Bobby McCarty snuck his way into the lead late in Saturday night’s Hampton Heat 200 at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway, clinching the biggest win of his career.
Four-time Langley Speedway champion C.E. Falk, III started on the pole and led the first 188 laps, until Nick Smith mounted a charge and got past him. When Smith and Falk, racing side-by-side for the lead, both went wide, McCarty took advantage and passed both drivers. After getting the lead, McCarty never looked back en-route to the victory, his fourth of the year and his first at Langley.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” McCarty said after the race. “This is my first time coming here. I definitely relied on Timothy [Peters] for a lot of stuff. He gave me a lot of information. I can’t be prouder of this crew. They worked so hard, never quit, busted their tail in the heat and we played a smart game. I rode and rode and rode and, when Smith and Falk went up the track coming out of four, I saw the door and took it and we set sail from there.”
Brenden Queen rallied late after starting the race in the ninth position and raced his way up to second in the closing laps – his best finish of the 2017 season.
“We needed this run,” Queen remarked. “With this many people around, it looks like we won the race. For us, this is our first top-five of the year. It sets us up good going in Martinsville in the Virginia Triple Crown. We showed them we were there. Maybe one more caution, I could have had a shot at Bobby. I saved a lot and we were able to capitalize when they got to racing and, once we got by them we left them.”
Falk had the dominant car in the race, leading the first 188 laps. Falk ended up finishing in third. After the race, he was disappointed with the result, but took his third-place finish in stride.
“We had a really good car,” Falk said. “Philip [Morris] pushed us pretty hard in the beginning but I was just driving my own race. Those guys were falling back and I thought I made some good adjustments at the break but we must have over-adjusted a little bit. We just pushed the right front tire off. Pushed it about 10 laps early. This no. 40 car is one the best cars I’ve ever had during the Heat. If we had two tires at halfway, it might have been a different deal, but that was the race and congratulations to Bobby. That’s what happens in big-time auto racing.”
Nick Smith finished in fourth while Justin T. Carroll came home in fifth.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Timothy Peters finished in seventh after being involved in an incident on lap 106 with Connor Hall. Despite significant cosmetic damage, Peters was able to drive away and run competitively in the end.
The race’s most notable incident took place on lap 170 when Peyton Sellers went around after contact with Mark Wertz. Cameron Bowen, Eddie Johnson, Sam Hunt and Greg Edwards were also involved.
Bobby McCarty is the fourth non-Langley regular to win the race, joining Lee Pulliam (2015), Peyton Sellers (2013) and Matt Bowling (2012). The Hampton Heat 200 was also the second of three races in the Virginia Triple Crown, which concludes on September 23rd in the first primetime ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.
- Bobby McCarty
- Brenden Queen
- CE Falk
- Nick Smith
- Justin T Carroll
- Greg Edwards
- Timothy Peters
- Casey Wyatt
- Justin S Carroll
- Terry Carroll
- Austin Thaxton
- Peyton Sellers
- Stacy Puryear
- Dean Ward
- Sam Hunt
- Philip Morris
- Cody Carlton
- Nick Smith
- Eddie Johnson
- Danny Edwards
- Mark Wertz
- Cameron Bowen
- Peyton Sellers
- Grayson Cullather
- Bubba Johnston
- Matt Waltz
- Macy Causey
- Thomas Marks
- Paul Green
- Maddy Ryan Mulligan
- Craig Eastep
