Brandon Setzer and Sam Yarbrough Throw A Myrtle Beach Party After BakerDist.com 200
Myrtle Beach, SC (Sept. 20, 2015) – Brandon Setzer (Super Late Model) and Sam Yarbrough (Late Model Stock) both played the tire strategy game to perfection on Saturday night to win their respective races at Myrtle Beach Speedway in the CARS Tour Bakerdist.com 200 presented by Sports Radio 100.3 The Team.
Super Late Model Recap:
For the second time this season, Brandon Setzer claimed the Mahle Pistons Pole Award and led the field to the green flag. Most recent race winner Steve Wallace jumped out to the early race lead from his second-place starting spot as Setzer slowly began to drop through the field.
The race saw its first lead change when Kyle Grissom, who started 11th, bypassed Wallace in turn one. The field settled into mostly single file formation as Grissom and Coulter Motorsports driver Clay Rogers contested the lead several times with Grissom retaining the top spot until a lap 46 caution flag for fluid leaking from the car of top-five runner AJ Frank.
Once the race resumed, the lead battle was the most intriguing fight of the night with Grissom, Rogers, Kaz Grala, Cole Timm and Wallace all swapping spots each lap around the notoriously abrasive .538-mile track.
Tyler Church spun on lap 78, bringing out the event’s final caution period and setting up a dash to the checkered flag. Brandon Setzer, who was running outside the top ten, clawed his way into the top three by lap 90. With ten laps to go, Setzer moved past Wallace for third and quickly reeled in the race leader, Kyle Grissom.
On lap 93, Setzer moved around Grissom with ease and checked out by over ten car lengths. He was unchallenged for the final seven circuits and crossed the line to take his second win of 2015, becoming only the second CARS Tour super late model driver to make a repeat visit to victory lane. Grissom, Wallace, Rogers and Quin Houff rounded out the top five finishers.
“I didn’t think we were all that good in the middle of the race but I can’t thank these guys enough to give me a racecar to go do this,” said a relatively speechless Setzer in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “I never really did [think I had a car that could win the race]. It just happened that way and we got lucky, I guess.”
Late Model Stock Recap:
Deac McCaskill continued his dominance in Hedgecock Pole Qualifying by capturing his fifth pole award of the season. Former Myrtle Beach track champion Sam Yarbrough used his knowledge around the .538-mile facility to earn the second starting position.
McCaskill jumped out the early lead over Yarbrough, Tommy Lemons and Robert Tyler who all circulated single file behind the leader during the opening stages of the event. Though the leaders were visibly running a much slower pace, Bradley McCaskill, the tour’s most recent late model stock winner, had risen to third in the standings by lap 21.
A spin by Bryant Barnhill late in the race set up a sprint to the checkered flag, much like the super late model event. As the lap count neared 20 laps remaining, Yarbrough made his move for the lead on McCaskill. Despite McCaskill’s best efforts to fend him off, within two laps he built up a 15-car length lead and looked poised to join a short list of first-start winners in the CARS Tour.
Though Yarbrough was in control and appeared ready to take his first win, a spin by Kate Dallenbach as the field came through the white flag brought out the race’s final caution period and setup a green-white-checkered finish to the 100-lap contest.
McCaskill restarted underneath Yarbrough and paced the former track champion through the first pair of turns, but down the backstretch Yarbrough was able to pull away and solidify himself as the leader over the final two laps. Yarbrough led the field to the checkered flag at his home race track over Deac McCaskill, Bradley McCaskill, Tommy Lemons and Tyler Ankrum.
“You can’t think about the (late) cautions too much, you just gotta go up there and do what you’ve got to do,” said Yarbrough in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “It was easy to save tires, I just rode behind Deac the whole time. He dictated the pace and we did what we did. When it was time to go, I made a move and it stuck, and away we went.”
“For five or so laps I was thinking ‘no cautions, no cautions, no cautions,’ and sure enough [after taking the white flag], there was the smoke coming off of two,” he continued. “We took the outside [on the restart] and I knew that if I could kind of pinch him down that he wouldn’t have the forward drive that he would have on the outside. Like everyone says, it’s a chess match until it’s go time and tonight we played the right moves.”
