LUCAMA, NC – Air Doug saved his best for last in the penultimate race of Speed Week at Southern National Motorsports Park on Friday night.
Jared Fryar had dominated much of the 50-lap race, but Barnes closed the gap in the final laps of the race as the leaders worked through heavy lapped traffic. With three laps to go, Barnes used a lot of hustle and a little muscle to get past Fryar and drive away for the victory – his second in a row at Southern National.
“I knew we were coming up on lapped traffic and I was sitting there with five to go and I was going to be damned if I let them dictate a race,” Barnes said in victory lane. “When I got to them, I knew I had to make the most of it. I put the bumper to [Jared]. He’s always raced me clean so it’s not like I’m going to do anything dumb to him. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”
In the closing laps, both drivers felt their cars going away.
“It kind of gets to the point that everybody’s car feels like trash,” Barnes explained. “It’s just whose car feels less trashier in a way. I feel like he’s probably thinking the same thing as I’m thinking. If I wasn’t here and he wasn’t here, then we wouldn’t have to run this hard, but I’ve been on his tail and he’s been on mine so we just have to push these cars to their limits and there are no laps off.”
Once Barnes got past Fryar, he was able to check out. Fryar had to settle for second.
“For the first 25 laps, I was really comfortable,” Fryar remarked. “I felt like I was in a good spot. The way I was running the car and the pace I was maintaining, I felt comfortable enough that I was going to have enough tire to the end. Then, with 10 to go, it spun the tires and it was over after that. We were better than Doug, then right before I caught that lapped car, I spun the tires and it was over. It was two-tenths off. Frustrating to lose one like that but we did the best we could do and nothing you can do about that.”
Ryan Wilson, who qualified on the pole, finished in the third position while Cody Kelley and Matt Cox rounded out the top-five.
Speed Week at Southern National will conclude on Saturday afternoon with Late Models, Chargers, Legends, Mini Stocks, Any Cars and Bandoleros all in action. The green flag will wave at 3:00pm.
88 – Doug Barnes JR
14 – Jared Fryar
2 – Ryan Wilson
98 – Cody Kelley
51C – Matt Cox
63 – Tyler Matthews
4F – Jonathan Findley
2B – Lanie Buice
54 – Michael Fose
15 – Ryan Joyner
16C – Casey Kelley
1 – Andrew Grady
44 – Dylan Newsome
8 – Cassidy Kiett
6 – Nathan Lyons
51 – Gerald Benton
