Two-time CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour champion Bobby McCarty only had a three-point lead in the standings entering Saturday’s 125-lap feature at Motor Mile Speedway on Saturday.
A hard-fought battle against fellow title contender Justin Johnson resulted in McCarty obtaining his second victory of the 2021 season, which bolstered the small advantage he held over Kaden Honeycutt and defending champion Jared Fryar.
McCarty did not think a victory was possible when he made his first laps on the track Friday.
“We were all standing under this hauler scratching our heads yesterday morning,” McCarty said. “We tried one thing and the car seemed to like it, so we kept going in that direction and it kept getting better. I then learned some things out on track that made the car stronger as well.”
McCarty opened the first practice session of the weekend 17th on the board but ended Friday as one of the fastest five cars before qualifying on the outside of the front row.
Making adjustments has become a common theme with McCarty in 2021, who admitted that Nelson Motorsports has struggled at times to establish race-winning speed with the increased parity in the CARS Tour.
A disastrous race at Langley Speedway in which McCarty finished 17th motivated himself and the crew to figure out what was wrong with his No. 22 Solid Rock Carriers Toyota and make a proper push for a third title. Despite showing improvement, the next two races for McCarty at Dominion Raceway and Hickory Motor Speedway failed to produce a result inside the Top 5.
Motor Mile presented a perfect opportunity for McCarty to shake of his recent string of inconsistency, as he visited victory lane at the facility during the most recent CARS Tour visit back in 2019.
McCarty controlled the race from the start until a Lap 40 competition caution enabled Johnson to pull alongside him, triggering an intense battle that lasted for 15 consecutive laps.
“If you keep someone on your outside like that for a while, you have to keep feeding wheel to your car,” McCarty said. “It was good, clean racing but also a little frustrating because I knew we were better. He just kept taking my line and I couldn’t get off the corner like I needed to. I just had to keep letting the car do the work.”
McCarty finally wrestled the lead away from Johnson on Lap 61 and led the rest of the event, all while Johnson successfully held off Mike Looney for his sixth Top 5 of the 2021 season.
Johnson, who is now tied with McCarty in victories with two on the year, feels confident about where his program stands entering the final races of the year and is hoping to find additional speed so he can chase down McCarty for his first title.
“Tonight was a little disappointing,” Johnson said. “I hate to lose one when our car is that good but it was still a good points night for us. The car was just too good too early and we lost forward drive later but hats off to Bobby for a great race.”
While McCarty himself does not like to discuss the CARS Tour Championship much, he said that performances like the one at Motor Mile are indicative of what organizations need to do in order to be in title contention ahead of the final race.
McCarty considers himself grateful to have Nelson Motorsports by his side through everything that has happened in 2021 and is determined to finish out the year strong regardless of how the points situation turns out.
“I just can’t thank all of my guys enough,” McCarty said. “They busted their tails getting this car right. None of us were happy on Friday but we kept fighting, hit on something and everything worked out for us.”
McCarty is only expected to gain a few points over Johnson, Honeycutt and Fryar but has all the momentum he needs to reach an unprecedented third title in just a couple of months.
1. Bobby McCarty
2. Justin Johnson
3. Mike Looney
4. Kaden Honeycutt
5. Jonathan Shafer
6. Josh Berry
7. Sam Yarbrough
8. Kyle Dudley
9. Conner Jones
10. Daniel Silvestri
11. Jared Fryar
12. Brandon Pierce
13. Chase Purdy
14. Deac McCaskill
15. Jake Crum
16. Mike Darne
17. Layne Riggs
18. Jonathan Findley
19. Rusty Skewes
20. Joe Valento
21. Mini Tyrrell
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