LUCAMA, N.C.- Bubba Pollard proved too tough to beat at Southern National Motorsports Park on Saturday, as he scored the Super Late Model victory as a part of the CARS Tour weekend at the Lucama, North Carolina raceway.
Meanwhile, Brandon Pierce was victorious in the Late Model Stock feature.
Pollard solidified himself as the man to beat early by capturing the pole for the feature. The Senioa, Georgia driver led the opening fifth of the race before Matt Wallace edged him on a restart, taking the lead on lap 34.
Wallace set the pace until Nolan Pope and Mike Speeney tangled in turn one for the fifth caution of the race. Pollard retook the lead the on lap 57 restart.
Pollard remained unchallenged for the top spot until the final 40 laps, when Preston Peltier moved the point on lap 113. Just five laps later, on a restart, Pollard was able to bypass Peltier for the lead once again.
With 26 laps to go, Mason Diaz and Peltier both worked to close Pollard. Diaz looked inside several times on Pollard and occasionally made slight contact with his rear. With seven laps to go, Diaz’s upset bid fell short when he got loose in turn three and spun off the front bumper of Peltier exiting turn four.
Peltier hounded Pollard for the final seven laps but was unable to find a path around the superstar before the checkered flag waved, awarding Pollard another CARS Super Late Model win.
Peltier finished in second, with Brandon Setzer third, Jared Fryar fourth and Stephen Nasse in fifth.
“It’s tough to save enough at the beginning because you just get strung out and start riding,” Pollard said. “We had way too much motor, just way too much motor tonight, and it cost us late in the race. The big motor made me free in, and it’s hard to win races when you’re free in because you get tight in the center. So, I had to be more conservative and start driving defensively, driving straight in on the bottom and things like that.
“It was a good race at the end, but that’s what it’s all about. Everyone rides around at the beginning of the race and that’s what makes it good at the end.”
In the Late Model Stock feature, Brandon Pierce started the afternoon by scoring the pole. He led the opening seven circuits until Josh Berry drove by in turn three to take command of the event. Pierce eventually slid back a handful of positions in the running order as the race progressed.
Berry was trailed closely by Deac McCaskill and Chad McCumbee for most of the race until the final handful of restarts. Though Pierce fell back early, he gradually began to make his way forward inside of 40 laps to go, passing competitors hastily and occasionally using the bumper to assist slower machines out of his path.
A spin by Mini Tyrrell tightened the field just outside of 30 laps remaining, and Pierce continued to play chess with Berry in the closing stages. After conserving even further, Pierce began to mount a challenge as Berry diced through traffic until a caution for Ronald Hill’s stalled machine slowed the field with ten laps to go.
On the final lap, he nudged Berry out of the groove in turn two to pull alongside before driving ahead in turn three. Berry attempted to return the favor but was unsuccessful, allowing Pierce to capture the win.
Berry, Deac McCaskill, Bobby McCarty and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.
“I’ve worked at this so hard and this has been coming for a long time,” Pierce said. “I took the off-season pretty personally and went to work on myself really hard, and these guys thrashed, and I really reset my whole focus this off-season and knew it was time to hit the reset button and try to see what I was missing to be more determined to win these races.”
For more information on the CARS Tour, visit CARSRacingTour.com.
CARS Racing Tour
Southern National Motorsports Park – Lucama, NC
Race Results – March 9, 2019
Super Late Models
1. Bubba Pollard
2. Preston Peltier
3. Brandon Setzer
4. Jared Fryar
5. Stephen Nasse
6. Mike Speeney
7. Justin Crider
8. Matt Craig
9. Trevor Noles
10. Brandon Lynn
11. Kodie Conner
12. Tate Fogleman
13. Mason Diaz
14. Dan Speeney
15. Gracie Trotter
16. Tyler Church
17. Molly Helmuth
18. Nolan Pope
19. Colin Garrett
20. Trey Bayne
21. Tim Hollis
22. Gabriel Fogg
23. Jody Measamer
24. Matt Wallace
25. Steve Wallace
26. Jeff Batten
27. Anthony Cataldi
Late Model Stocks
1. Brandon Pierce
2. Josh Berry
3. Deac McCaskill
4. Bobby McCarty
5. Riley Herbst
6. Layne Riggs
7. Drew Dollar
8. Stacy Puryear
9. Myatt Snider
10. Justin Carroll
11. Tommy Lemons, Jr.
12. Bradley McCaskill
13. Taylor Gray
14. Chad McCumbee
15. Tyler Matthews
16. Zack St. Onge
17. Cameron Bowen
18. Trevor Ward
19. Mini Tyrrell
20. Matt Cox
21. Camden Gullie
22. Terry Brooks, Jr.
23. Ronald Hill
24. Jonathan Findley
25. Craig Moore
26. Ryan Wilson
27. Brody Pope
28. Adam Lemke
DNQ: Leland Honeyman, Jr.
DNQ: Jason York
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