CONCORD, N.C. — In a ‘dicey’ caution-filled evening, new faces hit the jackpot in Cook Out Summer Shootout’s Round 7 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For the Night Owl Companies Young Lions Division, Neal Dulin put the puzzle pieces together to get his first ‘checkers’ flag of the summer.
While the field was as unstable as a Jenga Tower, the scramble for the win cut the race to just 16 laps. Kicking off the race with a four-car pileup, Dulin escaped for an early lead.
Throughout the race, Dulin kept his eye on the prize while holding off hard-charging Ryan Zima, which created repeated side-by-side battles for the lead. Despite the cautions, Carter McMurray also stayed consistent in his third-place position, throwing his hat in the ring and making his presence known right behind.
After the time flag was displayed, a final restart helped Dulin beat the buzzer and pull away to capture the flag before yet another caution ended the race.
“I wasn’t trying to look out of my mirror, I just focused on myself,” said Dulin on his winning strategy. “As my dad told me, focus on what is in front of you, not on what is behind you.”
Zima was anything but ‘Sorry’ as he finished second, while McMurray matched his shootout best of third.
When it came to Round 7 of the Bojangles Outlaw competition, ‘survey says’ T.J. Moon was right on the money, leading all 20 laps of the feature to secure back-to-back wins.
After starting second, Moon gambled his luck and used the inside to get past Owen Zacharias before hitting the bonus and running away with the prize.
As the field shuffled like a deck of cards behind, Moon extended his lead to over two seconds as the checkered flag flew.
Tallying up his fourth win of the season, Moon leads the Bojangles Outlaw division in both Cook Out Summer Shootout points as well as overall INEX points.
“We’re trying to keep the pace up and just keep going forward,” Moon said on his goals for the rest of the summer. “We’ve struggled the past couple of months so since [Cook Out Summer] Shootouts clicked, we gotta keep going.
Following Moon and Zacharias, round five winner Bryson Nichols finished third with Jeffrey Beck and Ellie Gossett rounding out the top five.
Lucas McFall (Night Owl Companies Beginner Bandos), Wyatt Coffey (Bandits), Lucas Palacio (Chargers), Aiden McConnaughey (VP Fuels Semi-Pro), Jake Bollman (UNC-Charlotte Pros) and Adam Welch (Old Armor Beer Company Masters) also earned feature victories.