Lucama, NC (September 15, 2007) - I came up with this idea during the three plus hour drive from Charlotte to Lucama, North Carolina where Southern National Raceway Park is located. Lucama is a sleepy small town just off I-95 east of the Raleigh-Durham area that probably serves more as a fuel or snack stop for people heading south (or North) on I-95 towards another destination. The NEXTEL Cup has its goofy "Chase to the Championship," so I figured I'd call these last four races the "Final Lap" to the title. Or, something like that.

This is the WSMT's second (technically, third if you count a return trip from a rainout) visit to SNRP and it's where they crowned Junior Miller and Riggs Racing as it's champion last year as the final event of the 2006 schedule.

Southern National is a high banked, 4/10th's mile oval that's been recently been repaved since the tour's last visit. Drivers were quick to compliment the smoothness of the track, and the speeds they were achieving. Several drivers were below the previous track record set by L.W. Miller during last year's tour stop.

Several drivers (who shall remain nameless) also confided in me that some of the lesser experienced drivers were probably in over their heads when talking about the speeds the cars were carrying around the track. Some felt the closing speeds could catch a few of the lesser experienced drivers off guard when a driver they saw in their mirror closed in faster than they expected. The teams were also thrown another curveball when Hoosier showed up with a much harder compound tire for this event. NASCAR felt it was best to be safe than sorry and apologized to the teams during the drivers' meeting, but all in all, everyone seemed to think it worked out for the best and thankfully, the caution count was low and everybody did a great job getting the event in.

Seventeen cars made the trip to Southern National and Mount Airy, North Carolina's veteran modified driver Frank Fleming re-wrote the track record by almost six and a half miles an hour! Times dropped from 14.971 seconds in 2005 to Fleming's 14.025 for the new track record and the pole.

When I asked Fleming about the speeds and the tires, he commented with "Well, this is new pavement here and they were concerned about the tire we normally run on the tour of blistering or giving up and maybe people crashing some cars. So, they came out with a real hard tire for us to run down here, thinking it would hold up better but I'm sure if we'd have had the softer tires, the cars would have gotten down in the thirteen second range. It seemed like the old days. When I come off the fourth corner in qualifying, I didn't have to look at the scoreboard, I didn't have to ask nobody, if anybody done any better than that, they deserved that and that's the way I looked at it and I don't think anybody had any more than what I give it. It was really fun riding that lap, well the two laps and I was pretty confident. If anybody beat that man, they can have it. I was tickled."

Second fastest was Junior Miller with L.W. Miller, George Brunnhoelzl, III and Tim Brown rounding out the top five. The redraw for starting positions was set at ten this week, with Jason Myers pulling the number one pill. L.W. Miller would start alongside with Brandon Hire, Frank Fleming and Tim Brown restarting fifth. Sixth through tenth were Buddy Emory, Junior Miller, George Brunnhoelzl, III, Burt Myers and Brian Pack.

As the teams lined their cars up on the front straightaway for driver introductions, Buddy Emory's night would end before the green flag even fell. Emory's team informed NASCAR of a rocker arm failure inside the motor of the RCS Construction/Amsoil Chevrolet. This would move the rest of the outside line up one position and move George Brunnhoelzl, III and Brian Pack forward.

As the field crept toward WSMT starter Jeff Bunton's green flag, L.W. would get the jump on Jason Myers as the two raced to turn one. L.W. had told me earlier in the day that he didn't expect to walk away and dominate the event like the two races he had won at the similarly shaped Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia last year and with the harder tire compound the teams were on, he wasn't sure what to expect out of the tires for the 150 lap event. Junior Miller wasted little time and passed Tim Brown for fifth on lap three and Brown made his way around Brandon Hire for sixth using the outside groove the following lap. Burt Myers would bring the fans to their feet on lap seven as he got loose and "dirt-tracked" his All Star Truck Repair, DMC Auto Exchange #1 around turn four and lose several positions in the process.

