Were it not for Mother Nature and some confusing decision making, Nolan Pope may have had a shot at victory on Monday evening at South Carolina’s Anderson Motor Speedway.
Pope, driving the No. 1 for Lee Faulk Racing and Development, was competing in the Rupert Porter Memorial late model stock car race Monday evening. Pope qualified fourth for the 100-lap event and raced within the top-five throughout the early stages of the race.
On lap 39 Pope was running in the third position and conserving his tires when a storm moved in over the three-eighths-mile asphalt oval. The track was quickly soaked with rain, forcing officials to call for the red flag to stop the race.
Once the rain moved out track officials worked to get the track try, but just when it appeared the track was nearly dry track officials made the call to pull the plug on the night of racing because of noise complaints from neighbors and declared the race official, much to the frustration of Pope and his Lee Faulk Racing and Development team.
“That hurts,” Pope said bluntly. “I’m just really upset. I know we had an awesome shot at winning that one. We were the best car. We were just riding and saving our stuff when the rain came. Thanks to my crew chief Nick Hughes and Lee Faulk Racing and Development for providing another fast car that I feel would have been in victory lane. I just wish they would have restarted the race.”
Lee Faulk Racing and Development’s Michael Faulk didn’t mince words when discussing the decision by track officials to call Monday’s race after just 39 laps.
“Nolan had a fast car and he was going to be a threat to win this race had the decision makers made some smarter decisions,” Faulk said.
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