ROUGEMONT, N.C. — official series release — Drew Hierwarter/MotorsportsPhoto.com photo —
Brayton Haws drove to victory in the Late Model Stock portion of the CARS Racing Tour Orange Blossom 300 on Saturday night.
The Orange County Speedway triumph was the young gun’s first win of 2015 in the newly-formed tour.
Deac McCaskill proved once again he was the man to beat early by winning the pole for the second straight race, but Haws started alongside on the front row to sound the challenge.
Much like the season opener at Southern National, McCaskill quickly got out to an early lead, but it would be much shorter-lived as Haws took command before the one-sixth mark of the race. Shortly thereafter, Todd Gilliland, the winner of the season opener and series point leader, found himself involved in an incident with Stacy Puryear and numerous other contenders. The No. 98G of Gilliland was done for the night while others including Tyler Ankrum and Michael Fose were damaged significantly.
After the accident, the only challenge Haws would have to contend with the rest of the night was from Myatt Snider. Snider made several attempts to pass Haws, but could never finish the move, drawing even on multiple occasions. Following a late restart, Snider dropped a valve in the engine and was relegated to third at the checkered flag behind Haws and Justin Crider.
The win was just the second Late Model Stock victory in Haws’ short career.
“We were saving tires a ton in the beginning of the race, and I was rolling the corners a lot faster and that allowed me to get by him (McCaskill) for the lead,” Haws said in victory lane, “My team, Hawk-McCall Motorsports, had a great piece all weekend, and this is just an awesome win for this year.”
R.D. Smith and Jamey Caudill rounded out the top five.
The CARS Tour returns to action on May 9 for the Catawba Valley 300 from Hickory Motor Speedway, featuring 150-lap main events for both the CARS Late Model Stock Cars and the CARS Super Late Models.
RESULTS: CARS Late Model Stock Tour; Orange Blossom 150; Orange County Speedway; April 18, 2015
- Brayton Haws
- Justin Crider
- Myatt Snider
- RD Smith
- Jamey Caudill
- Tommy Lemons
- Justin Johnson
- Thomas Beane
- Jeff Oakley
- Deac McCaskill
- Clint King
- Blake Stallings
- Roddey Sterling
- Chris Davis
- Doug Barnes, Jr.
- Donnie Puryear, Jr.
- Chris Hudspeth
- Robert Tyler
- Garrett Campbell
- Christian PaHud
- Trent Barnes
- Mike Darne
- Stacy Puryear
- Stefan Parsons
- Michael Fose
- Austin McDaniel
- Todd Gilliland
- Tyler Ankrum
- Matt Waltz
- Ryan Wilson
CREDIT: CARS Tour