Ronnie Bassett Jr. will lead a stout lineup of Late Model Stock Cars to the green flag on Sunday afternoon in the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports.
He did so with a qualifying lap of 15.241 around the .4-mile in Lucama, North Carolina seeking a second win in the event, his first coming with a last lap bump-and-run on Lee Pulliam in 2013.
“We’ve got a really good race car,” Bassett told Short Track Scene after the session. “We’ve worked and worked on it all weekend and gotten better every time we hit the race track. As most people know, qualifying is not our strong suit, so this shows we have pretty good speed in our Bessemer Tire Chevrolet so I’m looking forward to 250 big ones to play some strategy and see how it goes.”
Starting alongside him will be Matt Cox with Josh Berry and Andrew Grady lined up in the row behind, with Bobby McCarty and Keelan Harvick behind them.
Lee Pulliam is starting 20th in his debut for JR Motorsports and Doug Barnes scored last after having not turned a lap.
But again, Bassett has the early track position.
“It’s cool to win a pole but it’s all about lap 250,” Bassett said. “We’ve got to keep our nose on it and stay in the hunt and be there at the end.”
What would a second win in the Classic mean?
“It would be great,” he said. “Obviously, we come to the race track to win, and we haven’t done that this year, with some ups and downs, so it’s nice to roll off on the front row and have a shot.”
The race airs live on Ultra Broadcasting and is slated to begin at 12:30.
Starting lineup
- Ronnie Bassett Jr. 15.241
- Matt Cox 15.314
- Josh Berry 15.369
- Andrew Grady 15.369
- Bobby McCarty 15.388
- Keelan Harvick 15.391
- Chase Burrow 15.394
- Parker Eatmon 15.401
- Clay Jones 15.408
- Conner Weddell 15.415
- Jamey Caudill 15.417
- Eloy Falcon 15.421
- Carson Haislip 15.427
- Mason Bailey 15.436
- Cody Bryant 15.436
- Tyler Matthews 15.442
- Brian Blevins 15.498
- Charlie Watson 15.499
- Jamie York 15. 502
- Lee Pulliam 15.526
- John Goin 15.560
- Adam Murray 15.561
- Paul Williamson 15.569
- Alex Meggs 15.601
- Dylan Newsome 15.657
- Daniel Vuncannon 15.689
- Jake Bollman 15.759
- Doug Barnes Jr.
