Carson Loftin used a lot of hustle and muscle to hold off a hard charging Burt Myers to pick up the win in Saturday night’s SMART Modified Tour semifinal race at Tri-County Speedway. Myers was able to draw even in the final handful of laps, but Loftin was able to run him wide exiting turn two, forcing Myers to lift and allowing Loftin to take the win.
After the race, Myers and his crew confronted Loftin in victory lane before Loftin was eventually able to climb from his car to celebrate.
“Burt was flying at the end and I knew I had to hold him off,” Loftin told Short Track Scene. “I didn’t really mean to run him in the marbles at the end. I don’t really want to win a race like that. I roughed him up more than I wanted to. At the end of the day, I think he would’ve done the same thing to me if I had the better car. I expect it in return. It is what it is and we were racing for the win.”
Myers was miffed with Loftin after the race.
“He drove in a car-length deep both times I was on the outside of him,” Myers said after the race. “He did it one time and I saved it, then I went back to his outside again instead of cleaning him out, which is what I should have done, I drove back to the outside again and he just ran me up the racetrack. It wasn’t hard racing. It wasn’t that he nudged me, he just drove in over his head and used me as a bank to catch himself. It’s a punk move.
“He talked about iRacing and smooth these kids can get up on the wheel,” Myers continued. “That’s not getting up on the wheel. That’s driving over someone and then hitting control off to reset your damage and that’s exactly what he tonight.”
Loftin led a race-high 82 laps, but a series of late race cautions set up a shootout to the checkered flag, the most notable involving Loftin when he slowed down on the inside line exiting turn two to avoid an incident that had not yet drawn the caution. Multiple other cars, trying to avoid Loftin, piled into the wreck.
The victory is Loftin’s first since May 24, 2024 when he picked up the win at Franklin County Speedway in Virginia.
Paulie Hartwig, III finished third, and locked himself into the final round of the SMART Modified Tour’s championship playoffs along with Ryan Newman and Luke Baldwin. Baldwin was tangled up in one of the late race incidents, finishing 23rd. Jake Crum had mechanical problems end his race just 13 laps from the finish.
The 2025 season finale will take place on Saturday, October 18, at North Wilkesboro Speedway as part of a tripleheader weekend with the zMAX CARS Tour.
Short Track Scene’s Corey Latham contributed to this report.
Unofficial Results
- Carson Loftin
- Burt Myers
- Paulie Hartwig, III
- Danny Bohn
- Joey Coulter, IV
- Cayden Lapcevich
- Will Lambros
- Joey Braun
- Austin McDaniel
- Jack Baldwin
- Carter McMurray
- Daniel Yates
- Slate Myers
- Landon Huffman
- Jimmy Wallace
- Tom Buzze
- Gary Putnam
- Ryan Newman
- Luke Fleming
- Jonathan Cash
- Cody Norman
- Jordan Fleming
- Luke Baldwin
- Bryce Bailey
- Max Handley
- Jake Crum
- Melissa Fifield
- Brody Jones
