Tuesday’s final round of the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway saw Carson Ferguson aim for the perfect night – a win in the Boston Reid Real Estate Pro division finale to cap off a dominant championship season.
Running second to Joey Padgett in the closing laps, Ferguson needed a caution to finish his season in style. Ferguson got what he needed. He roared into the lead soon after a restart and held off Padgett and Bubba Wallace to score the win and net another Pro championship for Ladyga Motorsports.
“The first couple laps, Joey got in the corner and just moved me,” Ferguson said. “He didn’t tear anything up, so it was just racing. I caught him and tried to hang him on the outside but Bubba kept racing me and it took a while to get back to Joey. I wasn’t gonna let them get me that time.”
Jason Alder needed a top-10 finish to clinch the VP Racing Fuels Semi-Pro title, while Isabella Robusto entered Tuesday night needing a win and some help to pull off her first crown. While D.J. Canipe emerged unscathed to win a caution-filled race that ended two laps short of the scheduled 25 laps, Alder did what he needed to do. The Maryland native finished fourth to Robusto’s sixth, bringing home the Semi-Pro crown.
Cutter Love won the Semi-Pro B-Main.
Mark Green and Robby Faggart had the easiest paths to the Twenty-Six Acres Brewing Company Masters championship when Tuesday’s races began: whichever driver finished higher won the title.
Faggart began the 25-lap feature from the pole and had the inside line to the title, but Green hounded Faggart for the first 20 laps. Once Faggart had to lift off the throttle to avoid lapped traffic, Green moved to the inside of Faggart’s machine entering Turn 1 with three laps to go. The two cars made contact and each continued – but Green cleared Faggart and clinched the crown.
“My car was really good tonight. Robby’s car was really good on the get-go. I got underneath him and he rubbed me a bit, but that’s OK, it’s just good hard racing. I’m glad we were able to put on a little show.”
Zack Miracle led the way for the first half of a crash-heavy PMG Young Lions feature and appeared to have the division title in hand before a mid-race restart saw Miracle get sent spinning out of the lead – putting Sam Butler, the second-place driver in points, in the driver’s seat. While Miracle tried to make up enough points, leaders Kade Brown and William Cox tangled on the final lap. Cox spun out in Turn 2 while Brown sped away to the finish line.
Brown was penalized for the contact, handing the win to Conner Jones and the championship to Butler.
“I just had to keep my eyes peeled and never give up,” Jones said of his win.
Jadyn Daniels drove away from the field for the second consecutive night in Farm Bureau Bandolero Outlaws competition. A caution with eight laps to go afforded Cameron Murray the opportunity to challenge Daniels, but Daniels’ No. 24 appeared to have it in hand before contact on a restart triggered a melee that eliminated Murray from contention, knocked Daniels to the tail of the field and moved points leader Garin Mash to the front with three laps to go.
Like D.J. Canipe in the Semi-Pro feature, Mash avoided any further carnage and collected his fifth win of the season to wrap up his title-winning summer.
“I’ve been here for 10 years and I’ve dreamed of this for years,” Mash said. “This has been the biggest year of my life and I think it’s gotten a little better tonight.”
Layton Harrison and Luke Morey fought nose to tail in the closing laps of the final K1 RaceGear Bandolero Bandits feature with Harrison holding Morey off by a car length at the finish.
Josh Willams stormed to victory in the Beginner Bandolero feature. Natalie Richard won the B-Main.
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