Parker Eatmon Scores Upset Thanksgiving Classic Win at Southern National

LUCAMA, N.C.- A stout field of Late Model Stock cars competed in the 2024 edition of the Thanksgiving Classic, the 250-lap marquee event for Southern National Motorsports Park.

But in the end, it was hometown hero Parker Eatmon that stole the show.

The 18-year-old pulled off an upset win in an event that traditionally serves as the bookend to the Late Model Stock season. Eatmon topped a field of 27 cars for the $15,000 win, including CARS Tour champion Brenden Queen and other CARS regulars including Andrew Grady and Kade Brown.

Eatmon spent a good portion of the race towards the back of the field, running outside of the top-15 until Lap 156. But the young star began to charge forward in the final 75 laps, storming through the field in the late stages with some aggressive moves along the way.

Eatmon passed Dylan Newsome for the lead with ease in the closing stages, taking the top spot with just 10-laps to go. He survived a few late race restarts in the final handful of laps to score the biggest win of his career to date.

“It’s amazing,” Eatmon told Fronstretch. “It’s the biggest win of my career for sure.”

Southern National Motorsports Park is the home track for Eatmon. The 18-year old grew up in Wilson, Nc., just 12 miles northeast of the racetrack. Eatmon felt the victory was a full-circle moment for his racing career.

“It definitely is,” Eatmon said “I mean, if there was one race, one crown jewel race I wanted to win, it was this one. I’m 10 minutes down the road, so (it’s) just so special to have so many of my people here out here. To get this win is huge.”

Behind Eatmon was Jake Bollman and Doug Barnes Jr., who rounded out the night’s podium with battered racecars. Both endured issues en route to their strong results. Bollman drove the final 10 laps with the hood pushed up on his car, while Barnes had been caught in an earlier incident and was missing the right front of his No. 88.

“I couldn’t see anything at all,” Bollman said. “Absolutely nothing, I couldn’t see the outside wall, kind of was just guessing. The only thing I could look at was the small window on the left. I was just trying to wrap the line with my eyes, just follow it the best I could.”

The runner-up later confirmed his plans for 2025, which will include a full slate of CARS Tour competition.

“Full-time CARS Tour, Triple Crown, every Late Model Stock race I can go to, and I’m running for myself, Bollman Motorsports,” he told Frontstretch.

Barnes rallied from a lap down late after a crash with Lanie Buice around 75 laps to go.

“It would have been easy for it to be over, but we come here to work,” Barnes said of his run after the crash. “We got our lap back and got lucky with that caution because we were able to pit and never put on right sides. I mean what did we go, like 20th to third in the last 30 laps? We were digging, it was fun.

“I said it was like racing a NASCAR video game on rookie.”

Barnes made the pass for third in the final corner, stealing the spot from Brown. Beforehand Brown had seemed to be in prime position to contend for the win, but a true push for the lead never materialized in the final laps.

“I thought we were really good,” Brown said. “We played the strategy perfect, all these guys, Triplet, Marcus, everyone just had a great strategy there. I feel like we did everything right up to the point where we put right’s on. Hurt the balance a little bit but still felt like we were really good and had a shot to win.

“Wrong place wrong time, the No. 4 [Eatmon] got into us. It was time to go, he went and I was in the way.”

One driver who was a non-factor was Queen, who made his final full-time start as a Late Model Stock car driver with Lee Pulliam Performance. The CARS Tour champ was fast to start the weekend in practice, but never found his way to the front on race day, finishing down in 12th. Queen pin-pointed bad tires as a partial blame for the poor result.

“Well, without getting myself in trouble, probably just four different tires,” Queen said. “It’s been the moral of the year really. Unloaded pretty fast on Friday on some old tires, just as soon as we switched over to tires from here we were awful. … I’m so grateful for LPP and everybody at Lee Pulliam Performance, it’s just been awesome. I hate going out like this, but it’s been an emotional night knowing it’s the end of this era.”

Queen is expected to announce his plans for 2025 in the upcoming weeks.

Thanksgiving Classic Results

1. Parker Eatmon
2. Jake Bollman
3. Doug Barnes Jr.
4. Kade Brown
5. Carson Haislip
6. Ryan Wilson
7. Mason Bailey
8. Dylan Newsome
9. Bradley McCaskill
10. Aaron Donnelly
11. Conner Weddell
12. Brenden Queen
13. Tyler Mathews
14. Ronnie Bassett Jr.
15. Tim Allensworth
16. Clay Jones
17. Jamey Caudill
18. Michael Fose
19. Jonathan Findley
20. Chandler Sherman
21. Ryan Joyner
22. Adam Murray
23. Tristan McKee
24. Lanie Buice
25. Michael O’Brien
26. Andrew Grady
27. Chase Burrow