Hometown hero Parker Eatmon won the Thanksgiving Classic 250 at Southern National Motorsports Park, picking up a $15,000 payday.
The Thanksgiving Classic 250 saw pit strategy become a deciding factor, as Dylan Newsome would have the lead late on older tires. However, a fast approaching Parker Eatmon was running him down on fresher rubber. With just 10 laps to go, Eatmon got by Newsome for the lead, and Tristan McKee, who was also on newer tires, followed suit.
As McKee got by Newsome for the second position, he started to chase down the leader. With seven laps to go, however, McKee would make contact with the lapped car of Andy Murray off of turn two, spinning Murray and bringing out the caution. Officials would move McKee to the back after the incident, moving Newsome back up to second place.
On the restart, Newsome would tuck in behind Eatmon going into turn one, moving Eatmon up the track. They would go door to door for the next lap and a half, but the fresher tires would pay off as Eatmon cleared off of turn four with five laps to go, and would hold on for the win.
“It’s amazing,” said Eatmon after the race. “If I had to choose one crown jewel to win, it would be this one. This is a dream come true for me. I live 10 minutes down the road. So many of my friends and family are out here today. It’s a good time. “It’s just that much more special, to be honest. It’s unbelievable, to be honest. I’ve been thinking about it all week. This is the one I wanted. Honestly, we just rode around the back for the first 100, 125 laps. It’s a long race. There’s no need to burn your stuff up.”
Jake Bollman would come home in second, following Eatmon past a fading Newsome. However, he couldn’t run Eatmon down, mostly because he couldn’t see him. As Newsome put the bumper to Eatmon on the restart, Bollman got into Newsome, bending the hood on the No. 71B machine up and blocking his windshield.
“My hood started coming up, and I couldn’t see nothing in front of me the last 10 laps,” Bollman said. ”It really hurt my driving, but it was alright. I’m still happy. If we had the hood stay down, I could have driven a lot harder just because I could see. I couldn’t see him, so it was a sight problem the whole time. I’m stoked, right? Coming into next year, this is a big help, a lot of confidence as a team. I think we can do something next year.”
Doug Barnes Jr. would round out the podium, fresh off a runner up in the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway last week. Air Doug made a last lap pass off of turn four on Kade Brown to take the third position.
“It was a lot of fun, man,” said Barnes after the race, “I haven’t had that much fun in a race car in a long time. I was just digging. Just turn and burn, as my spotter said. There was no line, there was no marks. I was just driving the absolute hell out of it. It was either going to stick or it wasn’t. I almost didn’t get third because it didn’t stick coming to the white. I got it in there deep enough that I could knock Kade out of the way. That’s what’s fun about these races towards the end of them, like Martinsville, Florence and here. Everyone’s car feels like complete trash. You just hope yours is slightly less trashier than everyone else. My car really wasn’t terrible, but we definitely won the visual award for trashiest race car after tonight.”
Kade Brown and Connor Haislip would round out the top five.
The full results can be viewed below:
Thanksgiving Classic 250
Southern National Motorsports Park
December 1 2024
1. Parker Eatmon
2. Jake Bollman
3. Doug Barnes, Jr.
4. Kade Brown
5. Carson Haislip
6. Ryan Wilson
7. Mason Bailey
8. Dylan Newsome
9. Bradley McCaskill
10. Aaron Donnelly
11. Conner Weddell
12. Brenden Queen
13. Tyler Matthews
14. Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
15. Tim Allensworth
16. Clay Jones
17. Jamey Caudill
18. Michael Fose
19. Jonathan Findley
20. Chandler Sherman
21. Ryan Joyner
22. Adam Murray
23. Tristan McKee
24. Lanie Buice
25. Michael O’Brien
26. Andrew Grady
27. Chase Burrow
