RWI SpeedBlog: CARS Pro Cup At Anderson

 

10:08 p.m. — That will do it for our live coverage of the Palmetto State 250 at Anderson Motor Speedway. Thanks for hanging out with us. A full recap will be up shortly.

Good evening.

10:02 p.m. — Unofficial Results: Palmetto State 250:

1. JP Morgan

2. Nathan Russell

3. Jeff Agnew

4. Bryan Silas

5. Harrison Rhodes

6. Allen Purkhiser

7. Tom Finney

8. Dalton Hopkins

9. Mike Williams

10. Tyler Young

11. Gus Dean

9:55 p.m. — We’re still working on getting a complete rundown.

9:45 p.m. — Despite the on-track contact, the pit area is calm right now.

Morgan on the win/Agnew’s misfortune:  “You never know how these things are going to work out.”

“This is the best way to start a season.”

Lap 250 — CHECKERED FLAG — JP Morgan wins the Palmetto State 250. Russell is second and Agnew follows in third.

Lap 246 — With five laps to go, Morgan has this race in hand with a 3-second lead.

Lap 239 — Silas takes fourth from Rhodes.

Lap 235 — Meanwhile, Agnew’s car is clearly not the same. He can’t keep up with Russell as Morgan continues to grow his lead.

Lap 234 — Make that one lap down.

Lap 233 — The only driver who can catch Morgan is Purkhiser, and he’s two laps down.

Lap 228 — Morgan has a 2-second lead over Russell and Agnew.

Lap 223 — Agnew is not on fresh tires. He had to change onto used tires to fit the tire rules.

Lap 220 — Agnew grabs third.

RESTART Lap 219 — Morgan jumps to the lead while Russell clears Rhodes for second. Agnew is fourth.

Lap 218 — The rain has stopped and the track looks good.

Lap 216 — The pace car is picking up speed. They’re going to try to keep heat in the race track as the rain continues to fall.

Lap 214 — It’s starting to rain much harder now.

Lap 213 — Silas gets another free pass. He’s back on the lead lap.

Lap 209 — Agnew pits for four tires. He’ll stay on the lead lap.

Lap 208 — Agnew has driven up next to Morgan. He wants his spot back.

CAUTION Lap 207 — Purkhiser gets into Agnew going into turn 1. Agnew spins and Morgan goes to the lead.

Lap 206 — Purkhiser has injected himself into the battle for the lead, although he’s 3 laps down. He’s pressing Agnew hard to get a lap back.

Lap 199 — Hopkins rejoins the race after losing three laps.

Lap 196 — Hopkins slows and pits for tires.

Lap 195 — Russell gets under Hopkins and takes fourth.

RESTART Lap 195 — Top 5: Agnew – Morgan – Rhodes – Hopkins – Russell

Lap 191 — Silas will get the free pass.

Lap 188 — Finney and Russell had banged fenders a few laps before this incident. Finney is not on the lead lap, while Russell was running third.

CAUTION Lap 187 — Russell and Finney tangle up in turn 3. Both cars continue.

Lap 180 — This is shaping up to be a two-car race, and Agnew clearly has the better hand right now. He has a 4 car length lead.

Lap 177 — Agnew and Morgan have broken away from the field again.

RESTART Lap 175 — Top 5: Agnew – Morgan – Russell – Hopkins -Rhodes

Lap 172 — Looks like the rain has stopped as the field doubles up.

Lap 171 — Rhodes will get the free pass. There will now be 5 cars on the lead lap.

Lap 170 — Purkhiser is in the pits for fresh tires. He’ll lose a lap.

Lap 167 — Cars continue to circle the speedway.

Lap 163 — That being said, the rain isn’t coming down too hard, and the radar looks OK.

Lap 162 — Should the rain keep coming down and the race is called, we are past half-way and Agnew would be your winner.

CAUTION Lap 161 — Caution is for the rain.

Lap 160 — Starting to rain here.

Lap 154 — Morgan is still pestering Agnew for the lead. The two have cleared the rest of the field by about 3 seconds.

