_________________________________________________________
Brent
Nelson Fends Off Challenges to Score Elusive Lonesome Pine Victories
and First SCSCS Title
Coeburn,
Virginia (October 6, 2024) – One week after originally
planned, the Super Cup Stock Car Series visited Lonesome Pine
Motorsports Park to close out the 2024 season.
New faces were going to be in the 3/8-mile banked oval
victory lane by night’s end as no former race winners at the
Coeburn, Virginia facility, or former series champions for that
matter, were in attendance.
Brent Nelson,
riding in on a three-race winning streak, started on the right foot
claiming his second consecutive Pole Award with a best time of
17.669 seconds. From the
drop of the initial green flag all the way to the final checkered
flag of the evening, it would be no easy feat by any means to come
away with success for the Petersburg, West Virginia driver.
Nelson’s closest
championship contender Bill Ashton started second and was all over
the back and on occasions peeked alongside in the turns for the top
spot over the entire distance. When
it was all said and done, Nelson had barely remained in command for
his fourth victory of 2024 and first at Lonesome Pine in his seventh
try.
“It actually got
warmer than we anticipated here today and going into turns one and
two the sunlight was just blinding,” Nelson explained.
“You couldn’t hit your line and just held on.
I’d have to lift way early, 
hoping
Bill wasn’t going to run over top of me, but he was having the
same issues as I was. You’d
touch the throttle, and the back end would kick out and step out on
you. We just held on to
it the first race.”
The field had
started straight up from qualifying instead of a standard redraw,
which has been the decision that was made over the course of the
2024 season. As a
result, track position was key and despite his best efforts, Ashton
had to settle once again for second. The Uniontown, Pennsylvania
racer still was nevertheless in great spirits despite seeing the
title chances fall away upon Nelson’s scoring of maximum points.
“We were equal,
but the fact that he started in front of me; I almost got him three
or four times,” Ashton indicated.
“The car just wouldn’t quite stick well enough.
Man, I’ll tell you what, that is so much fun.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had that much fun
racing.”
Rounding
out the podium for the third consecutive race was Mike Senica in the
No. 57 Odie’s Oil Products / Aircraft Spruce / Blue Ox Vodka /
ASAP Energy Drink / Ashton Racing Chevrolet.
Although he had to head home to Warrington, Pennsylvania
immediately following the first main event, the results were good
enough for Senica to claim fourth in the final SCSCS standings for
2024.
A game of musical
chairs ensued for the second race and Nelson suddenly had a new
challenger up front. Track
president Jeff Roark returned to the driver seat for the first time
since the SCSCS race at Lonesome Pine in 2023, but on this occasion
took the wheel of the No. 35 Ashton Racing Ford.
Due to the driver changes, it allowed the No. 80 Precision
Auto Collision / JEBCO / QH Design / Chevrolet of Nelson to start in
the top spot again.
It was evident from
the get-go that Roark had to learn some of the nuances of the ride
that was new to him, showing a loose condition off turn four and
onto the frontstretch reminiscent of what Ashton and Nelson had to
fight during the daylight.
The win was not a
done deal for Nelson though as Roark began to first maintain the
margin between the two and then proceeded to narrow the gap.
Time ultimately ran out and Nelson was triumphant once more
for 2024, a record fifth consecutive win which also ties him up top
with Ben Ebeling in the all-time win list with a total of 25.
“I
knew it would tighten up for the second race,” Nelson commented.
“We made a few adjustments.
Call it what it is, I was mirror driving.
I was seeing (Roark) getting closer and I would try to step
it up a little bit more, but again we were able to stay four to six
car lengths ahead and was able to hold him off.”
Roark’s second
place performance was the best of his fairly brief SCSCS career to
date.
“This car has so
much horsepower which is an absolute ball, but I was trying to get
back on the throttle a little early and shoving the front end and
naturally when that happens, when it catches, it snaps loose,” the
Abingdon, Virginia driver said.
“Then once I figured out you’ve got to have these cars
pretty much pointed straight with all this horsepower, I still
don’t think I had anything for him, but it was fun.
“Didn’t know I
was actually going to drive tonight.
When we took the green flag it was my first laps in the car,
so I was well-pleased with that.
My goal was just to put it back on the trailer and run
respectably. I think we
did that tonight. That
80 car is pretty tough. Going
to have to work on it to get to him; work on myself, not the car.”
Ashton
completed the podium after taking control of the aforementioned No.
57.
For Brent Nelson,
leading multiple all-time series categories but coming up just short
with second or third in the final standings on seven previous
occurrences, finally being named the Super Cup Stock Car Series
champion was the special icing on the cake at the conclusion of the
night.
“I got started as
far as equipment, cars, and everything in 2009, and finally in 2010
we were able to come out and get started,” Nelson recalled.
“Man, it’s been 14 years to get to this point.
I’ve lost them by 30 points, I’ve lost them by 5 points,
and I knew coming tonight I was going to try to do everything I
could to get every possible point, and I think we got every point
available tonight.”
A future release
will go into further detail regarding the season-ending awards and
trophy presentation that took place following racing festivities at
Lonesome Pine Motorsports Park.
More information
can be found on the Super Cup Stock Car Series official website supercupstockcarseries.com,
on Facebook (search Super Cup Stock Car Series), Twitter (@SCSCSRacing),
and Instagram (SCSCS_Racing).
_________________________________________________________
