The South Carolina native becomes the first driver ever with wins in three different divisions
It doesn’t matter the car. Rod Tucker is going to be fast at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
The Greenville, SC native entered this year’s ninth annual World Short Track Championship already an owner of victories in two separate classes, the COMP Cams MMSA Monster Mini-Stocks (2018) and SRI Performance MMSA Monster Thunder Bombers (2022).
He decided 2024 was the right time to make history by adding a third.
Tucker started sixth for the Race Quip Street Stock main event on Saturday, took the top spot on the sixth lap, and held off a late charge from Andrew Durham to get the win.
The victory made him the first competitor ever to come out on top of three different World Short Track Championship divisions. It’s a place he’ll forever hold in the prestigious event’s history.
Calob McLaughlin and Bradley Weaver led the field to green. McLaughlin led the opening lap before Weaver blasted by to take the lead on the second circuit. Tucker began his charge to the front immediately, going from sixth to third in one lap, and then two rotations later he took over the runner-up spot.
A Lap 5 restart set the stage for a thrilling battle between Weaver and Tucker. When the green flag brought the action back to life, Tucker threw a slider at Weaver in Turns 1 and 2 to grab the lead. Weaver returned the favor the next time around in the same set of corners, and the two made slight contact. Tucker came back at Weaver with another slide job in Turns 3 and 4, and the two were side by side when the yellow flag came out.
Tucker held the top spot for the restart, and he made sure to quickly jump ahead and was able to hold off a surging Andrew Durham for his third Charlotte triumph.
“Weaver was really good,” Tucker said of their battle. “I could just get to the center of (Turn) 3 so much better than everybody, I felt like. I knew on restart if I didn’t get to the top as quick as I could and try to slide him down there, it was going to be pretty single file because the top was so good down there. I kind of got tight once I got up there, I think, hurting that fender a little bit like that kind of hindered me a little bit. But all in all we had a good weekend. I’ve got to thank all of my guys for helping me all weekend. It feels pretty cool. We’ve won in three different divisions up here, so I can’t thank everybody enough.”
Durham had an up and down race that ultimately ended on a high note as he claimed the runner-up spot. The result marked his best ever finish in a championship Feature at “America’s Home for Racing.”
“I was kind of surprised that I felt like I was driving up to him (Tucker), but I guess we’ll never know,” Durham said. “It’s a long weekend for not many laps. You never know what you’re going to get when you go out there. You’ve got to be on it and do the best you can and hope you got something good enough.”
Weaver slipped back to third after leading early. The ill-timed caution right as he was re-taking the lead might’ve cost the Shelby, NC driver a potential victory.
“If the caution would’ve come out when I had him cleared, I think we would’ve been alright,” Weaver said. “But the car kind of went away there at the end. Probably could’ve run second had we had some more laps.”
RESULTS:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 12-Rod Tucker[6]; 2. 06-Andrew Durham[4]; 3. 2-Bradley Weaver[2]; 4. 83M-Calob McLaughlin[1]; 5. 11-Kade Langley[13]; 6. 25-Andrew Gordon[17]; 7. 18B-Blake Bentley[10]; 8. 01L-Patrick Lyon[11]; 9. 44-Jeff Parsons[15]; 10. 13-Kayden Outlaw[23]; 11. 99-Stephen Ford[16]; 12. B4-Brandon Satterfield[19]; 13. 18-Ricky Greene[20]; 14. 00-Cody Ussery[26]; 15. 32-Garrett Killman[18]; 16. 9-Ronnie Mosley[22]; 17. H3-Harley Holden[14]; 18. 81-Justin Barber[25]; 19. 5-Hunter Denny[27]; 20. 101-Josh Hellams[5]; 21. 0-Johnny Westmoreland[8]; 22. 39-Steve Greene[12]; 23. JR1-Jake Jackson[7]; 24. 59-Brandon White[21]; 25. 04B-Austin Brown[9]; 26. 5H-Hank Taylor[3]; 27. 57-Michael Wells[24]; 28. 17-Brian Carswell[28]
