ROUGEMONT, N.C. - Lee Pulliam picked up a $30,000 payday by winning Sunday’s Old North State Nationals for the CARS Racing Tour at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina.
Pulliam’s victory in the richest race in the history of Late Model Stock racing was no easy feat as dozens of challengers lined up for their chance at the prize.
Pole sitter Taylor Gray led the 29-car field to green on Sunday afternoon. Gray led the opening half of the race until Josh Berry moved to the point on lap 94.
A caution flag on lap 151 saw almost all the team hit pit road for two tires. Utilizing a controlled caution format, teams re-entered the race in the same order they came down pit road behind those who elected not to stop for service.
Trevor Ward led the field back to green with Adam Lemke alongside. Lemke failed to go, creating a bottleneck and damaging the cars of Bobby McCarty and Corey Heim, resulting in Heim parking his car for the day.
Soon after the next restart, however, Timothy Peters found his way around Ward for the race lead on lap 153 and moved away from the pack.
A caution for an accident between Jacob Heafner and Carson Kvapil’s on lap 119 set up a battle to the finish. Berry, Peters and Pulliam fought for several laps before contact between Pulliam and Peters opened the door for Pulliam to take the lead for the first time on lap 122. Berry quickly disposed of Peters and began to chase down Pulliam for the lead.
Peters’ race ended on lap 137 when a cut right front tire sent his car into the turn one wall. With 13 laps remaining, Berry and Pulliam restarted side-by-side on the front row.
The two swapped the lead back and forth multiple times in a five lap span before Pulliam ultimately moved Berry up the hill in turn four and ran away from the pack. Behind him, Berry, Taylor Gray, Brandon Pierce and Adam Lemke fought for second, allowing Pulliam to extend his lead and ultimately claim the win by 1.418 seconds.
Gray finished in second, with Lemke in third, Berry in fourth and Pierce in fifth.
“It was an awesome effort by all the guys, really a home track for me,” Pulliam said. “I went to school 15 miles down the road, so a lot of family and friends and this is big for me. To put it in victory lane here at Orange County, words just can’t describe it.”
The CARS Late Model Stock Tour is in action again May 3 at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina.
Visit CARSRacingTour.com for more information.
CARS Late Model Stock Tour
Orange County Speedway – Rougemont, NC
Old North State Nationals – April 7, 2019
1. Lee Pulliam
2. Taylor Gray
3. Adam Lemke
4. Josh Berry
5. Brandon Pierce
6. Zack St. Onge
7. Trevor Ward
8. Mini Tyrrell
9. Bradley McCaskill
10. Tyler Matthews
11. Stacy Puryear
12. Camden Gullie
13. Bobby McCarty
14. Terry Dease
15. Myatt Snider
16. Timothy Peters
17. Corey Heim
18. Justin Carroll
19. Tommy Lemons, Jr.
20. Jacob Heafner
21. Craig Moore
22. Carson Kvapil
23. Deac McCaskill
24. Joshua Yeoman
25. Layne Riggs
26. Ty Gibbs
27. Mike Chambers
28. Terry Brooks, Jr.
29. Ronald Hill
