McCumbee Speeds To Icebreaker Late Model Win At Florence
TIMMONSVILLE, SC (February 6) – Ocean Isle Beach, NC’s Chad McCumbee took the lead for the final time with 46 laps to go and survived two late-race restarts for the win in Saturday afternoon’s Icebreaker for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stocks.
“I had a plan and I wanted to force the field to go early because personally, it’s always worked at Myrtle Beach and this racetrack is just a mini Myrtle Beach,” said McCumbee, driver of the Aaron’s Sales & Rentals/Elliott Properties Ford Mustang #16. “When the caution came out, I was sick. I knew Josh [Berry] was gonna be good but we’ve made gains during the offseason and we’ve got to keep doing that to have a stronger 2021.”
McCumbee’s teammate, Matt Cox, just edged him out for the pole position with a speed of 86.361 miles per hour around the 4/10-mile speedway. But, McCumbee was able to get the advantage on the start to take the early lead. Ryan Glenski started 10th but wasted little time moving to the front, passing McCumbee for the top spot on lap 15. By lap 30, Cox and Ryan Millington had both take their own turns leading the 29-car field.
Millington led the longest stretch of the day, staying out front for 51 straight laps, but was overtaken by McCumbee on lap 79. Rivals Bobby McCarty and Josh Berry held a fierce battle for second with Berry taking the position with 10 laps to go. But, contact between Justin Johnson and Bob Saville sent Saville’s 8-car spinning, setting up a five-lap dash to the checkered flag. McCumbee proved to be too strong taking the win over Berry, McCarty, Cox, and Kaden Honeycutt. Rounding out the top 10 were Millington, Austin Somero, Jonathan Shafer, Johnson, and Glenski.
The SuperTrucks raced for 75 laps with veteran Strom Altman prevailing in a tight battle for the win with Cody Kelley. Altman took the lead from Kelley with 32 laps to go as the two trucks made contact at the end of the backstretch. Kelley ran Altman back down, giving him a nudge on the final lap, just falling short at the finish. Following Altman and Kelley at the finish line were Robert Tyler, Neal Grant, and Jody Measamer.
Mocksville, NC veteran AJ Sanders got the advantage over Shane Canipe on a restart with 15 laps to go, leading the rest of the way for the Carolina Mini Stock Challenge victory. Rounding out the top five were Cody LeBlanc, Robert Strmska, and Isaac Chandler.
Wayne Locklair led every lap in a tight race with his cousin, Ricky Locklair, Jr. for the Street Stock win over Ken McClary, Trey Shuler, and Davey Smart.
The next event at Florence Motor Speedway will be the regular season opener on Saturday afternoon, February 27th with points being awarded for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stocks, Chargers, SuperTrucks, Mini Stocks, and Vintage Cars. Be sure to “Like” Florence Motor Speedway on Facebook, follow @FlorenceMSpdwy on Twitter to keep up on all that’s going on in 2021, visit fmspeedway.com. or watch all the action live each week on fmspeedway.tv.