PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Across the first two nights at “The Speed Palace,” James McFadden had smashed the outside wall in turn one to go for a huge flip and crushed the inside wall of the front stretch to go for another massive ride.
The Macri Motorsports No. 39m team was replacing parts left and right, and it paid off in the best way possible with a Tuscarora 50 title come Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.
While McFadden started from inside of row six, Danny Sams III led the first 16 laps of the 50-lapper aboard his Randerson Racing No. 24d. He controlled the opening portion of the race while Tanner Holmes and Kasey Kahne kept the pressure high before Holmes ultimately slid by on Lap 17.
Holmes’ command aboard the Buch Motorpsorts No. 13 was short-lived, however, as not long after he took the top spot from Sams, here came McFadden.
Going 11th-to-first by Lap 20, J-Mac slid by Holmes to steal the lead and never looked back. The Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia native endured the halfway open red and made all the right changes to lead the final 25 laps and cross the stripe with a 1.907-second margin of victory.
Cashing a $59,000 payday in the 59th annual event, McFadden is now the ninth different winner of the Tuscarora 50 in the last nine years.
Saturday’s score marked his second trip to Whiskey Myers Victory Lane this season – first was with Tarlton Racing in Arizona – but his fifth-career triumph with Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.
It was the ultimate payoff for McFadden, who had long hoped of becoming a winner at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway – finally doing so in his 36th try at the Juniata County oval.
Saturday’s score marked the second time that Macri Motorsports has topped the Tuscarora 50 title – first winning the crown jewel of Port Royal in 2022 when Anthony Macri himself drove from 19th-to-first.
Their win with McFadden further cemented the remarkable season that crew chief Joe Mooney and the rest of the No. 39m team have enjoyed with no matter who is sitting in the seat. Their car has won with the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove (with Kasey Kahne driving), earned the Kings Royal crown at Eldora Speedway (with Anthony Macri driving), and now the Tuscarora 50 title at Port Royal Speedway (with James McFadden driving).
Oregon native Tanner Holmes – all the way across the country from home – earned his career-best finish at Port Royal with a runner-up effort worth $25,000 in the Buch Motorsports No.13.
After leading Laps 17-19, Holmes kept McFadden honest on the final restart before finishing second with what he called “a home run effort” for their team based out of Pennsylvania.
Coming to life in the second half of the feature, Brent Marks restarted seventh and slowly maneuvered his to way to finish third aboard the Chase Briscoe Racing No.19. He claimed $12,500 in the final podium spot of the Tuscarora 50 and finished as the highest Pennsylvania native.
Closing out the top five were Troy Wagaman Jr. and Rico Abreu.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 39M-James McFadden[11]; 2. 13-Tanner Holmes[3]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[9]; 4. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[5]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu[7]; 6. 23-Chase Dietz[8]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich[17]; 8. 9-Daison Pursley[22]; 9. 69K-Ryan Smith[16]; 10. 67-Justin Whittall[21]; 11. 4-Kasey Kahne[4]; 12. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[14]; 13. 55-Kerry Madsen[15]; 14. 9R-Chase Randall[18]; 15. 55W-Logan Wagner[6]; 16. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[23]; 17. 26-Justin Peck[27]; 18. 87-Aaron Reutzel[25]; 19. 71R-Logan Rumsey[24]; 20. 24D-Danny Sams III[1]; 21. 21-Brian Brown[19]; 22. 77K-Kody Hartlaub[2]; 23. 8-Lance Dewease[26]; 24. 66-Ryan Newton[20]; 25. 10-Ryan Timms[10]; 26. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek[13]; 27. 71-Parker Price Miller[12]
