Deac McCaskill Finds A Home Again At Southern National Raceway Park

Deac McCaskill, in Victory Lane with his engine builder David West, has six Late Model wins in 2012. Southern National Raceway Park

Deac McCaskill took last year off, sold his equipment and gave it a shot at being a crew chief when he realized it wasn’t where he belonged.

And things all fell into place for him to get back on track.

He was fortunate to be able to buy back his old equipment and even worked out a deal for a new Late Model when his former track, Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly, N.C., found new owners and re-opened. In addition, the track kicked off 2012 under NASCAR-sanctioning.

The 33-year-old form Raleigh, N.C., has taken full advantage of his second chance. He’s won six of seven starts at Southern National and, combined with solid runs at South (Va.) Boston Speedway, sits fourth in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship standings.

“I was hoping we’d run strong enough throughout the season and be a contender,” McCaskill said. “I never thought we’d be this strong this early. It caught me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting this.”

NATIONAL TOP 500 | STATE/PROVINCE TOP 20

McCaskill is tied with veteran Texas driver Joe Aramendia for the most wins. Aramendia has six wins in eight starts at Houston Motorsports Park and Thunderhill Raceway Park in Kyle, Texas.

Anthony Anders leads the standings with 446 points. He has 10 top fives in 19 starts at his asphalt Late Model at Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway, Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway, Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway.

Nate Monteith is second with three wins and 375 points while competing against Anders at Kingsport and Greenville.

CE Falk III is third overall with five wins racing at South Boston, Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., and Motor Mile in Radford, Va. Following McCaskill in fourth is Hickory points leader Austin McDaniel.

It will take a little time for the points standings to sort out as some tracks have just opened and many drivers have fewer than 10 starts on the young season.

A driver’s best 18 results through Sept. 16 are counted toward their state and national points totals, and the champions are decided on overall points total. Once a driver reaches 18 starts, their total increases incrementally as they replace some poorer runs with better results.

Under the points structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, the race winner receives two points for every car in the event up to 20 cars. Second place receives two fewer points, and so on through the field. Race winners receive an additional five bonus points. For example, if 20 cars are in the field, the winner receives 45 points, second place 38 and third, 36. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 35 points, second 28 and third, 26.

McCaskill is concentrating on the track title at Southern National, which he won in 2004 and 2006, while racing at South Boston on the track’s off weekends.

He got his start in the sport at age 16 running at the .400-mile North Carolina oval.

“We’ve run well at this track in the past,” McCaskill said. “We’ve got a lot of laps around it.”

It’s making his decision to come back look pretty smart.

Track, state and provincial champions and the top-three finishers in the national standings earn invitations to the 2012 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet in December.