Frank Fleming would duck inside L.W. for the lead as the two raced to turn one on lap nine and at lap ten the rundown was Fleming, L.W. Miller, Jason Myers, George Brunnhoelzl, III, Junior Miller, Tim Brown, Brandon Hire, Brain Pack, Brian King and rookie Thomas Stinston.

Remember that last name, because it will come up a lot, later on in the race.

The first caution came out on lap eleven as J. Wesley Swartout and Jay Foley would get together exiting turn four. Wesley explained to me after the race that he had some sort of tire issue on the left rear of his HIK Motorsports Ford and it turned him directly into the turn four wall which looked like a scary wreck. Foley would lose the right front of his Virginia/Carolina Timber Chevrolet and limp to the pits on lap thirteen.

While the safety crews checked on J. Wesley and the field followed the pace car, Burt Myers, Gene Pack and Jay Mize would hit pit road with both Pack's and Myers' teams looking to make chassis adjustments since this was an impound race after qualifying. Burt Myers' team immediately went to the left front of the #1 car. "When we practiced today, we were real tight all day and we started throwing spring rubbers in and after the race got going, we realized we probably shouldn't have done that. So, we got the spring rubbers out" explained Myers. All three drivers rejoined at the tail of the field as NASCAR stopped the cars on the backstretch on lap seventeen.

J. Wesley's car needed the dreaded "double hook" to be towed back to pit road and the team would spend a majority of the rest of the race rebuilding the right front corner to load their car back into the hauler. NASCAR re-displayed the yellow on lap eighteen and Burt immediately went back to pit road to work on the right front corner of his car. The lights went out on the pace car and the race would go back to green at lap twenty.

As soon as the race went back to green, Junior Miller and Tim Brown hooked up on the outside groove and began taking positions with authority. Miller would pass Jason Myers for third on lap twenty two and Brown followed the two time champ past Myers' black and gold number four for fourth on lap twenty three.

"The King" as he's known to his fans, started looking like the same driver who'd won the season finale here last year as he passed L.W. Miller for second on lap twenty six with "The Rocket" hot on his heels, passing L.W. for third by the end of the very same lap. As L.W. Miller's silver and black number thirty six entered turn three, the brake rotors on his Baker Plumbing and Utilities Pontiac started to glow cherry red. "We had some brake problems right from lap one. It probably happened during practice and I kick myself for not catching it. We had a rotor hanging up on the right front and it just killed us in the race."

By lap thirty, the rundown had Frank Fleming leading, with Tim Brown second who had ducked under Junior Miller on lap twenty eight, Junior Miller, L.W. Miller fourth and Jason Myers hanging on to fifth. Sixth through tenth were George Brunnhoelzl, III, Brandon Hire, Brian Pack, Brian King and Earl Baker.

Tim Brown said he knew after five laps that he had a car capable of winning as the six time Bowman Gray Modified champion dove under Frank Fleming for the lead on lap thirty one and cleared Fleming's blue and orange number 07 to take the lead on lap thirty two. This would be the last lead change of the night as Brown started to pedal his Hayes Jewelers machine away from the rest of the field.

George Brunnhoelzl, III would look under Jason Myers for fifth on lap thirty four and clear Myers' black and gold machine as the two raced down the backstretch.

Brown would lead lap forty over Frank Fleming, Junior Miller, L.W. Miller and George Brunnhoelzl, III. Jason Myers dropped back to sixth, with Brandon Hire, Brian Pack, Brian King and Earl Baker holding on to tenth.

Jason Myers' night would come to an end at lap fifty one with an engine failure as he slowed exiting turn two and came to a rest at the top of turn four, bringing out the race's second caution. Gene Pack would pull up to pit his Lowe's Home Improvement number thirty one with Jay Foley following him to pit road on lap fifty four. Pack's crew would jack the rear of their Troyer car and make a tire pressure adjustment to the right rear while working inside the fenderwell of the left rear with what looked to be a spring rubber adjustment.

The race would restart at lap fifty eight and the lap sixty rundown was Tim Brown leading, followed by Frank Fleming, Junior Miller, L.W. Miller, George Brunnhoelzl, III, Brandon Hire, Brian Pack, Brian King, Burt Myers and Thomas Stinson.