News & Notes:
- Sam Yarbrough joins Cole Timm, Todd Gilliland, Josh Berry, and William Byron as race winners in their first CARS Tour start.
- Josh Berry had won his first two starts in CARS Tour competition prior to this weekend’s race at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Despite a stellar NASCAR Xfinity Series run at Richmond one week ago, the JR Motorsports driver could only muster a 9th place finish.
- Official points will be released on Tuesday along with the official results, but Deac McCaskill, Myatt Snider and Brayton Haws are unofficially separated by only four points (as little as one finishing position) in pursuit of the CARS Late Model Stock Tour championship.
- Cole Timm unofficially carries an eight-point lead on Kyle Grissom to Hickory Motor Speedway on November 1 for the championship finale. As the top two in CARS Tour points, those two drivers are also now guaranteed a starting spot in the prestigious Winchester 400 on October 11 in Winchester, Ind.
- Brandon Setzer has won the last two races in which he has competed, including his first triumph at Orange County Speedway on August 1. He skipped the Concord race on August 29 after crash damage during another event was unable to be repaired in time.
The inaugural CARS Tour season will come to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday afternoon,November 1, during the MTP Tire 300 presented by Southern National Motorsports Park at Hickory Motor Speedway. Two championship battles will be decided and one driver has the potential to walk away with over $60,000 if they win both races and claim the extra bonus money up for grabs. Fans will also be in the running for $10,000 of their own if a driver they are paired with pulls off the “Double Duty Dare” with success by winning both portions of the event.
For more information about the CARS Tour, visit www.carsracingtour.com. Fans are also encouraged to “like” the CARS Tour on Facebook and follow them on Twitter (@CARSTour).
THE FINISHES:
Bakerdist.com 200 Unofficial Results
SUPER LATE MODEL TOUR
POS DRIVER/CAR # LAPS
1 Brandon Setzer (6) 100
2 Kyle Grissom (31) 100
3 Steve Wallace (66) 100
4 Clay Rogers (2) 100
5 Quin Houff (17) 100
6 Zane Smith (77) 100
7 Kaz Grala (51) 100
8 Cole Timm (57) 100
9 Garrett Campbell (12c) 100
10 Clay Jones (67) 100
11 Joey Mucciacciaro (45) 100
12 Matt Craig (54) 100
13 Gus Dean (56) 100
14 Lucas Jones (16) 100
15 Trevor Noles (2n) 100
16 Tyler Church (7) 100
17 RS Senter (10) 100
18 Vinnie Miller (16m) 100
19 Lucas Ransone (00) 86
20 AJ Frank (75) 46
LATE MODEL STOCK TOUR
POS DRIVER/CAR # LAPS
POS DRIVER/CAR # LAPS
1 Sam Yarbrough (20y) 100
2 Deac McCaskill (08) 100
3 Bradley McCaskill (18) 100
4 Tommy Lemons (27) 100
5 Tyler Ankrum (58) 100
6 Todd Gilliland (98g) 100
7 Myatt Snider (2) 100
8 Brayton Haws (41) 100
9 Josh Berry (88b) 100
10 Christian Eckes (9) 100
11 Robert Tyler (88t) 100
12 Austin McDaniel (12m) 100
13 Michael Fose (54) 100
14 Spencer Davis (07) 100
15 Blake Stallings (77) 100
16 Craig Stallard (42) 100
17 Chris Hudspeth (28) 100
18 Justin Crider (7) 100
19 Thomas Beane (31) 100
20 Kate Dallenbach (25) 100
21 Ryan Hall (66) 100
22 Christian PaHud (63) 100
23 Matt Cox (51c) 100
24 Jeff Oakley (16) 100
25 Roddey Sterling (59) 99
26 Haley Moody (50) 99
27 Chris Davis (88) 99
28 Bryant Barnhill (5b) 98
Sources: Chris Ragle/CARS Tour PR