AUDIO/RECAP: Stars and Stripes Forever; Thomas George Takes Patriotic Ride to World 225 Win at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. — Recap, audio and photo by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Real Sim Racing —

Thomas George finally snapped a streak of bad luck in the =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series on Monday night at the Charlotte Motor Speedway — and he did it in stunning fashion.

George stole the lead from two-time 2015 winner David Comstock with four laps to go in the World 225, round two of the Real Deal Grafix Challenge, and powered away on four fresh tires over the final six miles to win his second race of the 2015 season and his fourth career FTCS event.

“I knew if we could get ten laps of green flag racing, just ten, at the end that we could get around him because he stayed out on 40 or so lap tires,” George said in Gatorade Victory Lane. “It was just a matter of getting to him (Comstock) and putting ourselves in position.”

“I usually save my tires, but with ten laps to go I knew I had to go for it. I said with 50 laps to go that I was going to the front one way or another, and we went — and here we are tonight. What a run, what a race!”

George jumped out quickly and lead the early laps, but a quick caution at lap four would slow the pace for the first time — an incident sparked by Matt LaCross and Nathan Little turned into a ten-car melee that swept up big names including Justin Wilson, Brennan Mercer, John Abbott, Doug Roth and Sean Casto in its wake. Wilson, subbing for regular Scott Stenzel, got the worst end of the damage with a destroyed front end, retiring to a 43rd place result.

After a restart at lap eight, George and Adam Benefiel would begin to pull away from the field as the first long green flag run of the race broke out. Near-disaster would break for Chad Coleman on lap 26 in the middle of a three-wide sandwich with C.J. LaVair and Little, but Coleman would save his No. 20 Jawsheens Chinese Kitchen machine and keep the green flag out.

The story of the race early was the No. 2 GT Omega entry of Rett McBride, who started 42nd and charged his way to 19th by the end of the first third of the event at lap 50, but George would not relinquish the lead until lap 50 — when he pitted for the first time of the event.

David Comstock, Benefiel, Johnathon Caddell, Jose Gonzalez, Steve Gottschalk, and Dwayne Vincent all led laps during the cycle, but when Gottschalk tried to duck to pit road at lap 56 from the lead, Eric Brundies came up on the back of the NERF No. 91 with nowhere to go and spun into the outside SAFER Barrier on the frontstretch. Brundies sustained heavy damage to his Kelloggs Ford, and as several of the leaders pitted for fresh tires, George reassumed the lead for a lap 62 restart.

His lead would not last, however, as RCO-Boomtown Sim’s Anthony DeBaro stormed to the inside to take the lead at lap 68, sparking a stunning crossover battle for the top spot until he finally pulled clear at lap 71 to fully assume the top spot.

The next chaotic moment would come at lap 89, when Mitch Rollo would make the save of the race after the Yeti Coolers No. 89 of Jeff Ward got into his left side in turn one. Rollo would go slideways all the way through one and two but saved it and never lost the fourth position — just three laps later, George would retake the lead on the inside of Anthony DeBaro after DeBaro scraped the wall off of turn two in a hard battle for the top spot.

Caution would fly for the third time at lap 97 for trouble in turn three just as Jeff Ward slid to the inside of teammate George for the top spot, grabbing it at the scoring loop and winning the race off pit road to maintain the point for the restart at lap 102.

The restart would bring chaos, however, as first Adam Benefiel tagged the wall racing inside the top five and then the No. 87 of Christopher Hurlow got hooked by the machine of C.J. LaVair and took a heavy hit in the midst of an eight-car melee that also collected Benefiel, Brandon Peterson, Harrison Widelitz and others.

That caution would not deter Thomas George, however, who would bolt back to the lead at the lap 108 ahead of his teammate Jeff Ward before the fifth caution of the night would fly for trouble with Brandon Peterson and bring with it the final round of pit stops of the night.

Those pit stops would see a myriad of strategy; David Comstock staying out to assume the lead and six drivers taking two tires ahead of George, who took four as the dominant car on the night. Many cars behind him though would never get a chance to use their fresh tires, as the proverbial “Big One” would break out after Anthony DeBaro would clock the wall in turn three on lap 119 and come down into traffic — beginning a 13-car parking lot on the frontstretch that saw DeBaro, Dan Murray, Doug Roth and others go for a wild ride, ending their nights.

The carnage wasn’t over either. Not a lap after the restart at lap 124 did Bobby Terrell get hooked into the outside wall by the No. 23 of Greg Evans, collecting Nick Silver in the process and drawing the seventh caution of the night to prep a Monday night showdown under the lights with 21 laps remaining.

The showdown would see Comstock return to the point and George move to third before another pair of cautions back in the pack involving David Lanza, Doug Roth, Matt LaCross, Brennan Mercer and Rich Jette would set up the pivotal restart for the field inside of 10 laps to go.

That restart would be all George, who would go to second with six laps to go and then making the pass for the win at lap 147, pulling away from teammate Jeff Ward over the final laps to score the victory — despite saying he was nervous coming down to the wire.

“I knew the risk was there [taking tires], but the way the race went, there was a lot of green flag racing. I knew I had a fast car — that sounds egotistical maybe — but I knew we could do it.”

“Finally, we got the luck of the draw tonight. You can have fast cars, but if you don’t have the luck it’s nearly impossible to make it happen. It was a mix of emotions tonight but somehow we hung on and got this bad luck off our backs. It feels fantastic tonight.”

Ward came home second after passing Comstock, who was on older tires, in the final laps.

“We went on a four tire gameplan on the last stop and were able to make a charge there late,” Ward said. “Thomas was able to save more than I was; we got in a few battles late in the race that burned our tires off there and kept us from being able to make a charge in the final laps.”

“Thomas was in a league of his own tonight — congrats to him on the win — but I’m tickled to death with second. We didn’t get involved in any wrecks tonight, so that was great, and we’ll keep moving forward with the momentum we have.”

Comstock finished third — saying he regretted “biting the bullet” by staying out in the final laps.

“I feel like I’d have had more of a fighting chance [if I had pitted],” Comstock said after the race. “When I saw everyone come down behind me, my heart sank. We needed another caution to hold off George, but he had a great car all night — so congrats to him on a great run.”

Talladega winner Pedro Mojica was fourth and Corbin Himstreet rounded out the top five.

Greg Evans finished sixth, followed by Stefan Marinak in seventh. Harrison Widelitz came back from being involved in several skirmishes to record an eighth place result, with Jose Gonzalez and Jimmie North rounding out the top ten.

Anthony DeBaro, after leading 24 laps total on the night, was credited with 26th at the checkered flag.

The event saw nine cautions in total for 36 laps, and 13 lead changes between nine different drivers.

The =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series will take a week off for Memorial Day before returning on June 1 at Dover International Speedway for the Monster Mile 200 (9:30 p.m. Eastern on LSRTV).

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Audio with race winner Thomas George: