Four drivers left Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday night very happy, as they were accompanied by their first winner's trophy of the 2023 Cook Out Summer Shootout. In the Bandits Division, Wyatt Coffey entered Round 8 not with the best of luck through the first seven rounds. Several early cautions kept the race open for any to take, but from the pole position, Coffey was the leader from start to finish.
On the final double file restart on Lap 3, McCoy shoved Coffey to the lead and after a two-car spin and a single file restart, Coffey retained his lead. Him and McCoy yarded the field as they jockeyed for position behind them. By the time the white flag flew, McCoy had shaved off a car length or two but it wasn’t enough to mount a challenge against Coffey. Coffey had finished on the podium three times before Tuesday. Now it is four times and a first-place trophy.
T.J. Moon had yet to podium in the Bojangles Outlaws Division at the Summer Shootout this year, but that all changed on Tuesday night with a bit of last lap magic. The race had an immediate restart when Ellie Gossett, who started on pole, was squeezed down by outside pole sitter Killian McMann, followed by immediate contact in the rear by Ben Morabito. Owen Zacharias inherited the lead and McMann dropped back to fifth on the restart after going three-wide with Eli Russell and Moon.
An eight-car crash on Lap 6 brought the race to a halt. All drivers walked away okay and the race continued. Zacharias maintained control on the restart and McMann moved back into third. He challenged Zacharias by Lap 9 and took the lead after getting to his inside three laps later. When McMann took the lead on Lap 13, Moon was there to challenge Zacharias for second. Moon completed the pass and with two laps to go, had reached within one car length of McMann. Taking the white flag, Moon was right on the rear bumper of McMann. The bump and run was timed perfectly in turn three, handing the win to Moon, with McMann finishing second.
From the start of the UNC-Charlotte Young Lions race, it looked as if Jackson Denton was going to win a fifth Summer Shootout race of 2023. He maintained control of the race on each restart with little issue. But right behind him was Nathan Lyons, who trailed him by only a handful of car lengths. But behind Lyons, was a gap between him and third place. When Cassidy Keitt spun in turn one, that proved to be the turning point of the race. Max Reaves had made his way up high enough to pick the outside front row on the restart, lining up alongside Denton.
On the restart, the two came together, triggering reactions behind them, sending cars around and into the hot pits. Along with the others, Reaves and Denton were sent to the rear, handing the lead of the race to Lyons. When the race went green again under single file conditions, Lyons cleared second place London McKenzie but one lap later on Lap 13, the race ended. The time flag had been displayed and when cars running second through sixth stacked up behind him, the race was declared over.
Like Coffey, Moon, and Lyons, Lee Jordan was no stranger to the front running cars in the Old Armor Beer Co. Masters Division. Finishing on the podium four times prior, Jordan was hungry for a race victory. However, he ran second for the first two-thirds of the race behind Josh Mullins. It wasn’t until Mullins made a mistake, that Jordan was granted the lead.
On Lap 17, Mullins was approaching slow traffic and it appeared as if both cars would go high, but Clayton Austin went low. In reaction, Mullins turned hard left and into the grass but the momentum carried him into the side of Austin’s Legend Car. Austin’s car remained straight but Mullins spun around and went to the rear.
Jordan didn’t relinquish the lead on the restart or one subsequent restart, holding off Carl Cormier for his first Summer Shootout victory of the year.
Familiar faces reached victory circle in the remaining divisions. George Phillips captured the VP Racing Fuels Semi-Pro win, holding off Michael Crafton. That race ended under yellow after fourth-place Mason Lastra tagged the rear of third-place Sam Mazzo after the time flag had been displayed. Then in the Boston Reid & CO. Pro race, Jake Bollman bumped Ethan Norfleet on Lap 11 to take the lead and scooted on to victory over Cameron Bolin and Alex McCollulm.
Gerald White III captured his third Beginner Bandolero A Feature victory and Roman Petrino won the Beginner Bandolero B Feature.