Lap 148 — Clearly, fresh tires matter a lot here at Anderson. Purkhiser has been the class of the field, but on old rubber, he is struggling to keep pace with the leaders.

Lap 140 — Young has returned to the race, several laps down.

Lap 133 — Morgan won’t let Agnew get away. He sits on Agnew’s back bumper, waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

Lap 128 — Agnew dives under Morgan in turn 3 and takes the lead back off turn 4.

Lap 124 — Morgan rides Agnew up the track a bit in turn 4 and takes the lead. Agnew files in behind with Russell in tow. Purkhiser is next in line, two laps down.

Lap 123 — Agnew holds his ground on the high side of Morgan. They race door-to-door for the lead.

RESTART Lap 122 — Top 5: Morgan – Agnew – Russell – Hopkins – Rhodes

Lap 118 — Purkhiser will get a wave-around. He’s now 2 laps down.

Lap 114 — The leaders are back in for fuel, although Morgan stays out — he pitted for fuel earlier.

Lap 113 — The leaders pit for tires. All take four tires. Agnew leads Russell and Morgan off pit road.

Lap 111 — Hopkins gets the free pass. There will now be 4 cars on the lead lap: Agnew, Morgan, Russell and Hopkins.

However, the recently approved sildenafil pfizer are also gaining popularity due to their safe and effective treatment of sexual dysfunction. The patients are viagra without prescription http://www.learningworksca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/025-Phil-Daro-Mathematics-for-Whom.pdf suggested to consume this medicine only when they are sexually aroused. In many cases, kamagra tablets, kamagra jelly and Kamagra soft tablets. This total which based on the well timed composition, have a synergetic effect. CAUTION Lap 110 — Debris.

Lap 108 — Young’s day appears to be over. His car goes behind the wall.

Lap 103 — With Young still in the pits, there are only 3 cars on the lead lap.

Lap 97 — Young is off the pace. He pits with smoke coming out from under the car.

Lap 94 — Morgan bounces off the lap car of Williams, who isn’t giving him any room.

Lap 86 — Purkhiser is going to get one of his laps back the old-fashioned way. He gets past Agnew and is now only 3 laps down.

Lap 81 — The battle for the lead is tightening up. Young has closed the gap on Agnew to about 3 car lengths.

Lap 77 — Dean slows and heads into the pits. The hood goes up as his car goes behind the wall.

BLACK FLAG Lap 72 — Purkhiser serves a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. He’s now 4 laps down.

Lap 70 — Silas has also fallen off the pace. He’s now at the tail of the lead lap.

Lap 65 — Purkhiser pits with a flat right-rear tire. He loses three laps.

Lap 62 — Meanwhile, Young has moved back up to second with Morgan in tow. Russell has fallen to fourth.

Lap 60 — Purkhiser is still on the track, shaking the car back and forth as if he may have a tire going down. He’s the last car on the lead lap.

Lap 58 — Agnew jumps back to the lead while Purkhiser doesn’t come up to speed.

RESTART Lap 56 — Top 5: Agnew – Russell – Silas – Young – Purkhiser

Lap 54 — Agnew and Nathan Russell did not pit, and they’ll make up the front row. Because he pit early, Silas is now third.

Lap 52 — Looks like Dean will still be scored on the lead lap.

Lap 51 — Purkhiser and Young stop for fuel. Young wins the race off pit road.

Lap 50 — Dean is on pit road with the hood up. He’ll lose a lap as well, but he continues.

Lap 49 — Silas and Hopkins pit for adjustments. Neither take tires. Hopkins loses a lap.

Lap 47 — Finney kept his car off the wall, but he did fall one lap down.

CAUTION Lap 46 — Finney spins in turn 1 while battling with Harrison Rhodes. They were right in front of Purkhiser and were trying to stay on the lead lap.

Lap 43 — Dean takes fourth from Morgan.

