Bobby McCarty continued his dominance of the CARS Response Energy Tour with a win in Saturday night’s Solid Rock Carriers Crystal Coast 125 presented by Sportsman’s Wholesale at Carteret County Speedway.
McCarty picked up his second consecutive victory and his fourth of the season in the series’ first-ever appearance at the 4/10-mile track in Swansboro, North Carolina. The triumph came in McCarty’s first ever start at the track – however, McCarty needed a little luck on his side to score the win.
McCarty inherited the lead with 25 laps to go when leader Layne Riggs, who had led every single lap of the race up to that point, was involved in an incident with Josh Berry and Sarah Cornett-Ching. While Riggs was able to drive away without incident and hold on to the lead in the process, he was sent to the rear of the field for being involved in the caution per CARS Tour series rules.
“Sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re lucky,” McCarty said. “The car definitely was not where it needed to be. We were a little too tight at max load and the car wouldn’t cut like I needed it to. I feel like we had a second or third place car. We definitely did not have the winning car. I hate that for the 99 team. I think the world of Layne3, he’s a really good kid and he has a bright future ahead of him. Things didn’t work out for him tonight and I hate that but you’ve got to put yourself in position to come out on deals like that.”
Layne Riggs ended up charging back through the field to finish in second. After the race, he voiced his frustrations with the call by the series.
“I feel like I got done wrong,” Riggs remarked. “I had the fastest car here. Everybody in the stands knows this. We won this race. I got done wrong twice. I drove my wheels off to get back to the front and I would have taken [McCarty] out if I could have gotten to him.”
Berry apologized for his involvement in the incident that ultimately cost Riggs the race.
“I got into Layne,” Berry said. “I didn’t mean to. We were just racing hard. It was time to race here at the end and I got into him, he spun, we got it straight. We were all good and [Sarah Cornett-Ching] spun out on her own and collected us. I hate it. In the end, it was my fault. I started all of it. We’ve got a torn up car but we’ll fix it and be back next time.”
McCarty’s Nelson Motorsports teammate finished third while Tommy Lemons, Jr. finished fourth and Ty Gibbs, grandson of former Washington Redskins head coach and NASCAR Cup Series team owner Joe Gibbs, finished fifth.
With his victory, McCarty extended his lead in the CARS Response Energy Tour championship standings.
Will Bristle and Peyton Saxton swapped the lead back-and-forth several times in a thrilling $1,200-to-win Legends shootout. When the race ended, it was Bristle in victory lane, scoring the win in an instant classic – his second of the season at Carteret County Speedway.
“That was an absolute blast with Peyton,” Bristle said. “I can’t thank him enough. We raced each other. Rubbing’s racing. We didn’t wreck each other. That was a blast. I’m excited about that money.”
Saxton finished second while Brenton Irving, Isaak Love and Brian Sullivan rounded out the top-five.
After having to start at the rear of the field due to mechanical issues in qualifying, Michael Tucker raced his way through the field and picked up the lead on lap 25 of the 50 lap Legends feature and never looked back en route to victory lane.
“I love this track and coming down here and running,” Tucker said. “I wish it was closer to home. We would come down here and run all the time. Thanks to all these fans for coming out. It’s good to see a good fan count. I think we had the car to win, just depended on how the cautions fell. If the cars out front got going, it might have been harder but the cautions came out and helped us out a lot.”
Brandon Clements finished second while Kris Hetu, Duane Walker and James Stoud rounded out the top-five in the Carolina Mini-Stock Challenge event.
For more information about Carteret County Speedway, visit the track’s official website at www.carteretspeedway.com, “like” Carteret County Speedway on Facebook or follow @carteretcoswy on Twitter.
CARS Tour PR