Earlier, I told you to remember that name. Thomas Stinson came into the 2007 Whelen Southern Modified Tour as a virtual unknown. Stinson had a lot of success in the "Rolling Thunder Modifieds" in his native Virginia and has had plenty of laps previously at Southern National. In fact, Stinson was pulling "double duty" this evening by running both the WSMT event and the Rolling Thunder car later in the evening. Stinson would finish second in the Rolling Thunder event and continues to impress in the Sunoco "Rookie of the Year" standings on the WSMT.

At Halfway, Jay Foley was the only car not on the lead lap as Tim Brown clicked off lap seventy five and the next twelve laps were without change as Earl Baker was the next to go down a lap to the leaders on lap eighty seven. Brandon Hire would look under George Brunnhoelzl, II for fifth and take Brian Pack with him on lap eighty nine.

Burt Myers was closing fast. After the much needed spring rubber adjustment, Myers had passed George Brunnhoelzl, III for seventh on lap ninety two. The rundown at lap 100 was Tim Brown, Frank Fleming, Junior Miller, L.W. Miller, Brandon Hire, Brian Pack, Burt Myers, George Brunnhoelzl, III, Thomas Stinson and Brian King.

Burt would clear "Sapo" for sixth on lap 105 and set off after Brandon Hire but it would take him another handful of laps to get past the Clemmons Speed Shop number forty four. Burt Myers explained his difficulty in getting by Pack and Hire for position. "By the time I got by the 81 (Brian Pack) and the 44 (Brandon Hire) our car was busting out from about halfway through the race and if you watched, when I was under Brian (Pack) and the 44 (Hire), I could never make the pass because I was busting out and I couldn't clear him. I couldn't get the run I needed to get to beat them to the other end of the straightaway."

Thomas Stinson continued to impress and marched forward by passing George Brunnhoelzl, III for eighth on lap 120 as Tim Brown, Frank Fleming and Junior Miller now had a half lap's lead on fourth place L.W. Miller. Burt Myers was fifth followed by Brandon Hire, Brian Pack, Thomas Stinson, George Brunnhoelzl, III and Brian King.

Stinson would pick off Brian Pack for seventh on lap 122 and twelve laps later would clear Brandon Hire for sixth but his march towards the front ended there. Tim Brown continued to lead at lap 140 followed by Frank Fleming, Junior Miller, L.W. Miller, Burt Myers, Thomas Stinson and Brandon Hire the last car on the lead lap at Lap 140.

But when the checkers flew, Brown had caught and lapped Thomas Stinson and came home with his second WSMT win of the season over Frank Fleming, Junior Miller, L.W. Miller and Burt Myers.

A happy Tim Brown climbed from his car and spoke with the track's announcer. "I tell you what, I love this race track. Last year, we came down here and was real good and some lapped cars cost us the win and the championship and it's just like that deal at Ace, you know? We had them covered tonight and we knew it when we unloaded. We were real good and we changed some stuff on the car and we slowed down a little bit but we changed everything back and we didn't know if it would work because we didn't get any practice. But about five laps into the race I said, "Oh yeah, we got something for them tonight" and this is an awesome, awesome smooth, lot of grip race track. Our Rahmoc motor ran well. These guys always, always work their guts out on this thing. I've got to thank Hayes Jewelers, I've got to thank Snapple, RH2wayradio.com, VP Racing Fuels. We've just got so much going on and I think it was my brother and his wife's anniversary or something but......Scott Moore's! I knew somebody had an anniversary or something *laughs* So, this is for you guys and our whole family's here and it's just awesome, This is a great win. We're just happy here and my crew chief Phil Moran, he wound up at Loudon with Donny Lia running a truck because he works for Bill Davis Racing. My hat's off to him. He's got us in the right direction and we've got the car where I like it now and I think we can win a lot of races now."

