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LUCAMA, N.C. :: Matt Bowling scored his 11th NASCAR Whelen All-American Series victory of 2016 Saturday night, winning a 40-lap feature at Southern National Motorsports Park.

Bowling won the first of twin 40-lappers at the 0.400-mile facility, leading wire-to-wire after starting on the pole. It was not without drama, as late restarts allowed the field to close his gap.

“We had a really good car the first race,” Bowling said about the win. “It was a little snug, but that worked out pretty well for the daytime. We were able to get away, and get out on those restarts.”

Bowling finished eighth in the second race of the evening. An eight-car invert dropped Bowling into the middle of a full field of competition. Meanwhile, a setup gamble to adjust for the transition to nighttime hampered the car’s performance.

“We had a good racecar. We were trying to make it better and guess a little bit for the night time. We were just missing a little bit for the second race. That’s part of it. Hopefully we’ll have a better idea for the next time.”

As Bowling chases the national points picture, he is traveling to more tracks where he has less seat time. Despite being a veteran of Late Model Stock racing, journeying to tracks like Southern National still presents challenges.

“We’ve gone to a lot of tracks I don’t go to a lot,” Bowling said. “Fortunately, I’ve ran a couple of races here over the years, and that helped a lot. It’s down to the home stretch now. We’ve got four more weekends. Hopefully we’ll keep knocking off wins and we’ll be fine.”

The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship presents another unique challenge for Bowling. While racers competing for titles – whether it be a touring series, track championship, or the NWAAS state championships – generally share a track with their championship rivals. However, Bowling’s threat in the national title hunt is Keith Rocco, a modified driver from the Northeast – and someone Bowling will not compete against directly.

Without those competitors sharing a track with Bowling, he can only focus on maximizing the number of points he earns in a given weekend and hoping for the best.

“I’ve got to do all I can do,” Bowling said. “We can’t control what’s happening out there. You can’t control what he’s doing. That’s all there is to it. Go out there, win races, and hope at the end of the day we win more than he does.”

Andrew Grady finished second in the first race of the evening in his return to Late Model competition, while North Carolina championship contender Tyler Matthews finished third to gain on some of his rivals. Lee Pulliam rallied from an 11th place qualifying effort to finish fourth in the first twin, with North Carolina points leader Brenden Queen rounding out the top five.

  1. #83 Matt Bowling
  2. #1G Andrew Grady
  3. #63 Tyler Matthews
  4. #5 Lee Pulliam
  5. #03 Brenden Queen
  6. #51B Chris Chapman
  7. #7W Louis White
  8. #21 Tim Allensworth
  9. #91 Justin Carroll
  10. #19 Cameron Bowen
  11. #24 Kenneth Mercer
  12. #24 Mason Diaz
  13. #29B Melvin Langley
  14. #19 Brandon Hobbs
  15. #15 Omar Jurado
  16. #77 Paul Williamson
  17. #90 Terry Carroll
  18. #38 Ricky Jones III
  19. #4 Jonathan Findley
  20. #54 Michael Fose
  21. #44 T.J. Barron

Zach Evans is in his second season covering short track racing, A 2012 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Evans is a proud alumnus of The Daily Tar Heel, the school's award-winning independent student newspaper.

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