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FDJ Motorsports Post-Race SoBo/Caraway Power Rankings -- 12 thru 22
22nd -- Natalie Sather(n/r)
Natalie Sather isn't exactly one of the drivers that we expected to go into last weekends race at South Boston and perform up to the standards that we use to determine who should be among the best 22 drivers of the 54, who competed between SoBo and Caraway. However, here she is as she continues to impress and make even her biggest critics or doubters aware that she can compete with the best male drivers out there.
21st -- Robert Tyler(12)
Robert Tyler was expected to perform this weekend at Caraway Speedway, after all he picked up the win in the final race of the regular season there, but a suspected broken right front shock took his day from solid to being just another face in the crowd. He wasn't as competitive as expected, but Tyler still showed that even with an ailing car he could keep up with the visiting big dogs.
20th -- Dennis Holdren(n/r)
Dennis Holdren is just one of those guys who has become known for his qualifying ability, but seems to fade away long after the green flag has dropped. At South Boston, he proved that even against the best of the best that he could hold his own and he did so by driving his car to a seventh place finish. Dennis is now becoming one of the drivers that not only can qualify, but if things go his way, he can compete in the race too.
Mark Wertz was another one of those guys that you knew would be good, but you weren't expected big results out of, but his sixth place finish is proof positive that the Langley Speedway regular can compete on other tracks. Wertz, who hasn't had much success on the 4/10 mile South Boston Speedway, proved that he can race there as well with his performance.
19th -- Mark Wertz(n/r)
18th -- Tommy Lemons, Jr.(21)
Tommy Lemons, Jr.'s racing life must be equivalent to riding a roller coaster as the young man is either struggling or up front competing with the best of them. Tommy, who already had one win this season at South Boston earlier in the year, struggled through practice, but when it came time to qualify, he stepped it up once again. After posting a top ten qualifying run, he had an up and down race and finished ninth.
17th -- CE Falk III(5)
CE Falk III is another of those drivers who seems to have a roller coaster type ride ... from having the season of his career and by far the best among Late Model Stock Car drivers this season, Falk has struggled mightily in big race season. He wasn't a threat at all at Martinsville despite making it in on time and at South Boston, he was again there, but not a threat in the big race at a track he's usually good at.
16th -- Mark McFarland(n/r)
Mark McFarland should have been on the Pre-Race Power Rankings list, the only reason he wasn't is that when we made the list we went off the tracks entry list, of which at the time he was not on. McFarland was as strong as anyone on Friday in practice and looked to be a threat for the pole, but come qualifying and the veteran found himself in a heat race. He won the heat race, but had engine problems in the feature.
15th -- Nick Smith(13)
Nick Smith is one of those "balls to the wall" drivers ... with him you're not going to get anything in the middle of the road and while he wasn't as good as he thought he would be at South Boston, falling out with mechanical failures, he rebounded at Caraway on Sunday. He started dead last at Caraway with only 7 laps of practice and had made it to sixth when a scrape with the wall ended his day.
14th -- Brandon Butler(9)
Brandon Butler's performance at Martinsville Speedway in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300, left us expecting him to be in the mix for the win at South Boston in the Danville Toyota 300, a race he has won before. However, Brandon wasn't really ever in the mix as he ran mediocre all weekend and came home with a 22nd place finish, which was far from where we expected him to be.
13th -- Frank Deiny, Jr.(6)
Even having his namesake as the sponsor of the Power Rankings, didn't keep this veteran from falling from his pre-race ranking of sixth place to 13th. Frank Deiny, Jr. was making his return to racing after being out of the seat since March, but it wasn't the performance he had anticipated as he never made his presence known. Frank just didn't seem to be himself, then again maybe he was still getting the rust off?
12th -- Ryan Wilson(15)
Ryan Wilson could easily find himself further up this list, if not for the huge slide after leading the intial laps of the Mid-Atlantic Championship 250, only to fall back to sixth and eventually get crashed out of the race. Ryan proved that he could race with anyone on the Caraway track, but he didn't have the setup to stay ahead of eventual winner, Matt McCall in the end and thus the 12th place spot here.
Check Back for Drivers 1 through 11 Later ...
