CONCORD, N.C. — Story by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Race Chaser Online — Audio by Editor-in-Chief Tom Baker for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online — CMS/Tami Pope photo — So much action happened during Tuesday night’s racing action at the 21st Annual Jack in the Box Summer Shootout that you’d think it was a full moon.

Through all the chaos and despite threatening rain all night that never materialized, Daniel Hemric continued to add to his legend on the short tracks, managing to grab his record-extending 24th career Pro class victory at the Jack in the Box Summer Shootout during a long night at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Hemric had to hold off last week’s feature winner Kason Plott before he could celebrate in victory lane with his traditional backflip, the fifth time he’s grabbed the twin checkers this season at the Summer Shootout. On the initial start, Greg Lang jumped out to the early lead and Hemric began a slow but methodical march to the front that saw him move up to fourth within the opening six laps. On lap 11 though, Hemric’s charge and the pace of the entire field was stalled when William Byron’s motor grenaded coming off of turn 4, coating the frontstretch with fluid and collecting Peyton Saxton, Dakota Baggette and others to bring out a lengthy red flag.

On the restart, a hard-charging Hemric used the choose to move up to second before dropping to the inside to grab the lead for good, despite the final caution coming out for Joey Padgett, who spun going into turn 3. Behind Hemric, Plott, Zane Smith, Greg Lang and Jordan Black rounded out the top five.

An ecstatic Hemric reflected after the race on not just his fifth win of the season, but his Shootout-leading 25th career win in the Pro class at Charlotte.

“This is really cool tonight, 24 wins is a lot here, especially when you consider how tough the competition has gotten,” Hemric said following the event. “Kason (Plott) drove a great race tonight and he’s had a really fast car. I’m glad to race against these guys and they run me so clean, it’s impossible not to enjoy getting to come back here every week at Charlotte.

In Quaker Steak and Lube Semi-Pro action, Dillon Faggart moved a step closer to being back in the championship fight by taking his third career Summer Shootout victory, as well as his third of the season, over Devin O’Connell in a fast-paced and competitive feature.

Jake Tretow led the field to the green flag but O’Connell quickly took the lead on lap 2, trying to run away to no avail as a caution flag flew to slow the pace. Faggart came calling hard on the restart and muscled his way up to O’Connell’s door, ultimately grabbing the top spot just after the 10-lap mark and setting sail for the rest of the feature even after another caution came out on lap 14.

“We had a blazing fast car tonight,” Faggart expressed in victory lane. “O’Connell raced me hard there but we had a good fight and man, if you’d have told me I’d have three of these trophies in eight weeks at the start of the season, I’d have been jumping around. This is cool; thanks to all my Steven Ross Motorsports guys, they did it again and here we are.”

John Holleman, who started eleventh, passed five cars on the opening lap and ultimately made a late race charge to finish third behind Faggart and O’Connell, while class points leader entering the night, Josh Brimecombe, was shuffled out numerous times and finished in sixth after winning his first career race last week.

In the pursuit of perfection — and a large bounty — Tom Pistone was finally defeated in the Security Force Masters class on Tuesday night after being involved in two late race cautions that sent him to the rear twice. After Jon Craig started on the pole, it was ultimately Scott Whitaker who triumphed in a rough-and-tumble race for his first career Summer Shootout victory.

Whitaker took home the $300 bounty from Don Hawke and U.S. Legend Cars International for defeating Pistone, as well as a new set of tires for his #09 Legend Car.

“I can’t believe it,” an ecstatic Whitaker said in victory lane. “I’ve been here three years and for this to be my first win, to beat Tom Pistone, who’s so good here, that’s just awesome. What a night.”

On the other side of the coin, Chandler Smith remained undefeated in the LiveWell Homes Bandolero Bandits division, grabbing his seventh and eighth wins of the season as the Bandoleros also made up their rained out features from last Tuesday.

Smith is currently the only Jack in the Box Summer Shootout Series driver to win every race so far this season. No Shootout driver in the 21-year history of the series has ever won all ten races in a single summer.

