Carson Loftin led every lap of the Flying VA Classic SMART Modified Tour race at Dominion Raceway but there was no shortage of drama and excitement behind him.
It was a very, very messy night for the southern ground pounders at Spotsylvania, Virginia with roughly a dozen cautions that eventually required race control to call the field down pit road so cars could add fuel.
This was no doubt a priority given what happened last weekend at the CARS Tour race at Wake County with numerous contenders running out of fuel.
But overall, the story of this race was all about the chaos, frequently involving expected championship contenders as well.
For Loftin, he joins father Brian as a race winning driver of this event, who gets to take the victory lap alongside the vintage Ray Hendrick flying 11. Brian Loftin is the 2018 NASCAR Southern Modified Tour champion and now the 18-year-old is splitting his time between the Shady Grady Racing modified and the Nelson Motorsports Late Model Stock.”
“This means so much because of the history of Modified racing and my family in it, we all came from Modifieds,” Loftin said. “Thankfully I’ve had the opportunity in the CARS Tour to venture out but I’m a Modified guy and my dad won this race a couple of years ago when it was held at South Boston.
“And to watch him take the victory lap with the Flying 11, this is special.”
Joey Braun scored second at the end but only after contact with Luke Baldwin resulted in the latter falling to 13th with a damaged car.
Braun had damaged sustained from contact with Slate Myers earlier in the closing stage.
“It was really good until (Myers) stuffed me in the fence twice down the straightaway,” Braun said. “I didn’t mean what happened at the end with me and Luke. That was hard racing. He held me tight and we just hooked and the wheel blew out of my hand and we both washed up the track.
“If I wanted to play demolition derby with a $100,000 race car, I would go to a short track and get a Bandolero or some other bullcrap besides a Modified because that was pretty pathetic right there.”
The SMART Modified Tour season resumes on April 24 at Wake County Speedway.
SMART Tour Flying VA Classic Dominion Raceway April 4 2026
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
Terri carle
April 5, 2026 at 9:12 am
Woohoo @Carson Loftin!!