For the first time in series history, the CARS Response Energy Tour executed two events in two different locations on Saturday night; Ace Speedway hosted the late model stocks while Anderson Motor Speedway featured the super late models paired in a co-sanctioned event with the Southern Super Series. Bobby McCarty claimed his third win of the season at Ace while Bubba Pollard repeated last year’s performance at Anderson to claim his second consecutive win at the facility.
SUPER LATE MODEL RECAP
Bubba Pollard blistered the field with a near-record lap in Mahle Pistons Pole Qualifying at Anderson, earning him the right to flip the coin to determine which start rules the race would be governed by. Should he have flipped for the Southern Super Series, a top ten redraw would have been in the works, but Pollard’s coin toss landed on the “C” for CARS Tour, meaning no invert or redraw would take place.
On the green flag, Pollard quickly rocketed to the front and held that spot until a spin by Anthony Cataldi on lap 38 slowed the field for the first time. Fifty laps later, the Georgia driver continued to set the pace over fellow Peach State pilot Casey Roderick who found himself in second at the competition caution on lap 62 where all teams elected to change two right side tires.
A caution inside of fifty to go set Kyle Plott back a lap when he and Jared Fryar made contact, cutting the left front tire of Plott’s No. 4, but a series of additional late-race mechanical issues for teams and a caution for an accident involving Preston Peltier and Corey Heim allowed Plott to earn a spot back on the lead lap inside of thirty circuits remaining.
On the final restart, Pollard stretched his lead to nearly two seconds on Casey Roderick, but Plott became the show, slicing his way forward from the tail up to third, only running out of time to reel in Roderick and Pollard for a shot at the win. Ultimately, Pollard claimed his third career CARS Response Energy Tour and his second $10,000 check from the tour this season ahead of Roderick, Plott, Raphael Lessard and Matt Craig.
“I knew we had a good racecar, and I was saving as much as I could in the beginning of the race,” Pollard said in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “I was running the pace I wanted to run and I felt pretty confident in it because I knew they were saving as well. Everything played our way. We had a good racecar tonight, and it was fast. You don’t get cars like that very often, so that was good.
“You’ve got to search around, it doesn’t matter what racetrack you’re at,” Pollard continued when asked about being one of the first drivers to move up on the third-mile layout at Anderson. “You’ve got to move around and sometimes you’ve got to go where other guys aren’t and see where your car works. We were able to arc it into three pretty well, and into one where I was beating them pretty good off of two, it was just a great racecar.”
LATE MODEL STOCK RECAP
Bobby McCarty once again unloaded as one of the fastest cars on the property at Ace Speedway on Saturday, serving notice he would be the man to beat in the Race At Ace 125. He claimed the Hedgecock Racing Pole Award and established the track record in qualifying, earning him the opportunity to lead the field to green.
The No. 22 Toyota of McCarty quickly shot out to the lead on the initial green flag with JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry close in tow. The field stayed relatively clean for the first 40 laps until a competition caution was waved by rule after those 40 consecutive green flag laps.
McCarty once again pulled out to a lead until lap 66 when Bradley McCaskill had some help to go around in turn one from Craig Moore, bringing out the second caution of the event and setting the stage for another restart. Layne Riggs planted his Ford to the bottom in a three-wide bid for the lead, leading others to also push and shove their way forward immediately behind the leaders.
Only three laps later, mass chaos erupted in turns one and two when Blake Stallings and Jeb Burton traded paint, sending Stallings for a spin and causing a chain reaction behind which collected another half-dozen cars. Five of those drivers’ days were done following the incident.
On the restart, Josh Berry and Jeb Burton engaged one another in a fierce fight for position, making contact multiple times and nearly crashing in turn one when taken three-wide by Ty Gibbs. Berry saved the car, but encountered Burton yet again in turn three and the ensuing incident ultimately ended the day for both drivers.
From the restart with 52 laps to go, Bobby McCarty had clear sailing ahead of him in pursuit of the checkered flag. Layne Riggs and Cody Haskins fought for the runner-up spot in the closing laps, but neither had anything for McCarty who claimed his third career CARS Response Energy Tour victory and extended his point lead in the series standings. Haskins, Riggs, Lee Pulliam and Trevor Ward finished in the top five.
“It took a couple of laps to get going, but once it came in, it would come in strong,” McCarty said in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “I’m dedicating this win to the best man in my wedding and my best friend because I didn’t get him a present this week. I hope this counts. I’m sorry, bud, but we’ll party it up tonight, but I certainly have to thank all the Nelson Motorsports guys. I’m super proud of them for the way they busted their tails. To come out here and win like this after the way things went down at Bristol, it feels really good.
“We were having some carburetor issues and it was struggling on the restarts, so I’m not sure what was going on there,” he continued. “I wasn’t able to get the launch out of the box and they were able to keep pace with me and make it hard. They used their nose, but I expected them to. It was good, hard, clean racing. I appreciate them racing me that clean, and we’ll go off to Carteret.”
The CARS Response Energy Tour late model stocks resume action at Carteret County Speedway on June 23 for the tour’s inaugural visit to the .400-mile showplace for speed on the North Carolina coast.
For more information on the CARS Tour, visit their website at www.carsracingtour.com. Fresh content and updates can also be found on the series Facebook page (@carstour), Twitter (@carstour), Instagram (@cars_tour), Snapchat (@carstour) and Youtube channel (/carstour). The series Roku app is also available for installation to see live and on-demand events by following the instructions available at www.carstour.tv.
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