MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Sam Yarbrough played the conservation game on Saturday at Myrtle Beach Speedway, and it paid off with a NASCAR Whelen All American Series late model victory at the half-mile.
Yarbrough laid in the weeds and saved his tires during the first half of Saturday’s 75-lap feature, but made his push to the front following a restart with 33 laps to go.
He charged from fourth to second in the first lap after green-flag conditions resumed, then waited patiently behind then-leader Ryan Glenski for four more circuits before making the race-winning pass in turns one and two with 27 laps remaining.
Once out front, Yarbrough paced himself and steadily ran away from the competition, ultimately taking the checkered flag 1.611 seconds clear of runner-up Tommy Lemons Jr.
“It’s amazing what can happen when everything falls into place,” Yarbrough noted in victory lane. “We struggled early in the day – I don’t know if we had a bad tire or what was going on – but I was really down in the dumps. When we bolted four stickers on and went out to qualify, though, I felt a lot better about things and figured we had a good shot to contend during the race.
“We tried to save what we had, and it worked out for us today.”
After the race’s lone caution flew with 42 laps complete for a stopped Kevin Parsons on the backstretch, Yarbrough knew he had an opportunity to pounce from fourth on the restart.
“I just knew if I could get a clean restart and get down to the bottom, that I’d be in pretty good shape to get by the (No.) 28 (Glenski) once we got out of traffic,” Yarbrough noted. “After I got into clean air, I just tried to put the hammer down and get away with what we had.”
Behind Yarbrough and Lemons, Rev Racing young gun Nick Sanchez was third, just ahead of David Roberts and Justin Milliken.
Brian Vause crossed sixth, followed by Glenski, who led 45 laps but faded to seventh at the checkered flag.
Matt Linker, Austin Somero and Lucas Williams completed the top 10.
Thad Moffitt, the 18-year-old grandson of seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty, battled mechanical issues all afternoon and was scored 23rd in the final rundown.
The finish:
Sam Yarbrough, Tommy Lemons Jr., Nick Sanchez, David Roberts, Justin Milliken, Brian Vause, Ryan Glenski, Matt Linker, Austin Somero, Lucas Williams, Stuart Ricks, Craig Stallard, Gracie Trotter, Jamie Weatherford, AJ Walsh, Brooke Storer, Randy Porter, Ernie Francis Jr., Travis Powell, Robbie Mew, Parker Retzlaff, RA Brown, Thad Moffitt, Ed Williams, Kevin Parsons, Bryant Barnhill.