Luke Baldwin wins SMART Anderson; Jack Baldwin flips off Jake Crum

Luke Baldwin had himself one heck of a week.

On Wednesday, he flew down to Sandusky, Ohio to put pen to paper on a contract that would see him contest his first three races in the NASCAR Truck Series with ThorSport Racing this season. He returned to the Carolinas and drove to his first SMART Modified Tour victory of the season on Saturday afternoon at Anderson Speedway in South Carolina.

For Baldwin, it was a bit of redemption for what happened a week ago at Florence when he drove into the back of a race leading Joey Coulter, which resulted in both a spin and a penalty that sent them both to the rear.

He called it a mistake and rectified it this weekend by going fastest in practice and time trials, then winning the race.

“That’s just how badass this race car is,” Baldwin said. “It goes to show you how badass these PSR Products Modifieds are. … Huge thanks to (team owners) Bill Stanley and Hermie Sadler and my dad (crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr.) for everything he does too, both my parents.”

Meanwhile, his older brother Jack was denied a podium due to Jake Crum for an incident between them with 18 laps to go.  

In SMART Modified Tour races, every team has one tire in the pit area that they generally always bolt onto the right rear at any point before the checkered flag. Nearly the entire field waited for the caution with 20 laps to go but Crum took his right rear on Lap 30 and spent the rest of the race hoping it would have enough grip to hold on and win the race.

It did not and he quickly got passed by the younger Baldwin brother and was getting passed to the outside by the elder brother when Crum drifted up and squeezed him into the wall.

Jack Baldwin furiously climbed out of the car and shot Crum the double birds as he drove by. He then gave the same gesture to the Tomaino Racing team as he climbed over the frontstretch wall to go back to his pit area.

Crum was interviewed under the red flag on the broadcast by SMART announcer Bob Dillner. What happened?

“I don’t know man. I feel really bad. Everyone was obviously on tires. We took ours early. I had a lot of wheel in it on the bottom. I just slipped the right rear a little bit; nothing intentional. I know what that feels like. There is no one I would do that to other than Matt Hirschman. I feel really bad and I don’t know how to make it right. I know they’re pissed and I know how I felt at South Boston last year and I would never do that intentionally. I should not have made a mistake like that.”

Crum was referencing an incident between he and Hirschman in the King of the Modifieds at South Boston last spring.

“We rode pretty much the whole race, rode all the way to second,” Jack said. “We were in a great spot, came out of our pit stop third. Crum and the Tomaino guys decided to pit early so they had no tire. I just tried to get right by them. The Tomainos and Crums, doing what they do, driving me straight into the fence when I haven’t touched them all race. They had no business being up there and they were only up there because they stayed out.

“I had a great chance to chase down Luke and it’s a shame that Jake Crum ruined that.”

As for Crum after the race:

“I didn’t have a right rear left and were just too tight and I gassed up in the center of the corner and I was just trying to stay with him and keep my right front kind of nosed in front of him,” Crum said. “Last second, we kind of snapped and I don’t know if the right rear hit him, I ran him into the fence. It was nothing intentional.”

As for Luke, he expected Crum to not have enough grip to stick and his pass was less eventful that his brother’s.

“I was praying (Jake) would take the bottom right there because I knew he would fire off tight,” Baldwin said. “I washed up the track a little bit more than I should have but it came back to me after a few laps. It’s cool to come back after last weekend because I made a mistake that cost (Coulter) the win and cost me a runner-up … so to respond like this was special.”

And even more so given his news this week.

“It’s been a really cool week,” Baldwin added. “Going to Ohio to seal the deal with ThorSport and then coming down here to drive the fastest baddest Modified on the planet. It can’t be touched right now.”

SMART Tour Pace-O-Matic 99
Anderson Motor Speedway
March 8 2025

1. Luke Baldwin
2. Paulie Hartwig III
3. Carson Loftin
4. Burt Myers
5. Jake Crum
6. Landon Huffman
7. Ryan Newman
8. Slate Myers
9. Carter McMurray
10. Jonathan Cash
11. Daniel Yates
12. Jonny Kievman
13. Jimmy Wallace
14. Joey Coulter
15. Joey Braun
16. Jack Baldwin
17. Bryce Bailey