When asked about his strong run and the dominating performance he put on tonight, Brown added, "Yeah man, this thing was hooked up tonight. We knew it in practice. We were real, real good. I mean, there were times on the race track where we were three or four tenths quicker than anybody else and we came in and tried to make the car more comfortable but when we did, it took speed out of it. I ain't never been one to worry about how comfortable the car is, I just want to run fast and it was fast. The tires that Hoosier brought was great, they stayed right there. The thing never bobbled, never spun a tire all night long. They had this thing really, really hooked up for me."

When asked if he's still chasing his first WSMT title, Brown closed with "God yeah. I mean, we've got two races to go and you know L.W.'s been really, really strong at Caraway. We broke a rear end last week and fell back to fifth but I think we can run with him if we can keep the car in one piece because all these race track are similar and we'll go down there next week and hope we can outrun him and if we go back the next week and outrun him, then we'll be there hopefully so, provided with as big of a lead he's got, I think he's got to have some trouble too because he's a stout competitor and I just hope we can get him. We're doing everything we can that we got do to win it. So, all we can do is try to come and win the races and that's what we're doing and if we win the last two races and don't win the points, we've done all we can do."

Second Place finisher Frank Fleming continues to string along second place finishes in Speedy and Talmadge Thomas' famous number 07 machine. "Tim had a great car tonight and he had that thing really working good. Our car was great. His was just a little bit better. I think in lapped traffic, I was a little better than him. If we could have got some lapped traffic all the way around the track, that might would have given me a chance. Other than that, he just had the best car tonight. We're going to have to go home and work on this thing a little bit more and we'll come down next week and try to win this thing again. We've been second two weeks in a row now, so we're going to try and pick up one more spot."

When I asked him if he was happy to finish second and if he's still thinking about the points, he added "Yeah, I'm happy. I'm not really looking at the points. I think we're eighth and I hear people talking about it but we've fell out of two or three races at the beginning of the year with some problems. It was a brand new car and we'd had a few problems with it but we've got the bugs worked out of it now and we've just got to keep dialing in on this chassis and make it work just a little bit better to outrun.....It just seems like every race, there's a dominant car and it seems like every race here lately, I'm the one that finishes second. So you know, I'm pretty consistent. If we keep running this good, we're going to put together a win."

Third place finisher Junior Miller thinks he needed just a little bit more rear bite in the car to visit victory lane again aboard his Riggs Racing Dodge. "We just needed probably about 15 or 20 pounds of bite in the rear of the car. I just couldn't get back in the gas wide open and it was getting in real good you know? When a loose race car turns good, we could get in on quicker than they was and when we picked the gas up, we just had to ease in the gas, and you couldn't jump into it wide open. We just needed a little bit more bite in the car."

I asked Miller when he realized he was going to have to settle for the third place run. "Well, just about halfway on, I was a tick loose and I couldn't get wide open and I didn't want to spin the tires because they were new and I didn't know if you spin them if they would go away quick you know? So, I just "egg pedaled" it and ended up third. We just needed a little bit more bite in it."

Finally, I asked him how hard he was digging early on in the race and if he was saving anything for the end. "We run about as hard as we could run there, you know? I jumped out there early and got by three or four cars early than about halfway and it got just a little bit loose there and I knew it wasn't a good enough car to win the race but we had a real good race car and it was real good, clean racing. I didn't see nobody crash and spin nobody out so that's one good thing you know?" *laughs*

L.W. Miller battled a severe brake problem in his Baker Motorsports Pontiac to come home fourth. "Yeah, we had some brake problems right from lap one. It probably happened during practice and I kick myself for not catching it. We had a rotor hanging up on the right front and it just killed us in the race. We struggled bad. But, we come in here, Jimmy Baker the crew chief, he's not here tonight. He had to stay home. He had a little baby boy this morning so, congratulations to him but we still had a great race car and finished fourth. I can't complain but we didn't have anything for them guys ahead of us and that's just disappointing when you're used to being one of the fast cars but we'll be back at Caraway next week and we'll get this brake problem figured out and get her back up front."

