Johnson Lands Big Paycheck At South Boston Speedway

SOUTH BOSTON, VA. - .Eddie Johnson will be laughing all the way to the bank come Monday morning.

Johnson, from Midlothian, Va., landed the biggest paycheck of his NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division racing career here Saturday, winning the 250-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car Division race that served as the co-feature race of the Mason-Dixon 500 racing program at South Boston Speedway.

The win, which was worth $10,0000, was Johnson's only win this season at South Boston Speedway. He finished fifth in the NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division points standings at South Boston Speedway this season.

Johnson wrestled the lead from South Boston Speedway 2009 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car Division champion Justin Johnson of Durham, N.C. on lap 210, one lap following the restart that ensued in the wake of the race's eighth caution period.

He built a lead of about a quarter of a lap, only to see it erased when 2009 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion Philip Morris of Ruckersville, Va. and David Quackenbush of Lorton, Va. spun in the first turn with 15 laps left in the race.

On that restart and the two that followed, the last of which came on lap 247, Johnson was able to get away from second-place runner Jonathan Cash of Oxford, N.C. At the end, Johnson edged Cash by .522 second.

Justin Johnson finished third with Tommy Lemons of Troy, N.C. finishing fourth and Deac McCaskill of Raleigh, N.C. rounding out the top five finishers.

Dane Rudolph of Danville, Va., Lee Pulliam of Semora, N.C., Morris, Ronald Hill of Rougemont, N.C. and Dustin Storm of Huntingtown, Md. completed the top ten.

The race featured six lead changes with six different drivers leading the race. Eddie Johnson led twice for a total of 61 laps, including the final 41 circuits.

Morris started on the outside pole and took the lead on the second lap from pole winner David Triplett Jr. of Timberlake, N.C. He led the next 128 laps before his car and the second-place car driven by Nick Smith of Hampton, Va. spun coming off of turn four and smacked the wall at the beginning of the frontstretch.

Morris, who led the most laps in the race, had worked his way back up to fifth place when he and Quackenbush spun on lap 235.

Eddie Johnson averaged 63.932 mph in winning the race, which took one hour, 34 minutes and nine seconds to complete. The race was slowed by 11 cautions and one red flag.

Ben Rowe Wins PASS South Race, PASS National Title

Ben Rowe of Turner, ME took the lead from Cassius Clark of Farmington, ME with 41 laps to go and held off his father, Mike Rowe, in a 22-lap sprint to the finish to win the 250-lap lap Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Model race that served as the co-feature race of Saturday's Mason-Dixon 500.

The win in the final race of the PASS national championship series allowed Rowe to lock up the series' national championship. One race remains in the PASS South series.

Saturday's win completed a near sweep of the four PASS national championship series races. In the four-race national championship series, Rowe has three wins and one second-place finish.

Rowe's margin of victory over his father was .542 second.

Clark finished third with last year's South Boston Speedway PASS race winner, Johnny Clark of Hallowell, ME, finishing fourth and Heath Hindman of Chattanooga, TN rounding out the top five finishers.

While South Boston Speedway's two previous annual PASS races have been PASS South events, Rowe's win continued a streak in which no PASS South driver has managed to pick up a win here.

Ben Rowe averaged 55.528 mph in winning the race.