour[9]; 14. 52-Keith Weatherly[14]; 15. 22-Haiden Thomas[13]; 16. 19-Jacob Gustin[5]
