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By Ronald Young
Photo: Smart Tour
(Sophia, NC) Carson Loftin held off NASCAR veterans Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte in a couple of late race restarts to win the Warrior 100 SMART Modified tour race at Caraway Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
The win was the 2nd of the season for the 15-year-old driving sensation after he won the race a week ago at Florence Motor Speedway.
“Mr. Newman is a phenomenal race car driver, and I can’t thank him enough to drive me clean,” Loftin said in victory lane. ” I used him up a little more than I wanted to going in turn 1 so I’m glad he kept it classy. That was fun. I am just glad we could race hard and get another win.
Loftin ran among the leaders throughout the first part of the race and grabbed the lead from Luke Baldwin on a restart 36 laps from the finish. For the next 30 laps it was smooth sailing for the Lexington NC driver but a caution with less than 5 laps to go allowed Newman to have a shot at victory.
Acting like a poised veteran, Loftin was able to take the lead from the inside lane on the double-file restart alongside Newman.
A special win indeed as all the cars adorned stickers in remembrance of modified racer, Zach Brewer, who passed away recently. Carson took a victory lap with a special Zach Brewer flag remembering his late friend.
“This means so much to get it done for Zach,” Loftin stated. “I’m glad I could get it done for him. This feels great. He was such a good mentor and friend to me and my family.”
After the race Ryan Newman took the loss in stride.
“Carson did an excellent job,” Newman said. “I told him,’ You did exactly what you were supposed to do.’ He said, ‘Sorry about running you up’ and I said, ‘No, you can run me up because you had position. ‘He’s a good kid doing a good job; now we got to try to beat him again.
In addition to Loftin’s consecutive victories, Newman now has two podium finishes this season. Both drivers are unofficially first and second in points.
Rounding out the top 5 in the race were Bobby Labonte, Jimmy Blewitt and Danny Bohn.
The next race for the SMART modified tour will be the $20,000 to win King of the Modifieds at South Boston Speedway on March 23rd. A huge field of Modifieds from up and down te east coast are expected.
UNOFFICIAL Race Results for the Warrior 100 – Caraway Speedway -03/10/2024
Fin – Car- Driver
- 23 – Carson Loftin
- 2- Ryan Newman
- 18L- Bobby Labonte
- 99- Jimmy Blewett
- 24- Danny Bohn
- 4 -Jason Myers
- 7VA- Luke Baldwin
- 27-Blake Barney
- 60- Matt Hirshman
- 02- Joey Coulter
- 77B- Will Lambrose
- 79- Anthony Bello
- 66- Austin Kochenash
- 16- Jonathan Cash
- 21- Jimmy Wallace
- 04- Brandon Ward
- 1- Burt Myers
- 15- Brian Loftin
- 77- Gary Putnam
- 18- Daniel Yates
- 25 Tom Buzze
- 12PA- Jake Crum
- 22- Jason Tutterow
- 31 – Cody Norman
- 48- Jonny Kievman
- 45- Gary Young Jr.
