Langley Austin: Alright, here we go with another installment of "OFF the WALL" ... Corey Welcome to the Party!

Corey Latham: Party? I don't miss many of those.

LA: You don't remember them either do you? .... Well another UARA race and another rivalry brews this time Jake Crum and Matt DiBenedetto revisit old memories?

CL: Well, well. Seems we have a little rivalry going on. I'm A-OK with it as long

as they don't try to run each other thru the wall. a little beatin and a bangin for position is what it's all about. The whole thing was blown a tad out of wack, Jake risked wrecking himself so it really didn't look intentional. Hate it for Matt though, he was stout.

LA: Well I like both those kids, but I don't know what happened on the track I'm almost never there where something actually happens, you know the photographer never sees the interesting things.

CL: Yeah, it's hard to see with your mouth running all the time. Jake ran up the track and pinched Matt into the wall, thats racin I guess. I'll never convince the Mitch West team of it but it'll be interesting to see what happens when they both hit the track together at Bristol. Matt drove more aggressive than I've ever seen him to get up front, I'm sure Jamey Caudill wasn't expecting a fender on him that early. The battle up front might be up there for the best of the year award.

LA: Matt drives aggressive every now and then, but he would never intentionally wreck anyone, no matter what the threats are .... You know Jamey Caudill has got to go down as one of the best Late Model Stock Car drivers ever.

CL: Jamey is for sure. If Jake keeps driving the way he has this year, he will go down in that category one day as well. He is smooth as silk and doesn't look to be slowing down. Speaking of slowing down, what was with the Jr. Motorsports cars? Unload bad. Qualify bad. Get to the race and they put on a show with Boswell gaining 22 spots and Truex Jr gaining 17. If they would have qualified up front we might be talking about an entirely different race.

LA: yeah Jake has certainly come into his own this season .... JR Motorsports, well who knows man it seems when they qualify decent they don't run any better in the end than when they qualify terrible. I would say that they are very lucky that they took the provisional this week where they won't be eligible for one at Coastal Plains and will have one available(I think) at Bristol on July 5th. That's a big deal as bad as they seem to qualify week in and week out.

CL: At Coastal "Plains" what should we all be looking for besides Ross Furr shedding the "Darth Vader" look? This was the site of Jake's first career win, should we expect anybody different to be running up front with him this time?

LA: no I think this one will come down to the same two guys that Hickory ultimately came down to, Crum and Caudill .... Caudill has two wins at this track in the UARA and Jake won the most recent race there. Also as far as Ross Furr goes it might just be the week he gets it all turn around as they try to get rid of the black curse and bring out the old faithful white car that carried them to the championship last season. After winning at Concord to open the season it's been Ross' worst season and he's hoping to reverse the curse this weekend at the site of last years worst finish for him when he finished 12th at Coastal Plains.

CL: To help Ross' cause I'm picking him to finish dead last. Trust me people, Ross doesn't want any encouragement anymore from me this year, the more I say how great it's gonna get it just gets worse. About the same for Alex Yontz, as soon as he took the point lead at Bristol lady luck gas given him a whoopin. I can't wait for the trip to Jacksonville, it'll be my first time there. Moving ahead, where are you going for the week of the 4th, lots of BIG races coming up.

LA: well Ross is probably tired of a lot of people telling him how much better it will get .... but hey I think he may be suffering from the "Star City Racing News" curse ... last year Alex Yontz did ... I predicted him to be the champion and put him on the front cover as I did Ross and well ... don't ask how Alex' early season went! .... As far as the 4th of July race, I really don't know with a UARA race scheduled for Saturday I will have my hands full with the photos, videos and magazine for that race. But, I'm hoping to head down for the Rusty Harpe Memorial at Caraway and I will likely hit one on the 4th at either Tri-County or Lonesome Pine ... then on to big bad Bristol.

CL: I guess I'll be at Caraway for the Rusty Harpe race, then South Boston the next night, then back to Caraway for the Whelen Modifieds (gotta see my buddy Brandon Ward roll out the brand new ride), then on to Bristol Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to the Rusty Harpe race, the entries are starting to file in and it should be star-studded (www.harpemotorsports.com for entry list). Think Coleman Pressley will make it to any big races that weekend? He's killing them at Greenville-Pickens and when he shows up at Hickory, would like to see how he sizes up against the Frank Deiny's and Jason York's of he world.

LA: Coleman is just like Matt DiBenedetto and Jake Crum ... he's at the top of his game and it's paying big dividends for him in the NASCAR Points deal ... hey wouldn't it be cool to see two of these three guys win national championships this year ... Jake Crum the UARA National Points Champion and Coleman Pressley the NASCAR National Champion?

CL: It looks like the "kids" are taking over. There is just so much young talent out there it's unbelievable. But never get too comfortable, Jamey Caudill is back and B.J. Mackey has never left. Philip Morris is still the man to beat at Motor Mile and Randy Benson and Jimmy Mullins are still at the top of their game at Caraway and Franklin County. It's is good mix this year. Jimmy Mullins. I read that whoever wins the ASA points championship gets a test session with Gibbs racing and Jimmy is leading right now. Wouldn't that be a hoot right there? Guaranteed they will not forget meeting him, Jimmy is one cool cat.

LA: wow Jimmy Mullins testing with Gibbs Racing .... WOW! You know there is a lot of young talent out there and speaking of Jimmy Mullins he's felt a little of that this year with Darrell Wallace, Jr. coming in and moving him out of the way for his first career win. The youth is here in Late Model Stock Cars and there is plenty more coming out of Legends, Allison legacy and the Pro-Challenge series'.

CL: And gotta give kudos to Darrell Wallace Jr. He caused a big wreck at Hickory that took out a lot of cars and instead of making excuses he said "he just got loose and lost it". I think with his driving skills and being man enough to admit his mistakes is just furthering the point that he drives and carries himself well beyond his years. He is "the real deal". So do ya think we put a stop to Doc Love whipping us this weekend in the Race22.com picks? Do ya think we can cheat him, reckon he writes it down?

LA: Darrell Wallace, Jr. is "the man" to be such a young boy .... he is the real deal no doubt. As far as Doc goes ... dang him is all I can say ... I think we are changing the rules after Bristol and trying to make it a little tougher ... think he'll hold on to lead the mid-season championship thru Bristol? No doubt, huh .... I think I've got an awesome idea for the second half of the season and maybe I won't be in last place like I am now. Well Corey that will do it for today's edition of "OFF the WALL" ... appreciate your comments, I guess it's time for you another beer?

CL: One more day of work and it's on. Too bad I can't have a cold one with any of the drivers this weekend after the races, we can have juice I reckon. See ya at the coast.

LA: It's going to be hot .... I'll have my sun screen on!