Cole Timm, Todd Gilliland Victorious in CARS Tour X-1R Lubricants 300 Opener
LUCAMA, NC (March 29, 2015) – The first race for the newly formed CARS Racing Tour was a massive success as youngsters ruled the roost in two fields dominated by racing veterans on Saturday night. Cole Timm took the Super Late Model race win and Todd Gilliland executed a late-race pass to pull an upset on the Late Model Stock Car contingent in the X-1R Performance Products 300 at Southern National Motorsports Park.
CARS Super Late Model Tour Recap:
Timm captured the first pole award for the CARS Racing Tour with a time a 14.788 seconds, over a quarter-second faster than second place Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christopher Bell. Anderson Bowen, Bubba Pollard and Brandon Setzer were the rest of the top five who led the field to green.
After an off-season of anticipation, the first green flag finally started the brand new CARS Racing Tour and Bell would get the early jump on Timm to lead the opening laps. Timm finally flexed his muscle after a mid-race restart and bypassed Bell for the lead on lap 75. Bell retook the top spot following another restart, but Timm went back on the attack and re-assumed command of the race as the field entered turn three on lap 107.
With just ten laps to go, Timm appeared on cruise control for the win, except lapped traffic and Bell’s determination were working to factor otherwise. With three laps remaining, Bell caught Timm for the lead but he was unable to mount a successful final challenge and Cole Timm captured the inaugural CARS Racing Tour Super Late Model triumph.
“It definitely means a lot,” said Timm about winning as part of the first CARS Tour event. “It gives yourself a big boost of confidence as well in case you want to go run some other races. We ran the Snowball Derby and we didn’t do too bad, and I kinda hung my hat off it, but this makes me think we can go win it this year.”
After runner-up Bell, it was nearly a half lap back to third place finisher Kyle Grissom, Bubba Pollard and Anderson Bowen.
CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour Recap:
Deac McCaskill started on pole and led a race-high 147 laps, yet didn’t come away with the CARS Late Model Stock Tour win. McCaskill held off several challenges on restarts from Jamey Caudill, Austin McDaniel, Tommy Lemons and others, and appeared to be in cruise control for the victory until a caution waved with six laps to go.
The real battle took shape in the closing laps as caution after caution opened the door for someone to steal away McCaskill’s grip on victory lane. Todd Gilliland, who rode in the top five all race, was not going to be denied victory. In the opinion of many, he used a textbook bump-and-run on McCaskill with three laps to go to snatch the lead from the multi-time Southern National track champion. McCaskill clawed back to attempt a repayment of the favor on Gilliland, but was unable pull it off.
The triumph was Todd Gilliland’s first career Late Model Stock win. Gilliland’s father, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular David Gilliland, was able to make the trip down from Martinsville Speedway in time to see his 14-year old son take the win.
“You just got to stay mentally tough, and my crew chief Chris was coaching me the whole way and told me I could do it, and just keep my tires warm and he was right,” Gilliland said about trying to survive the restarts to move around Tommy Lemons for second.
“I had to stay on his [McCaskill’s] bumper and any little mistake he made I had to capitalize, and I used my bumper a little and I got by him,” Gilliland continued before taking a deep breath in victory lane and reiterating what had just occurred. “And got by him I guess.”
“Yeah, I was [expecting a bump], and I had to drive it in a little bit harder,” he continued. “But I had to just hit my marks and stay calm,”
Gilliland was trailed to the checkered flag by McCaskill, Myatt Snider, Tommy Lemons and last-chance race winner Tyler Ankrum.
The CARS Racing Tour is in action again on April 18 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC for the Orange Blossom 300. For more information on this race and all the news of the CARS Racing Tour visit www.carsracingtour.com. Fans are also encouraged to like “CARS Tour”on Facebook, and follow @CARSTour on Twitter.
Unofficial Super Late Model Results:
1. #57 Cole Timm 150
2. #51 Christopher Bell 150
3. #31 Kyle Grissom 150
4. #26 Bubba Pollard 150
5. #29 Anderson Bowen 150
6. #8 Dave Garbo, Jr. 150
7. #51n Stephen Nasse 150
8. #2 Trevor Noles 150
9. #67 Clay Jones 150
10. #17 Quin Houff 150
11. #66 Steve Wallace 150
12. #00 Lucas Ransone 150
13. #14 Chris Davidson 149
14. #40 Grant Galloway 149
15. ##52 Kaz Grala 149
16. #25 Stephen Leicht 149
17. #71 Nick Robinson 149
18. #4 Brandon Lynn 149
19. #47 Chris Fontaine 149
20. #56 Gus Dean 149
21. #54 Matt Craig 149
22. #18 Kiel Spaulding 149
23. #41L Nick Leitz 149
24. #2R Clay Rogers 148
25. #12 Harrison Burton 137
26. #2L Robby Lyons 92
27. #6 Brandon Setzer 71
28. #77 Zane Smith 71
29. #16 Lucas Jones 69
30. #41 Brandon Johnson DNS
Unofficial Late Model Stock Car Results:
1. #98 Todd Gilliland 150
2. #08 Deac McCaskill 150
3. #2 Myatt Snider 150
4. #27 Tommy Lemons 150
5. #58 Tyler Ankrum 150
6. #41 Brayton Haws 150
7. #16 R.D. Smith 150
8. #60 Stacy Compton 150
9. #77 Blake Stallings 150
10. #54 Michael Fose 150
11. #1 Trent Barnes 150
12. #34 Matt Waltz 150
13. #31 Thomas Beane 150
14. #99 Mike Darne 150
15. #18 Bradley McCaskill150
16. #28 Chris Hudspeth 150
17. #07 Clint King 149
18. #82 Christian Eckes 149
19. #50 Jamey Caudill 145
20. #7 Justin Crider 145
21. #16 Jeffrey Oakley 145
22. #12M Austin McDaniel144
23. #1T Tyler Dippel 143
24. #12C Garrett Campbell143
25. #12 Ryan Wilson 119
26. #88 Robert Tyler 91
27. #44 Justin Johnson 63
28. #23 Payton Ryan 59
29. #17 Stacy Puryear 44
30. #88 Doug Barnes, Jr. 19
Sources: Chris Ragle/CARS Tour PR