The 2023 Cook Out Summer Shootout has two more rounds; July 25 and August 1. Gates at Charlotte Motor Speedway open at 5:00pm on both dates with streaming coverage beginning at 5:00pm on FloRacing. Following the championship races on August 1, there will be an autograph session and fireworks.
BOSTON REID & CO PRO DIVISION
ROUND 8 FEATURE (25 Laps): 1. 71-Jake Bollman[1]; 2. 67-Cameron Bolin[8]; 3. 1-Alex McCollum[5]; 4. 91-Justice Calabro[4]; 5. 56-Ethan Norfleet[3]; 6. 32-Jensen Jorgensen[6]; 7. 5-Garrett Gumm[10]; 8. 24D-Jadyn Daniels[9]; 9. 51-Donovan Strauss[7]; 10. 9-Nate Tretow[11]; 11. 24-Joel Smith[12]; 12. 28-Carson Brown[2]; 13. 4-Graham Campbell[15]; 14. 28M-Ronnie Milroy[13]; 15. 46-Kaleb Bradley[14]; 16. 84-Kyle Beattie[17]; 17. (DNS) 72-Nick Woodall
OLD ARMOR BEER CO. MASTERS DIVISION
ROUND 8 FEATURE (25 Laps): 1. 81-Lee Jordan[1]; 2. 58-Carl Cormier[5]; 3. 20-Mark Green[4]; 4. 22-Dwayne Holder[2]; 5. 5-Brandin Wrisley[7]; 6. 72-Robbie Woodall; 7. 21M-Josh Mullins[3]; 8. 19-Daniel Moskowitz[8]; 9. 68-Dean Bonessi[9]; 10. 5M-Brandon Mckenzie[6]; 11. 57-Scott Heintz[10]; 12. 5A-Clayton Austin[12]; 13. 28-Charles Parker[11]
VP RACING FUELS SEMI-PRO DIVISION
ROUND 8 FEATURE (25 Laps): 1. 55-George Phillips[1]; 2. 9-Michael Crafton[5]; 3. 42-Alex Reling[14]; 4. 64-Lucas Vera[4]; 5. 7-Tyler Gonzalez[12]; 6. 40-Erick Zuniga[19]; 7. 18-Chris Kuhn[18]; 8. 88-Rodrigo De Colombres[20]; 9. 02-Zachary Mertes[26]; 10. 84-Eloy Falcon[17]; 11. 60-Dylan Faulkner[16]; 12. 98-Sean McElearney[8]; 13. 27-Austin McDonald[2]; 14. 63-Titan Mauldin[23]; 15. 9V-Chase VanHouten[6]; 16. 35-Preston Wrisley[7]; 17. 007-David Sullivan IV[28]; 18. 01-Brody Gunter[3]; 19. 38-Cameron White[25]; 20. 25-Nate Morris[24]; 21. 31M-Sam Mazzo[15]; 22. 17-Mason Lastra[9]; 23. 99Y-Connor Yonchuk[11]; 24. 22-Randy Phillips[13]; 25. 11-Will Geer[21]; 26. 9W-Sterling Wrisley[22]; 27. 97-Quentin Haley[27]; 28. 8W-Trevor Wester[10]
Round 8 B Feature (10 Laps): 1. 38-Cameron White[1]; 2. 02-Zachary Mertes[7]; 3. 97-Quentin Haley[3]; 4. 007-David Sullivan IV[2]; 5. 22P-Jordan Plummer[4]; 6. 11D-Dustin Hillenburg[6]; 7. 75-Makenna Crocker[5]; 8. (DNS) 44-Scott Hunter; 9. (DQ) 8-Lance Griffith[8]
UNC-CHARLOTTE YOUNG LIONS DIVISION
ROUND 8 FEATURE (25 Laps): 1. 21-Nathan Lyons[1]; 2. 23-Josh Lowe[26]; 3. 40-Dillon Thomas[19]; 4. 97-Isaac Kitzmiller[12]; 5. 78G-Gracie Crocker[21]; 6. 4-Jake Locklear[20]; 7. 7-Cassidy Keitt[23]; 8. 124-Jackson Denton[3]; 9. 88R-Max Reaves[6]; 10. 28-Tyler Miske[28]; 11. 87-Hayden Wise[5]; 12. 66-Katie Yonchuk[13]; 13. 95-London McKenzie[8]; 14. 81-Hunter Jordan[7]; 15. 19-Kaeden Ballos[4]; 16. 62-Keelan Harvick[2]; 17. 44-Bobby Gossett[15]; 18. 79-Neal Dulin[11]; 19. 7J-Kai Johnson[9]; 20. 4R-Ryan Zima[10]; 21. 01-Caleb Johnson[17]; 22. 99-Spencer Bradshaw[14]; 23. 88-Aiden King[16]; 24. 24-Rodney Dowless[18]; 25. 78-Atley Wiese[22]; 26. 48-Jayden Wagner[25]; 27. 9-Gavon Veach[24]; 28. 4M-Michael Sinagra[27]
Round 8 B Feature (10 Laps): 1. 48-Jayden Wagner[1]; 2. 23-Josh Lowe[6]; 3. 4M-Michael Sinagra[3]; 4. 28-Tyler Miske[2]; 5. 9M-Mavrick Page[4]; 6. 74-Jace Hale[5]; 7. (DNS) 7K-Karter Beattie
BOJANGLES OUTLAWS DIVISION
ROUND 8 FEATURE (20 Laps): 1. 9-TJ Moon[2]; 2. 2-Killian McMann[4]; 3. 35-Owen Zacharias[1]; 4. 15-Alison Johnson[11]; 5. 8-Jayden Johnson[8]; 6. 17-Ben Morabito[3]; 7. 77-Ellie Gossett[5]; 8. 16-Finn Buckley[21]; 9. 28-Joshua Shine[13]; 10. 21-Sarah Whitesell[22]; 11. 2B-Owen Byerly[18]; 12. M00-Lily Impellizzeri[15]; 13. 12-Eli Russell[7]; 14. 88-Brian Rundstrom[10]; 15. 5-Hunter Morgan[9]; 16. 6-Bobby Mares[12]; 17. 41-Mandi Lee[19]; 18. 55-Mardy Roberts III[6]; 19. 39-Chase Spaulding[16]; 20. 5J-Jeffrey Beck[23]; 21. 1-Cole Gudmestad[17]; 22. 36-Caden Wise[14]; 23. 42-Brody Perley[20]
BANDITS DIVISION
ROUND 8 FEATURE (20 Laps): 1. 2-Wyatt Coffey[4]; 2. 26-Laquan McCoy[3]; 3. 9-Jack Smith[5]; 4. 24-Colt Johnson[1]; 5. 37-Carson Cauble[6]; 6. 04-James Monolo[10]; 7. T2-Camden Truett[9]; 8. 84-Delaney Gray[8]; 9. 80-Bryson Nichols[2]; 10. 21-Mason Roberts[7]
BEGINNER BANDOLERO DIVISION
ROUND 8 A FEATURE (15 Laps): 1. 38W-Gerald White III[1]; 2. 8X-Addison Martinez[3]; 3. 40-Roo Reaves[2]; 4. 36-Carson Wise[6]; 5. 1VA-Tuggie Case[4]; 6. 45-Ben Buzze[8]; 7. 5-Corbin Cannon[7]; 8. 15-Rhylee Hutchins[5]
ROUND 8 B FEATURE (12 Laps): 1. 33-Roman Petrino[7]; 2. 05-Charlee Hutchins[1]; 3. 4-Kevin Stiene[2]; 4. 38-Penelope Carlisle[4]; 5. 8-Jakob Peterson[8]; 6. 77-Ava Paez[6]; 7. 85P-Paisley Lawson[5]; 8. 19-Ava Grace Tobias[3]