MYRTLE BEACH, SC – Tommy Lemons, Jr. made lemonade out of lemons, turning a potentially devastating tire failure into a second place finish at Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday night.
Lemons had been running inside the top-five for much of the night but began fading in the late stages of the race with an apparent right rear tire problem, drawing a caution on lap 84. It looked like it would be a catastrophic blow to Lemons’ championship chances, but Lemons would rebound and more.
“I went by Berry and he came right back by me and I don’t know,” Lemons said. “We didn’t make any contact or anything like that. Just, something happened. Right after I went by him, I don’t know if I ran over a piece of debris but the right rear started feeling like it was leaking because the car kind of went away and I felt like we had saved enough up to that caution.
“The car was really good and then, all of a sudden, it started going away.”
After the crew changed the right rear tire, Lemons raced his way from 17th to second and gained points on Deac McCaskill in the very tight CARS Late Model Stock Tour championship race. The second place finish was satisfying for Lemons, a driver who is famously usually unhappy with any result that isn’t a win.
“Definitely, luck was on our side,” Lemons said of his rebound. “We were able to rebound and come back for second. We’ll take it.”
With two races remaining in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour, Lemons’ strategy remains the same as it has all season – win races.
“We’ll just have to go to Hickory and race for the win there then go to Southern National and race for the win there,” Lemons commented. “Hopefully, the points will take care of themselves.”
The finale, which was originally supposed to be held at Hickory Motor Speedway on October 29th, will now be held at Southern National Motorsports Park on November 12th. While Lemons is a former champion at Southern National, the venue certainly favors McCaskill, who has four track championships in Kenly and has led all but three laps of CARS Tour competition there.
While McCaskill has the advantage on paper, Lemons hopes he can flip the script at Southern National.
“He started racing Southern National in 1992,” Lemons said. “I was five years old at that time I guess, if my math’s right. He’s got more laps around there probably than I’ve got at every racetrack I’ve ever been to so, no doubt he’ll be the one to beat but hopefully we’ll be the one to beat him.”
McCaskill entered the race with a 12 point advantage but, after Lemons’ runner-up finish and McCaskill’s fifth place finish, Lemons cut into McCaskill’s points lead.
The next race for the CARS Tour will be held at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 29th.
