Lowe Delivers Late-Race Masterclass at Myrtle Beach

Shifting from the sweeping high banks of Five Flags Speedway to the flat, treacherous asphalt of Myrtle Beach Speedway, Round 4 of the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Invitational Series delivered a masterclass in chassis control and tire management on Saturday night, October 21. Stripped of the banking that drivers relied on two weeks prior, Myrtle Beach forced teams to hunt for pure mechanical grip around a single-groove bottom arc. The track’s defining perimeter hazard—the notorious, stationary concrete “turtles” guarding the inside of turn two—threatened to violently unsettle any chassis that clipped them too aggressively, leaving zero margin for error over a long green-flag run.

Grid mechanics once again reshaped the field under the league’s signature 13-car inversion rule, rewarding Round 3 pole-sitter Tom Hilbert with another front-row start alongside sim racing veteran Donnie Moore. Starting near the back was championship leader James Lowe in twelfth, positioned alongside his primary title rival Michael Goodman in eleventh, whom Lowe held a tight seven-point championship lead over coming into the evening.

Front-row momentum initially favored pole-sitter Tom Hilbert, who launched off turn four to lead the opening lap with clear track ahead. That advantage vanished instantly on lap two when Luke Logan Allen mounted a furious charge on the outside groove, sweeping past Hilbert to assume the point. Hilbert’s car immediately slid loose off the corner, breaking his momentum and leaving him helpless on the high side. In rapid succession, Moore, Chris Haizlip, and Steve Hilbert freight-trained past the struggling pole-sitter, sending him tumbling down the running order as he searched for bottom-groove grip.

Patience paid dividends for veteran Donnie Moore as Allen’s machine began to handle tight midway through the opening stint. Sensing the leader’s mid-corner push, Moore maneuvered his entry, diving beneath Allen off turn two to seize the lead. Meanwhile, championship leader James Lowe and Todd Liston were staging a masterclass in traffic navigation further back. Slicing through tight, single-file quarters past Ruben Altice and Joseph Snyder, both drivers picked up five positions in rapid order.

Pressure boiled over in the battle for third place as a four-car freight train featuring Chris Haizlip, Joseph Snyder, Ruben Altice, and James Lowe ran nose-to-tail. The tense standoff was shattered by the night’s first caution flag when Kurt Smith checked up slightly entering turn one, triggering contact with John Wilson that sent Charles Roth and Michael Goodman spinning in a chain reaction. The stoppage dealt a devastating blow to Goodman’s title hopes when race officials assessed him a black flag penalty for a green-flag restarting infraction. Forced to serve a pass-through penalty under green, Goodman dropped off the lead pace temporarily, facing a steep uphill battle to rescue his championship night.

Tactical double-file restart execution redefined the race at the front as Luke Logan Allen brought the field back to green with James Lowe lurking in fourth position. Lowe instantly dispatched Moore for second before zeroing in on Allen’s rear bumper for an intense wheel-to-wheel showdown. Driving deep into turn three, Lowe set up his attack perfectly, executing a flawless crossover maneuver off the bottom corner exit of turn four to slide beneath Allen and take the lead. Once out front, Lowe locked into his pre-calculated target lap time established during practice, refusing to push his equipment any harder than necessary whether holding a four-second gap or a half-second margin.

Mid-pack traffic erupted in a second multi-car pileup late in the going when Kurt Smith checked up roughly half a lane high entering turn one. Behind him, contact between Darryl Wineinger and Joseph Snyder sent Snyder careening into Wilson and Smith, leaving multiple machines sideways in a dense cloud of tire smoke across turns one and two. Navigating the blind chaos, Chris Haizlip relied on his cow catcher front bumper to nudge through the spinning wreckage, escaping heavy damage to emerge clean on the other side.

Slicing through fresh grip on the final restart, Darryl Wineinger launched an astonishing charge through the order. Despite having been brought to a complete stop on the track twice during earlier incidents, Wineinger picked off Steve Hilbert, Kurt Smith, Jeff Sharp, and Todd Liston in consecutive laps. In stark contrast, Ruben Altice suffered a complete handling breakdown as his right-front carcass gave out entirely. Running on the rims with no steering response, “The Quiet Man” faded rapidly over the final five laps as a line of cars bypassed his tight line. Further back, Michael Goodman completed a remarkable recovery drive, carving through late-stage traffic to claw his way all the way back into fifth position.

Cruising across the stripe completely uncontested, James Lowe checked away over the closing laps to claim his second victory in three races, reinforcing his championship lead. Luke Logan Allen crossed the line in second place, while Darryl Wineinger finalized his heroic drive from the rear to secure third and hard charger honors. Donnie Moore held on for fourth, while Michael Goodman completed his sensational comeback from the black flag penalty to finish fifth. James Lowe attributed his dominant run to rigid pace discipline, explaining that establishing a baseline lap time in practice and sticking to it religiously preserved his tires through traffic.