In the second feature of the night, Smith, who started in seventh by virtue of being the points leader, marched to the race lead in only three laps and never looked back, deftly avoiding six caution flags to win by a two-second margin at the checkered flag.

Race runner-up Conner Younginer recorded his highest finish of the season, and Eddie Fatscher scored his third podium finish of the summer just behind. Liz Montgomery took her season-best mark with a fourth place run and Daniel Wilk completed the top five.

In Young Lions feature action, Matt Thomas drove to the lead in the early stages and held off a hard-charging Carson Ferguson for his first-career Summer Shootout victory and first of the season, avenging a late-race pass by Ferguson one week ago that left him second at the checkered flag and wanting more.

“We finally got one here tonight,” a jubilant Thomas said in victory lane. “Gotta thank (Ferguson) for racing me clean, he’s a great driver but we wanted this one bad tonight. After last week I wasn’t gonna let another one get away and I’m so proud of Steven Ross Motorsports and all my guys for the job we did tonight. It was a team effort.”

Other winners included Carson Kvapil in the Bandolero Beginner Bandits and Jensen Jorgensen in the Bandolero Outlaws.

In the Bandolero makeup features from last week Kvapil took the checkers in Beginner Bandits, Smith won the Bandolero Bandits and Austin Powell won the Bandolero Outlaws makeup feature.

The 21st annual Jack in the Box Summer Shootout Series continues Monday, July 28, as Champion’s week kicks off with Round 9 and leads into the finale on Tuesday, July 29 with Champion’s Night and a fireworks extravaganza, in addition to regular Legend Car and Bandolero racing divisions.

RESULTS: 21st Annual Jack in the Box Summer Shootout; Round 8; Charlotte Motor Speedway; July 22, 2014

Bandolero Beginner Bandits Feature (15 laps): 1. Carson Kvapil; 2. Carson Poindexter; 3. Isabella Robusto; 4. Roy Hayes; 5. Brandon Gantz; 6. Tyler Adams; 7. Autumn Weaver; 8. Josh Speas; 9. Ashley Pantoulas; 10. Tommy Good; 11. Dylan Notaro; 12. George Hayes; 13. Dakota Bradley; 14. Bryson Ruff.

LiveWell Homes Bandolero Bandits Feature (15 laps): 1. Chandler Smith; 2. Conner Younginer; 3. Eddie Fatscher; 4. Liz Montgomery; 5. Daniel Wilk; 6. Austin Geer; 7. Cameron Bolin; 8. DJ Canipe; 9. Ryan Israel; 10. Ryleigh Lemonds; 11. Braydn Mander; 12. Richie Kuty; 13. Brayde Miranda; 14. Blake Cisneros; 15. William Rubusto; 16. Mini Tyrell; 17. Josh Kossek; 18. Elijah Todd.

Bandolero Outlaws Feature (15 laps): 1. Jensen Jorgensen; 2. Chase Purdy; 3. Kamera McDonald; 4. Austin Powell; 5. Miguel Cesar Jr.; 6. Nate Tretow; 7. Nick MacMillon; 8. Jack Fread; 9. Matthew Davey; 10. Matt Mead; 11. Trevor Rizzo; 12. Daniel Bedford; 13. Ryan Repko; 14. Dylan Rumboldt; 15. Ashton Winger; 16. Matthew Emery; 17. Kayla Lyons.

Audio with runner-up Chase Purdy:

Audio with 3rd-place Kamera McDonald:

Legend Car Young Lions Feature (20 laps): 1. Matt Thomas; 2. Carson Ferguson; 3. Stefan Parsons; 4. Ryan Millington; 5. Michael Womack; 6. Stevie Johns Jr.; 7. Alex Reece; 8. Cason Werner; 9. Seth Werner; 10. Scott Joy; 11. Mason Diaz; 12. Teddy Ogdon; 13. Alex Murray; 14. Noah Gragson; 15. Matt Craig; 16. Christian Eckes; 17. Austin Green; 18. Amber Burchette; 19. Dawson Cram; 20. Joseph Graf.

