Story by: Mason Dunn ~ mason@RACE22.com

South Boston, VA(June 21, 2010) -- Twenty-eight Late Model Stock teams from the region made their way to South Boston Speedway this past Saturday night for twin 75 lap races and the whole day was filled with storylines.

First was the presence of Philip Morris who had been in the forefront of the Late Model Stock news world due to his recent scuffles with track management at Motor Mile Speedway. Morris determined it was in his best interest to leave his normal post at Motor Mile and return to South Boston for the remainder of the season.

Second was the absence of Nick Smith from the entry list. Smith recently parted ways with DA Motorsports and the No. 88 he has been driving since 2009 and has rejoined James Long Motorsports. Unfortunately for the man who was second in South Boston track points, the car he is slated to drive was not ready in time to race this past weekend.

The third big storyline going into the day was the return of C.E. Falk to South Boston Speedway. Falk had been absent from South Boston after an scuffle with Justin Johnson after the two had made contact while fighting for the lead and Johnson had gone spinning. Falk was black flagged after having been brake checked by Johnson under caution.

Qualifying for the night's first race was heavily contested with Lee Pulliam placing his brand new chassis out of the Sellars Racing shop on the pole over Philip Morris, Deac McCaskill, Woody Howard and Tommy Lemons Jr. First through 25th were only separated by four tenths of a second with the top five all being within a tenth of each other.

As the first race got underway Pulliam showed that he was there to win, outrunning Morris and gaining sole control of the top spot. As the field starting turning laps and getting stretched out the cars of Pulliam, Morris, McCaskill, Howard, Stacy Puryear and Justin Johnson began to appear to be the class of the field as they ran off as a group.

As the field was encountering lap traffic during the long opening green flag run McCaskill was able to make a move to the inside and pass Morris for second place. The field continued to run caution free as McCaskill caught Pulliam on lap 62 but his challenge wouldn't last long as Eddie Johnson went for a spin off turn 2 to bring out the first caution on lap 64.

Back under green, McCaskill slowed quickly in turns 1 and 2 and appeared to have a problem causing him to duck on pit road and ending his chances at the win. The green didn't last a full lap this time around as going into turn 3 Josh Oakley drove in deep and sent C.E. Falk for a quick spin to bring the caution back out.

On the ensuing restart Morris would give Pulliam every bit of a challenge he could handle but Pulliam was fighting back hard on the outside. Morris pulled door-to-door with Pulliam as they took the white flag and had a slight advantage in the middle of turns 3 and 4 but it would be Pulliam getting the win by a bumper on the outside.

Pulliam got his first win of the season with Morris second, Puryear third, Howard fourth and points leader Justin Johnson in fifth. It was announced that the pill had been drawn to invert the top five for race number two placing Johnson and Howard on the front row.

After a random caution stunted the initial start the field lined up for a full double-file restart and it was Woody Howard who would get the jump on the outside over Johnson and lead the first lap of race number two. Unlike race number one, the caution came out quickly this time around as a wreck on lap 7 when Julia Landauer and Natalie Sather made contact off turn 4 triggering a five car wreck on the front stretch.

As they went back green Morris began to make his presence known to Howard repeatedly making heavy contact with Howard's left rear, particularly off turn 4 in an attempt to get to the inside. Johnson used this to catch the top two and make it a three car race for the lead.

Howard, Morris and Johnson continued to rub fenders as the laps ticked away with Howard holding both Morris and Johnson off by running the high line. As those three continued to battle Pulliam and Josh Oakley were able to work their ways past Puryear, moving into fourth and fifth respectively. But that wouldn't last long as on lap 37 Oakley would make heavy contact with Pulliam off turn 2 wrecking both cars. Pulliam would continue but Oakley would be relegated to the pits.

When they went back green for the last time the top three went right back at it. Howard continued to run the higher line while Morris and Johnson chose the inside. Johnson would work is way past Morris and soon after go for the lead underneath Howard. Howard would begin to slide back as he right rear tire began to lose air pressure.

With no real challenge from Morris in the closing laps, Johnson would charge on to win his seventh race of the season at South Boston Speedway with Morris and Puryear once again finishing second and third while Michael Hardin and David Latour rounded out the top five.

Justin Johnson continues to hold a points lead of over 100 points over new second place Stacy Puryear. Deac McCaskill, Lee Pulliam and David Latour currently round out the top five in points. The Late Model Stocks will be back in action for a 200 lap race on Friday, July 2 and expect there to be at least 30 cars ready to chase the big paycheck.