Philip Morris left South Boston Speedway $5,000 richer Saturday night as the winner of the Italian Delight Family Restaurant Presents Frutopia Not Just Frozen Yogurt NASCAR Late Model 100.
Saturday night’s win was the ninth of the season for Morris in the season’s 15 NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model Stock Car Division races at South Boston Speedway. It made for a good points night for Morris as he closed the gap in the track championship chase with one night of racing and two races remaining on the South Boston Speedway schedule.
Morris entered the race trailing defending track champion Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia by 63 points in the chase for the track championship. He elected to start at the rear of the 18-car field in an attempt to gain extra points toward both the track and NASCAR national points championships.
Sellers, bidding for bonus passing points toward the track championship, did likewise, but ran into misfortune when his car was damaged in a mishap on the second lap while trying to navigate slower traffic. The mishap put Sellers out of contention, leaving him to settle for a 13th-place finish
Morris pitted two laps later to change a cut tire and was at the rear of the field for the restart on the eighth lap. He got up to fourth place when race frontrunners Mike Looney and Danny Willis Jr. tangled while battling for the lead.
By lap 41, Morris was closing fast on race leader Mike Jones, and passed Jones for the lead on lap 44. Once in front, Morris never relinquished the lead.
A late-race caution created a restart with 19 laps to go. Morris quickly gained a big cushion as Jones, Blake Stallings and Thomas Scott engaged in a heated battle for second place.
With the trio battling for second place, Morris opened up a lead of over a quarter of a lap with 10 laps to go and held that margin to the end. Scott rallied to finish second with Jones taking third place. Stallings finished fourth and Looney, of Catawba, Virginia, rallied to finish fifth.
The lead swapped hands twice among three drivers. Looney led the first 30 laps, Jones led the next 13 circuits and Morris led the final 57 laps.
- Philip Morris
- Thomas Scott
- Mike Jones
- Blake Stallings
- Mike Looney
- Austin Thaxton
- Danny Willis, Jr.
- Raymond Pittman, III
- Nathan Crews
- Charles Barnes
- Quincy Adkins
- Dusty Ellington
- Peyton Sellers
- Jason Pittman
- Jason Barnes
- Barry Beggarly
- Colin Garrett
- Bruce Mayo
Read more Short Track Scene:
