Posted by Corey Latham on November 23, 2007, 3:56 pm
Board Administrator

Well, here it is. The final race of the 2007 season is upon us. After a long year full of great racing it has all come down to this, the "Thanksgiving Classic" at Southern National Raceway Park. Even though the drivers and teams are a little worn down from the year, the $15,000 winners payday will bring all the big dogs in the LMSC ranks out in full force one more time, and Race22.com will be there to cover all the action. With more than 40 cars on the preliminary entry list, and more to come in the following days, the field will be as tight as ever. Of course the locals will be the one's that are the favorites, having raced there all season. Drew Herring won the track championship, with 7 wins and an astounding 21 top 5's in 29 races. Right on his heels was Corey Strickland with 4 wins of his own. Then you have the master, Jamey Caudill. Jamey is coming off a dismal performance at Myrtle Beach but will be back at Southern National in full force, no doubt. Rounding out the top 5 of the locals are the two Jr. Motorsports cars driven by Curtis Truex Jr. and Scott Young having 5 wins between them this year at SNRP. Of the invaders will be Motor Mile regular Tommy Lemons Jr. coming off a strong run last weekend at Myrtle Beach. Jason York was the points leader at Caraway earlier in the season when he took some time off, and will be bringing the same car that ran so well in the UARA season finale just a few weeks ago. UARA regular Jake "The Snake" Crum will be making an apearance at Kenly, and just being 16 years old he's for sure got a lot of fire in him. The 2007 Concord Motorsports Park LMSC champion Chuck Crump will be bringing his #8 machine to try his luck, along with the Old Dominion Speedway champion Michael Hardin. Brandon Butler will be driving the McCray Electric Dodge after only running a few races this year, and the bugs have been worked out and he'll be ready to go for the cash. Then of course, Denny Hamlin. Denny will be there, and it won't be for show, he's coming to tame the 4/10 mile oval once more, having done it many times in the past paving his way to the Nextel Cup level. Kirk Leone has made many improvements since he purchased the track a few years ago. The new pavement put down earlier in the year may throw the invaders a curve ball, their past notes may be useless. But for sure, the guys on this entry list will figure it out, and it will be fast with beatin and bangin as always. We'll be back Monday with photos from Langley Austin, interviews from Doc Love, and i'll bring you the entire race report and all the tidbits of the entire weekend of action from the bullring in Kenly. As always, come out and support your local track, if you don't, who will? Preliminary entry list (as of 11/21/07) More to follow! 1. 02 Justin Milliken 2. 27 Tommy Lemons Jr. 3. 77 Michael Hardin 4. 08 Deac McCaskill 5. 40 C.E Faulk III 6. 41 Scott Wise 7. 15 Michael Rouse 8. 06 Alex Yontz 9. 23 Terry Brooks Jr. 10. 15 Kenny Brooks 11. 20 Denny Hamlin 12. 8 Brandon Butler 13. 02 Joey Coulter 14. 6 Cam Strader 15. 1 Blair Addis 16. 9 Thomas Burbage 17. 18 Jason York 18. 7 Louis White 19. 81 Adam Murray 20. 18 Chad Kendrick 21. 5 Doug Godsey 22. 88 Leigh Caruthers 23. 14 Tiffany Daniels 24. 05 Cliff Daniels 25. 42 Chris Hoylman 26. 17 Stacy Puryear 27. 99 Andrew Carlson 28. 8 Jamie Yelton 29. 05 Payne Pickles 30. 22 Shelton McNair 31. 11 Clay Jones 32. 5 Jerame Donley 33. 44 Ronnie Babb 34. 3 Drew Herring 35. 90 Terry Carroll 36. 31 Joe Heigl 37. 6 Jeff Melton 38. 7 Dude Gibbs 39. 8 Chuck Crump 40. 92 Jake Crum 41. 71 Scott Young 42. 73 Curtis Truex Jr. 43. 72 Richard Boswell 44. 50 Jamey Caudill 45. 99 Corey Strickland