One year ago, Bubba Pollard was a corner away from winning the CARS Tour Super Late Model Mid-Atlantic Classic at Orange County Speedway when a caution flew, but on Saturday night, he gained redemption.
Pollard was leading this race last year in the final corner when Steven Wallace moved him up the track and took the win. On Saturday, another driver moved the leader up the track, giving Pollard the chance to win.
Brandon Setzer dominated the first 130 laps after winning the pole, but the final segment break gave Stephen Nasse a shot at Setzer, and Nasse took it. He moved Setzer up the track in turn one, and taking the lead, but another late race restart gave Pollard his chance to win after conserving his car throughout the first 135 laps.
Pollard started seventh and seemed to play a waiting game all race, biding his time, waiting for the right moment to make his move. Pollard snuck by Nasse on the final restart of the race, and from there “Redneck Jesus” took the win — his second in the CARS Super Late Model Tour.
“To me, it’s just payback from last year,” Pollard remarked. “I had the race won last year and we got roughed up but it’s just good hard racing.
“We got shuffled back, and we got on the inside most of the restarts at the beginning of the race, and got shuffled all the way back to ninth. We made our way back up through there slowly but those guys had good race cars, the 6 (Setzer), and 51 (Nasse). They were good but we were in position, I had watched Nasse on the restart before and knew what he done, and played a little strategy there.”
While Pollard ran away, incumbent CARS Tour Super Late points leader Jared Fryar fought Raphael Lessard for third, a battle Fryar would end up winning.
“Rebound” was the hot word of the night, with both Matt Craig and defending winner Steven Wallace rebounding from issues, Craig with an early flat tire, and Wallace with a poor qualifying effort. Craig would end up eighth, with Wallace coming home sixth.
The complete results of the Mid-Atlantic Classic can be found below.
- Bubba Pollard
- Stephen Nasse
- Jared Fryar
- Raphael Lessard
- Tyler Ankrum
- Steven Wallace
- Corey LaJoie
- Matt Craig
- Ryan Moore
- Gracie Trotter
- Molly Helmuth
- Lucas Jones
- Wyatt Alexander
- Brandon Setzer
- Tim Hollis
- Roy Hayes III
- Mike Speeney
- Jeff Batten
- Darrell Gilchrist
- Greg Burgess
- Anthony Cataldi
- Jody Measamer
- Dean Ward
- Corey Heim
- Tate Fogleman
- Preston Peltier
- Dan Speeney
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Nobles, from Norfolk, VA is a veteran of covering Late Model Stock Cars in Virginia and The Carolinas. Nobles has also covered Super Late Models, Dirt Modifieds, Tour-Type Modifieds, and the K&N Pro Series East.