L.W. was also one of the first drivers I talked to about the tire situation earlier in day. "I feel that the tires we normally run are a better tire to race on. These tires here, they were so hard right from the get go. They didn't give up because they weren't really that good to start with. So, we definitely....we would have been better on the other tires but not if everybody would have been blistering them wouldn't it have been better, so they made the right call coming here safe and conservative with the tires. I've got to say that the next time we come back next year on our regular tires, we'll be able to put on a better race."

Finally, I asked him if he was looking forward to the final two events of the tour taking place at Caraway Speedway, a place where he's won every single event held at the track this year. "We're getting down to the line now and I'm not really a points racer but, at some point, sometimes that's what we're going to have to do. Hopefully, that doesn't come into play in these next two races because I'd love to win them all at Caraway this year. That would be pretty awesome so, that's our goal but we'll go out there and race hard and see where we come out at."

Burt Myers comes home with another top five finish in his All Star Truck Repair, DMC Auto Exchange Chevrolet. "Yeah, we had a really good car after we got going. When we practiced today, we were real tight all day and we started throwing spring rubbers in and after the race got going, we realized we probably shouldn't have done that. So, we got the spring rubbers out and here she went and I just got so far behind that I had to work my way up through there that I think I burned my right front off by the time I got to L.W., like I said, I'd already burned my right front off. So, to be fifth, anybody that knows me knows that that's not what I come to race for but all in all to have the night we did and to still come back to fifth and we missed this big wreck over here off of four so, all in all it wasn't a bad night. But, I sure don't like not winning."

Myers and his team are looking forward to getting back to Caraway after a test the day before they left for Southern National. "We went and rented the track at Caraway last Friday (or yesterday) and we got about ten laps in before it started raining. But in those ten laps, we were at race trim, 100 percent race trim. Tires, Fuel, Stagger we were at race trim. We ran real good, consistent laps and I was real happy with the car. I don't want to be too optimistic, because we only got ten laps but we've made some wholesale changes for Caraway and this is the car that we had at Caraway and truth be known, it probably hurt us here. The changes we made for Caraway probably hurt us for here but, it's more important to go to Caraway and finish up good there."

Finally, I asked Burt of his opinion on the tire situation the teams had to deal with during the event and if he noticed any "fall off" in the grip level. "No, they didn't really fall off. They just....the car had to be closer. The chassis or the setup. In other words, the guys that were setup better, were easier on tires therefore, they didn't fall off as much. Our car was loose. It was hurting the right rear and then we were tight and it pushed the right front off. So I think, could I have gotten a little freer, or if we could have got another caution, and I got in here and got it a little bit more freed up it probably would have been a little better and easier on the tires and we wouldn't have been in that situation. But, the tires weren't that bad. It's just frustrating when you've got to race on a tire that you know nothing about or you don't know anything about. Then, you've got to buy a set to practice on because you don't have anything to practice on. So, it just makes it frustrating in that sense but, all in all it's a better tire than what we race on. It would just be nice to race on either one or the other and quit going back and forth."

So to return to my theme I started out with at the beginning, the Whelen Southern Modified Tour dives into turn three this week at Caraway Speedway. Come to think of it, some pretty exciting things have happened in turn three at Caraway this year. Ted Christopher and Burt Myers got together in turn three during the season opener at Caraway. L.W. Miller and Jason Myers exchanged the lead in turns three and four at Caraway. As did L.W. and Junior Miller just a few weeks ago. Could "turn three" be L.W.'s demise and cost him precious points towards his first NASCAR Championship? Or will he continue his dominance and visit victory lane again for the sixth straight time and add to his points lead?

Grandstand gates open at 6 PM at Caraway. Tickets are $20.00 for adults and kids 11 and younger are admitted free. The pit gate opens at 2 PM. For more information, contact Caraway Speedway at www.carawayspeedway.com. Mod Series Scene will be on hand with Live Updates and be with you all the way to the checkered flag for wire-to-wire coverage of the 2007 Whelen Southern Modified Tour championship.