Lap 42 — Purkhiser will soon be in lap traffic. First up will be Tom Finney, followed by Dalton Hopkins and Bryan Silas.

Lap 37 — Now Morgan is under attack from Dean.

Lap 34 — Agnew’s car has really come to life. He takes third from Morgan as they head into turn 1.

Lap 30 — Not only has Young started to pull away from Morgan, but he’s starting to reel in Purkhiser for the lead. The interval is about 8 car lengths.

Lap 27 — Agnew looks under Dean for fourth. Give Agnew the position off turn 4.

Lap 20 — Mike Williams falls a lap down. Meanwhile, Agnew has moved past Rhodes to take fifth.

Lap 17 — As Purkhiser starts to open up a lead, Morgan starts pressing the issue with Young for second.

Lap 13 — Purkhiser dives under Young in turn 3 and takes the lead.

Lap 10 — Purkhiser starts to work on Young for the lead as Morgan closes on them both.

Lap 6 — The field begins to settle: Young-Purkhiser-Morgan-Dean-Rhodes-Agnew

Lap 4 — The outside line stalls as JP Morgan gets past Gus Dean for third.

Lap 1 — Tyler Young goes to the lead as Allen Purkhiser moves up to second.

8:01 p.m. — GREEN FLAG

8 p.m. — Lights are out on the speedway. We’re ready for racing.

7:59 p.m. — One more look at your starting lineup:

1. Tyler Young
2. Gus Dean
3. Allen Purkhiser
4. Jeff Agnew
5. J.P. Morgan
6. Harrison Rhodes
7. Nathan Russell
8. Dalton Hopkins
9. Bryan Silas
10. Tom Finney
11. Mike Williams

7:58 p.m. — The field of 11 roars to life. We’re getting ready to go racing — for real this time.

7:55 p.m. — Gus Dean has turned some heads already. He’s making his first Pro Cup start, and he’ll do so from the outside pole. Dean has raced at Anderson in a late model before, and he has a good bit of confidence about how his night will go.

“I’m really confident in the car my guys have given me,” he said. “We should be really good on the long runs.”

With only 11 cars starting tonight, there should be a few long runs.

7:52 p.m. — Now the engines are silent. The command was scheduled for 8 p.m.

7:50 p.m. — The engines roar to life. We’re getting ready to go racing.

7:40 p.m. — Jeff Agnew will roll off fourth tonight in the Palmetto State 250. The 2011 series champion isn’t quite sure what’s in store for the year or the evening.

“We’ve got the new bias-ply where we’ve been running radials,” he said. “Everything we’ve done with these cars has been for the radial tire, so we’re not too sure how big of a difference it will make.

“We’ll find out where we’re at tonight.”

7:30 p.m. — Tyler Young’s success so far shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. He’s in a brand new car that his team has been thrashing on during the off-season.

“We’ve been working really hard during the off-season getting everything better,” Young said. “We think we’re going to have a really good year.”

As for the competition, Young says Jeff Agnew and Allen Purkhiser will be the drivers to watch out for tonight.

“(Purkhiser has a lot of laps around here in late models, and Agnew is good wherever we go.”

7:15 p.m. — The drivers and cars are on the front stretch for an autograph session as the crowd continues to build. We’re about an hour away from the green flag.

Greetings from Anderson Motor Speedway in Easley, SC, where our Raceweek Illustrated staff is on the ground to bring you the latest info from the CARS Pro Cup season opener, the Palmetto State 250.

Tyler Young turned the fastest lap in qualifying. Gus Dean will be on the outside pole.  Here’s a look at tonight’s line up:

1. Tyler Young
2. Gus Dean
3. Allen Purkhiser
4. Jeff Agnew
5. J.P. Morgan
6. Harrison Rhodes
7. Nathan Russell
8. Dalton Hopkins
9. Bryan Silas
10. Tom Finney
11. Mike Williams

Action here at Anderson is set to roll off around 8 pm. Stay here with us for updates from trackside, or, if you’re in the area, come on out and join us at Anderson Motor Speedway.