SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — For Deac McCaskill the 125-lap Solid Rock Carriers CARS Late Model Stock Tour race that headlined Saturday night’s Autos By Nelson 250 presented by Virginia Is For Lovers at South Boston Speedway resembled a picture from the past.
The Raleigh, North Carolina resident created a reproduction of a familiar picture from the past at South Boston Speedway, riding the high line all night and making it pay off, this time with his second victory of the season in the series and his first CARS Tour win at South Boston in five years.
“I have a lot of great memories here doing that,” McCaskill remarked. “I went on the bottom for one lap, and that was it. I was committed to the high line the whole time. It’s crazy. I’ve been here for two days testing and I was on the bottom about every lap. I didn’t go up to the top until the race started.”
McCaskill edged 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National Champion and 2022 South Boston Speedway NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division champion Layne Riggs by 0.352-second, or by about four car lengths for the win and the $7,000 winner’s prize.
While McCaskill led all 125 laps of the race he had a tough battle throughout, having to fend off both Riggs and former CARS Tour champion Bobby McCarty. Riggs made several runs at McCaskill during the second half of the race, pulling up beside McCaskill on the inside on multiple occasions. Each time, McCaskill would forge a small margin between them.
“It was hard,” McCaskill pointed out. “It was touch-and-go a few times. I just knew if I could keep my momentum going I would be okay.”
Riggs, driving an entry out of the Kevin Harvick Inc. stable, did all he could do trying to get around McCaskill but came up just short.
“It was an awesome race,” Riggs said. “Huge congrats to Deac. It was a lot of fun. I think he and I are the only two that could put on a race that good for the fans to the finish. I’m super glad to get to race with him. He’s been an idle of mine for many years. He’s been racing this track running the high line before I was born.”
The difference, Riggs, said, was track position. “The car was really good,” Riggs continued. “It was a track position game. The high side was so strong tonight. We were so evenly matched that it was tough to do anything with him.”
McCarty finished third, less than a tenth of a second behind Riggs. Brenden Queen and series points leader Carson Kvapil, driving a car out of the JR Motorsports stable, rounded out the top five finishers.
Former NASCAR star Kenny Wallace finished 21st driving a car out of the R&S Racecars stable in his CARS Tour debut. The popular racing personality said he enjoyed his visit to the .4-mile oval, his first trip back since 1996.
“The place looks brand new,” Wallace remarked. “They’ve got beautiful suites, and nice asphalt. I’m very impressed and I’m happy because we don’t want to see these racetracks go by the wayside. I’m happy to see South Boston thriving.”
The 125-lap race was punctuated by five caution flags that included a competition caution. The race took one hour and one minute to complete.
Nick Loden surged past Cole Butcher with four laps to go and edged Butcher by .326-second to win the 100-lap CARS Pro Late Model Tour race Saturday night at South Boston.
Tyler Warriner started on the pole and scored a flag-to-flag win in the 25-lap Virginia Mini-Cup Racing Association race Saturday night. Saturday night’s event was the first visit of the series to South Boston.