Altice Reigns Supreme: Quiet Man Claims Elusive BRL Late Model Title at Southern National

Lucama, NC — Ruben Altice officially shed the “non-championship” label of his storied career, surviving a chaotic, incident-filled season finale at Southern National Speedway to secure the Season 34 Bootleg Racing League Late Model Invitational Series crown. In a 100-lap feature Altice leaned on a decade of veteran poise to protect his points lead, while James Lowe put on an absolute clinic at the front to capture his sixth victory of the season.

The grid was set by a complete reinversion of the top 13 finishers from the prior week, handing the pole position to Luke Logan Allen—famously known as “Kid Lemon Lime”—with Lowe flanking him on the front row. From the drop of the green flag, the two front-runners immediately fractured the pack, rocketing out to a massive gap over third-place Trey Bloom. While the leaders threw caution to the wind and abused their right-front tires, Altice played the long game, quietly settling into a conservative sixth position to keep his car out of harm’s way under the strict “Big Boy Racing” rules of no fast repairs and no tire changes.

The clean green-flag run came to a halt on Lap 21 when Chris Davis suffered a solo loop exiting Turn 4. Steve Hilbert narrowly dodged the #7 machine to preserve his night, triggering the first yellow flag. Shortly after the restart, Charles Roth spun out of Turn 2, which gifted the lucky dog pass back to Davis. Through the early interruptions, Lowe and Allen remained glued together, continuing to flex their muscles and distance themselves from the field.

The entire complexion of the event exploded on a Lap 55 restart with a devastating five-car stack-up on the backstretch. The chain reaction appeared to ignite when Mike Holloway missed a shift, causing the field to telescope violently behind him. Chris Hazlip was launched directly over the side of Kurt Smith’s #6 car, nearly sending Smith upside down in a wild sequence of acrobatic contact. Once the track was cleared, Lowe and Allen locked into a fierce side-by-side war for the lead. Allen aggressively worked the high side, but Lowe utilized the short way around the bottom line to eventually clear the #23 and take command.

The final third of the event devolved into a caution-heavy grind. Steve Hilbert slammed the outside wall coming out of Turn 4, sweeping a helpless Davis into the wreckage. On Lap 85, another heavy collision between Todd Liston and Davis sent both cars spinning like tops. Altice, true to his “Quiet Man” moniker, showed incredible track awareness to dance through the debris untouched. A sixth and final yellow flag waved when John Wilson spun hard into the inside retaining wall after an intense, tight battle with Altice for position.

The race ultimately trickled into natural green-white-checkered territory, setting up a final sprint to the flag. Lowe executed a flawless final restart to secure the race victory. Behind him, the battle for the final podium step turned physical on the last lap; Davis delivered a heavy, hockey-style hip check to Kenny Allen, sending the #49 car crashing into the wall and allowing Davis to steal third. Allen recovered to cross the line, while Bobby Hayes rounded out the top five. Crossing the line in fourth, Altice officially locked down his first premier series championship in his 146th career start.