Audio with race winner Matt Thomas:

Audio with runner-up Carson Ferguson:

Audio with 3rd-place Stefan Parsons:

Security Force Legend Car Masters Feature (25 laps): 1. Scott Whitaker; 2. John Craig; 3. Chris Freeland; 4. Chip Ferguson; 5. Jan Ingram; 6. Bruce Silver; 7. Jamie Smith; 8. Tom Pistone; 9. Ron Mander; 10. Jeffrey Lefcourt; 11. John Sossoman; 12. Bucky Lasek; 13. Shawn Geisel; 14. Robbie Woodall; 15. Robbie Faggart.

Quaker Steak & Lube Legend Car Semi-Pro Feature (25 laps): 1. Dillon Faggart; 2. Devin O’Connell; 3. John Holleman; 4. Craig Biryla; 5. Jake Tretow; 6. Josh Brimecombe; 7. Tyler Clary; 8. Tyler Audie; 9. Casey Brown; 10. Enrique Limon; 11. Dylan Hoffman; 12. Courtney Lefcourt; 13. Collin Jareb; 14. Josh Turner; 15. Jordan Stillwell; 16. Tyler Truex; 17. Connor Pyle; 18. Sheldon Crouse; 19. Robby Lyons; 20. R.S. Senter.

Audio with race winner Dillon Faggart:

Audio with runner-up Devin O’Connell:

Audio with 3rd-place John Holleman:

Legend Car Pro Feature (25 laps): 1. Daniel Hemric; 2. Kason Plott; 3. Zane Smith; 4. Gregory Lang; 5. Jordan Black; 6. Jared Irvan; 7. Evan Swilling; 8. Michael Torres; 9. Steven Cantrell; 10. Michael Kelley; 11. Joey Padgett; 12. Alex Pacheco; 13. William Byron; 14. Peyton Saxton; 15. Dakota Baggette.

Audio with race winner Daniel Hemric:

Audio with runner-up Kason Plott:

Audio with 3rd-place Zane Smith:

Round Seven Makeup Features:

Bandolero Beginner Bandits Makeup Feature (15 laps): 1. Carson Kvapil; 2. Bryson Ruff; 3. Isabella Robusto; 4. Carson Poindexter; 5. Tyler Adams; 6. Dylan Notaro; 7. Autumn Weaver; 8. Josh Speas; 9. Tommy Good; 10. Ashley Pantoulas; 11. George Hayes; 12. Roy Hayes; 13. Dakota Bradley.

Audio with race winner Carson Kvapil:

LiveWell Homes Bandolero Bandits Makeup Feature (15 laps): 1.Chandler Smith; 2. Daniel Wilk; 3. Josh Kossek; 4. Austin Geer; 5. Elijah Todd; 6. Braydn Mander; 7. DJ Canipe; 8. Blake Cisneros; 9. Liz Montgomery; 10. William Robusto; 11. Ryleigh Lemonds; 12. Richie Kuty; 13. Mini Tyrell; 14. Mark Durgin Jr.; 15. Brayde Miranda; 16. Eddie Fatscher; 17. Ryan Israel.

Audio with race winner Chandler Smith:

Bandolero Outlaws Makeup Feature (15 laps): 1. Austin Powell; 2. Jensen Jorgensen; 3. Chase Purdy; 4. Kamera McDonald; 5. Miguel Cesar Jr.; 6. Daniel Bedford; 7. Matt Mead; 8. Matthew Davey; 9. Eric Brown; 10. Kayla Lyons; 11. Matthew Emery; 12. Dylan Rumboldt; 13. Ryan Repko; 14. Ashton Winger; 15. Justin Taylor; 16. William McConnell; 17. Jack Fread; 18. Trevor Rizzo; 19. Nate Tretow.

Audio with race winner Austin Powell: