Parker Eatmon Wins Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National

Parker Eatmon joined the list of Thanksgiving Classic winners on Sunday, scoring the victory in the Late Model Stock marquee event at Southern National Motorsports Park.

Eatmon took the lead from Dylan Newsome on lap 240 of the 250-lap Late Model Stock event, then held on for the $15,000 win.

“It’s amazing,” Eatmon told Racing America. “If I had to choose one crown jewel to win, it would be this one. This is a dream come true for me.

“I live 10 minutes down the road. So many of my friends and family are out here today. It’s a good time.”

The victory lane celebration was a lengthy one, as those friends and family joined Eatmon on the frontstretch as the sun set behind Southern National Motorsports Park.

“It’s just that much more special, to be honest. It’s unbelievable, to be honest. I’ve been thinking about it all week. This is the one I wanted.”

As is often the case in the long-distance Late Model Stock crown jewels, strategy played a key factor. Eatmon bided his time for most of the afternoon after qualifying 19th, but made his move in the final 75 laps.

“Honestly, we just rode around the back for the first 100, 125 laps. It’s a long race. There’s no need to burn your stuff up.

We got lucky with a caution. We took our good tires off and saved them for about 75 to go. It really took off then. Once I got out front, clean air was big, so I was checked out.”

At the end of the race, Eatmon’s closest challenger was Jake Bollman. However, the California driver’s progress was hindered after receiving significant front-end damage during the late-race battles up front, pushing up the hood on his No. 71 machine.

“My hood started coming up, and I couldn’t see nothing in front of me the last 10 laps,” said Bollman. ”It really hurt my driving, but it was alright. I’m still happy. If we had the hood stay down, I could have driven a lot harder just because I could see. I couldn’t see him, so it was a sight problem the whole time.

“I’m stoked, right? Coming into next year, this is a big help, a lot of confidence as a team. I think we can do something next year.”

One week after a runner-up finish in the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway, Doug Barnes, Jr. finished third in the Thanksgiving Classic. While it was just short of a win once more in a major race – and being collected in an earlier incident -Barnes had as much fun as anyone on the track.

“It was a lot of fun, man. I haven’t had that much fun in a race car in a long time. I was just digging. Just turn and burn, as my spotter said. There was no line, there was no marks. I was just driving the absolute hell out of it. It was either going to stick or it wasn’t.

“I almost didn’t get third because it didn’t stick coming to the white. I got it in there deep enough that I could knock Kade out of the way. That’s what’s fun about these races towards the end of them, like Martinsville, Florence and here.

“Everyone’s car feels like complete trash. You just hope yours is slightly less trashier than everyone else. My car really wasn’t terrible, but we definitely won the visual award for trashiest race car after tonight.”

Kade Brown finished fourth, with Connor Haislip rounding out the top five.

-Photo credit: Ryan Batts, Southern National Motorsports Park

24th Thanksgiving Classic Unofficial Results