Matthew Craig Goes Back-to-Back in Rumble by the River at Montgomery

Matthew Craig landed his one-two punch at Montgomery Motor Speedway on Saturday night, winning the ASA Southern Super Series Rumble by the River 125 for the second straight year.

The North Carolina driver earned his fourth career Southern Super Series win, and his first since this event one year ago. It is his third time securing the signature boxing gloves trophy from the Rumble by the River, as his first Southern Super Series win came in the 2019 edition of the event.

Craig led all 125 laps of the race after setting fast time in qualifying and drawing the number-one spot during the top-eight redraw. It was a night where nothing could go wrong, which is how Craig feels about racing at Montgomery after back-to-back wins.

"I don't know what to say," said Craig in victory lane. "The car was phenomenal. We really got a good setup for this place. It seems to work no matter the tire combination or day."

While Craig led from wire to wire, he had to keep the pace up at the end of the race with Stephen Nasse charging behind him. He took a moment to soak in the joy of the moment before climbing out of his car to celebrate the win.

"These things are so hard to win," said Craig. "We run all year last year and only won this race. It's tough. The competition is tough. It might not be a lot of cars, but it takes a lot to win these races. I was just trying to soak it in. You never know if you'll win another one."

Stephen Nasse qualified third and never ran worse than fourth during Saturday's race. However, he couldn't quite find enough speed in the closing laps for his first Super Late Model win of the season.

"We had a pretty good car," said Nasse. "I had a really good weekend. My guys worked really hard. We had speed all weekend, which is really surprising for us. Hats off to my guys and all my sponsors. We've just got a little bit of work to do. We're definitely looking for that first Super win. I think it's close.

"Great job to Matt and those guys. They're a very deserving group of guys. I was trying my best to get to them there. I know we were both driving about as hard as we could. We just didn't quite have enough."

Colby Howard, who won the ASA STARS National Tour's Ross & Witmer 255 at Hickory Motor Speedway in May, rounded out Saturday's podium. In a testament to how fickle racing can be, the Hickory winner struggled throughout the weekend, but persevered to a third-place result.

"Third against a field like this isn't bad," said Howard. "We struggled in practice yesterday and today. Today was a little bit better, but we didn't qualify great, so we were a little worried about it. Somehow, we pulled out a third, so we'll take it. That's a win to us right now."

Bubba Pollard finished fourth, with Augie Grill rounding out the top five.

The ASA Southern Super Series heads to Five Flags Speedway for its next race. The third round of Five Flags' Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series is scheduled for Friday, June 27.

-Photo credit: Daniel Vining

Rumble by the River 125 Unofficial Results