The Spartanburg, SC., native defended his home turf well on Friday night, scoring a powerful flag-to-flag victory in the ‘UPS 40’ at the venerable Cherokee Speedway.
It was the second win of the VLR Crates season for McGee, who departed Cherokee – a high-banked half mile oval – with a twelve point lead over BLS_Dustin, who had to use BLS_F1yer as his sub for this weeks race
“I just gotta thank my spotter, Mama Tiger (his fiancee),” said an emotional VLR_McGee, who ran away with the victory over a stout field of drivers. “I'm just elated with joy that they got to racing back there.”
McGee dominated the feature, blasting off the pole position to lead the entire distance in his Hawkeyetrucksales.com/Team VLR Crate No. 53. He was fast enough to stay a step ahead of three-time VLR Gen 3 series champion VLR_18 of Brookfield, Wi., who made a late bid but settled for second place in his Mopar/US Army Dodge No. 18.
WFO ICE of Tahlequah, Ok., finished a close third in his Monster Energy/Team WFO Chevrolet #97, followed distantly by BLS_F1yer of Hickory, NC., in his National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet and VLR_Shock of Crossville, Tn., in his NOS Energy/Team VLR/J&J Steel Toyota Camry.
McGee, 44, actually battled the testy, summertime track surface more than any single driver to secure the top prize. He used a good draw for his heat race to set up a great night of racing in his famous #53 car.
“I saw when F1yer knocked it down from .90 to .70 and I thought, Lord, here we go again,” commented McGee, who entered the race expecting the track surface to be an issue. “I really don't like this track, as far as actually racing on it goes. It's great to win in front of my fans, though.”
McGee's vast experience at Cherokee told him that he couldn’t race too conservatively, however. The track won’t allow that strategy.
“You gotta drive hard every lap here,” said McGee. “One mess up and they're right on you.”
VLR_18, 15, moved into second in the closing laps after running in the fourth position for much of the race.
“McGee was the best driver tonight it looked like,” VLR_18 said of McGee. “Honestly, my only shot was if he just made a mistake and we caught him at the end. I think he was only going as fast as he had to.
“Considering we ran fourth most of the race, I’m happy to get what we did out of the night.”
The runner-up finish was VLR_18's fourth top three of the season on the VLR Crates series in six starts. He also owns two victories.
McGee, who entered Friday’s action six points ahead of BLS_Dustin in the standings, won a Crates race for the second time of his career. His only previous win prior was in the second race of the season at Attica Raceway Park.
WFO ICE registered a third place finish when the dust settled. He slipped by F1yer for third on lap 34 after F1yer lost control in turn three.
ICE's third place finish was actually his worst finish of the season in the Crate cars in six starts. He has won a series-leading four races on the season.
The biggest problem for WFO ICE was being dead locked in a tight battle all race for second, despite possibly having the fastest car in the A Main.
“F1yer got up to second, and I kind of let him go to let him run McGee down so I wasn't all over his ass,” said ICE. “Wheel got by me and I just drafted him and we had a great race for second.
“It was a lot of fun,” he added with a smile, “F1yer got loose coming outta two and got third place. Considering I didn't have any laps on the track before the race I didn't do two bad.”
F1yer, 33, ran second for nearly 3/4 the distance, but he was being pressured heavily by VLR_18 towards the end and broke loose out of turn two with about five to go and finished fourth.
“Uh, Shit, damn, uh, I mean it was, uh, it was a damn rough one, I mean shit,” said F1yer. “I can't even think of no damn jibberish to damn say, so, uh, good job McGee.”
VLR_Shock, 21, just tried to finish the distance without getting into any trouble and was successful – to an extent. While he was satisfied with his fifth-place finish, which kept him third in the point standings (8 points behind Dustin in second), he thought he could have done better.
"I think we had a top three car, maybe. But these guys were all fast here tonight, and it was hard just to stay in their draft," recalled Shock. "I could have got fourth when F1yer messed up, but I messed up a couple laps before he did and clipped the inside wall a bit and that cost us all of our momentum. McGee flat whooped everybody tonight so that was good for him."
Kokomo, In.’s BLS_Jsn! fell from his second starting position to limp home in sixth after having calibration issues, followed by 4th-starter XCR_B58 of Ramona, Ca., first time VLR a mainer Jr_39 of Niagra Falls, Canada., joshow20 of Dandridge, Tn., and 10th place BLS_34 of Vineland, NJ.
Sixteen cars entered the event, which drew one of the largest crowds in the history of Cherokee Speedway.
Heat winners were VLR_McGee, BLS_Jsn, and VLR_18. The B Main bandit BLS_F1yer was victorious in the B Main.
The VLR Crates head out to Cowtown Speedway in Kennedale, Tx. this Friday night for the season finale, with VLR_McGee holding a 12-point lead over BLS_Dustin in the standings, followed by VLR_Shock in third, just twenty points behind.
Stay tuned for what will be an epic showdown in the season finale for the right to be called a champion at VLR!
Top 10 results of VLR Crates Series 'UPS 40' (Finishing Position/Start/Driver):
1. VLR_McGee (1)
2. VLR_18 (3)
3. WFO_ICE (5)
4. BLS_F1yer (7)
5. VLR_Shock (6)
6. BLS_Jsn! (2)
7. XCR_B58 (4)
8. Jr_39 (8)
9. BLS_34 (9)
10. joshow20 (10)
Rookie of the Race: Jr_39