Craig Outlasts Rain and Competition for 4th PASS Win at Southern National
LUCAMA, NC (July 29) – Matt Craig survived a 52 minute rain delay and a late restart to score his fourth Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model win of the season Saturdaynight at Southern National Motorsports Park. In doing so, Craig, along with fellow podium finishers Dave Farrington, Jr. and Trevor Sanborn, locked up guaranteed starting positions for November’s Mason-Dixon MegaMeltdown 300 at Hickory Motor Speedway, which will pay at least $15,000 to the winner.
“We took off on that one restart after the rain to get a good lead and get to halfway, but we weren’t really too worried about it, we knew the radar looked good,” said Craig, driving the family-owned C&C Boilers Chevrolet #54. “What makes it easier for me are the guys that work on the car every week. I can’t thank them and my dad enough for setting it up. We really want to get to the big races at the end of the year, the Oxford 250 and the MegaMeltdown. These wins mean a lot, but now we want the big ones.”
In qualifying, Tate Fogleman just beat out Craig for his first career quick qualifying time in PASS South with a lap of 15.321 seconds (93.989 MPH). After the top 10 qualifiers redraw, Matt Wallace and Jared Fryar would move to the front row, while Fogleman and Craig would slot into the fourth and fifth starting positions respectively.
At the drop of the green flag, Wallace would move to the point and begin to stretch out to a big advantage over the rest of the field. The caution would not wave until lap 26 when a light mist began to fall over the speedway. After several laps under caution to keep heat in the track, the race went back to green with Craig taking over the top spot from Wallace. But, the caution would wave again after contact in turn three between Fryar and Joe Graf, Jr. sent Fryar for a spin. During the caution, the precipitation would pick up, resulting in a delay to insure that the track was dry.
After the rain had passed, the field went back to green with Craig leading over Wallace and Dave Farrington, Jr. Farrington, along with Fogleman and Kodie Conner, were able to move by Wallace with 57 laps to go to try and track down Craig for the lead.
The caution would wave with seven laps to go when rookie Roy Hayes spun in turn four. On the restart, Fogleman, who passed Farrington for second just prior to the caution, raced hard to try and challenge Craig, but spun exiting turn two and collected Conner. Craig would go unchallenged the rest of the way to sweep the season at Southern National over Farrington, Trevor Sanborn, Fryar, and two-time PASS National champion, Jay Fogleman. Rounding out the top 10 were Graf, Conner, T. Fogleman, Sarah Cornett-Ching, and Wallace.
In MASS Street Stock action, Gary Ledbetter, Jr. led flag-to-flag to take the win over polesitter Bobby Tumbleston, Ricky Locklair, Jr., Sonny Schoffen, and Jeff Melton.
The PASS South Super Late Models will be in action again on Saturday night, August 12 at South Boston Speedway, along with Twin 75s for the NASCAR Late Model Stocks and Hornets. Entry forms will be available at ProAllStarsSeries.com. Be sure to “Like” the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @PASSSLM14.
PASS South Super Late Model – Southern National 150 – Unofficial Results
- 54 – Matt Craig 150
- 7 – Dave Farrington, Jr. 150
- 41 – Trevor Sanborn 150
- 14 – Jared Fryar 150
- 4 – Jay Fogleman 150
- 12 – Joe Graf, Jr. 150
- 45 – Kodie Conner 150
- 8 – Tate Fogleman 150
- 99 – Sarah Cornett-Ching 149
- 6 – Matt Wallace 149
- 15 – Roy Hayes 146
- 51 – Eddie Fatscher 140
- 98 – Jody Measamer 134
- 91 – Will Bristle 21
DNS 2 – Deac McCaskill
Sources: Alan Dietz/PASS PR
Photo Credit – Andy Marquis