Watching the Bojangles Outlaws Round 1 feature of the Cook Out Summer Shootout, you may have thought that Alison Johnson’s high side drive may have been a fluke. In Round 4 she may have gotten lucky, but for a third time in 2023, Johnson has maneuvered her Bandolero to victory using the high line around Charlotte Motor Speedway on Monday night. It is certainly no fluke.

Emma Britt and Johnson were side-by-side on an early restart, with Johnson on the outside. One lap later, she was the leader at the stripe and when a caution flew, she assumed control. Johnson didn’t relinquish the lead, prevailing on restarts and holding off challenges from Britt, Ben Morabito, and Killian McMann. The race ended early when Bryson Brinkley spun exiting turn four just as Johnson took the white flag.

Jackson Denton scored not only his third win in the 2023 Cook Out Summer Shootout, but secured a perfect national points regular season points total of 1900, as Monday night’s victory was his 19th Young Lions victory. He didn’t lead early, in fact, it took several restarts to get the race underway. Cautions plagued the first 10 laps of the Round 5 Young Lions race, and Hunter Jordan was in control early from his first place starting position. It wasn’t until Lap 10 that Denton got to Jordan’s inside for the lead after passing a handful of other Legend Cars first.

A caution on Lap 14 bunched the field back together with Denton as the leader and the time flag was displayed. An effort to reach his bumper was made by London McKenzie but he couldn’t make it work. Moments later, the yellow and checkered flags were thrown due to an Evan McKnight spin. Denton was declared the winner.

Eight and a half minutes was all it took for the Old Armor Beer Co. Masters Division race to be completed. Running flag-to-flag, Mark Green led the whole way to capture his third straight Masters victory of 2023. Robbie Woodall made his way to second but wasn’t able to catch Green’s bumper before the checkered flag flew.

Coming into Monday’s Round 5 race, Alex McCollum had been a part of two photo finishes in the Boston Reid & CO Pro Division so far this summer. He was hungry for a victory and it finally all went right for McCollum in Round 5.

Ethan Nascimento took an early lead as McCollum and Jake Bollman slid up the track on the opening set of corners. Nascimento enjoyed the lead while he could, as McCollum took the lead back on Lap 5, and Bollman took second on Lap 7. Bollman worked to hunt McCollum down but it was a slow pace. The field was repacked with 16 laps completed for a crash on the front stretch. Bollman gave McCollum a nice knock on the rear bumper letting him know he was there. However, it proved to be Bollman’s last shot at the lead. McCollum drove away, aided by a slip from Bollman, and captured the Round 5 Pro Division win.

A spirited fight for the lead in the Bandits Division race included Jack Smith, LaQuan McCoy, Matthew Laprade, and Beginner Bandolero graduate Bryson Nichols. Wyatt Coffey was the pole sitter but spun out in turn two in the races second attempt to go green. He wouldn’t play a factor in the win, only reaching his third-place finish late in the race. This handed the lead over early to McCoy who remained there until he missed turn one on Lap 8, allowing Nichols through to the lead.

A spin on Lap 13 bunched the field back together. Smith challenged Nichols for the lead and were side-by-side across the line to complete Lap 15. Smith full control from Nichols just as two cars spun. Nichols was the leader of Lap 15 and Smith had to relinquish the lead and try again. The restart was intense as Smith and McCoy took Nichols three-wide. Nichols fell back to third. Smith and McCoy battled in turn four, allowing Nichols to pass and retake the lead. The caution flew once again for a multi-car spin.

The final restart was single file with Smith on Nichols’ back bumper. Smith fired off better than Nichols and by turn one was to his inside, taking the lead shortly after. McCoy followed Smith, pushing Nichols back to third. Smith prevailed to win his first Bandits Summer Shootout victory, with McCoy in second and Coffey taking third from Nichols.

The VP Racing Fuels Semi-Pro Round 5 winner, Lucas Vera, got a two-for-one special to take the lead back on a restart. Vera had previously inherited the lead when then second-place George Phillips knocked leader Brody Gunter around. With both sent to the back, Vera assumed control until Sean McElearney gave him the bump and run. Mason Lastra slipped past Vera, too, who slotted into third just ahead of Chase VanHouten.

With 13 laps completed, a crash brought the field back together in a single file line. Vera was third behind Lastra, who was behind McElearney. Bumper-to-bumper-to-bumper, the trio barreled into turn one. The bumps from Vera trickled up to McElearney. He and Lastra slid up the track, giving way to Vera who resumed control of the race. Never looking back, Vera was declared the winner under checkered and yellow flags when Trevor Wester spun.

For the Beginner Bandoleros, it was time for a new winner with the aforementioned Nichols being promoted to Bandits following four-straight victories to open the 2023 Cook Out Summer Shootout. Gerald White III was largely uncontested once his car got wound up. He went on to capture the Beginner Bando A Feature, whereas Taegan Knowland captured his second Beginner Bando B Feature victory.

 

BOSTON REID & CO PRO DIVISION

ROUND 5 A Main (25 Laps): 1. 1-Alex McCollum[2]; 2. 71-Jake Bollman[1]; 3. 32-Jensen Jorgensen[4]; 4. 67-Cameron Bolin[8]; 5. 21N-Ethan Nascimento[3]; 6. 5-Garrett Gumm[5]; 7. 56-Ethan Norfleet[7]; 8. 51-Donovan Strauss[6]; 9. 91-Justice Calabro[13]; 10. 72-Nick Woodall[11]; 11. 28-Carson Brown[14]; 12. 01-Cole Dockery[18]; 13. 24D-Jadyn Daniels[9]; 14. 08-Nicholas Sowa[21]; 15. 84B-Kyle Beattie[17]; 16. 21-Patrick Lyden[23]; 17. 39-Jacob Staten[12]; 18. 24-Joel Smith[10]; 19. 19-Jake Tretow[15]; 20. 45-Jacob Bradley[20]; 21. 18-Kaleb Bradley[19]; 22. (DNS) 48FL-Carl Haag; 23. (DNS) 41-David Snook jr

 

OLD ARMOR BEER CO. MASTERS DIVISION

ROUND 5 A Main (25 Laps): 1. 20-Mark Green[5]; 2. 72-Robbie Woodall[3]; 3. 58-Carl Cormier[4]; 4. 21M-Josh Mullins[1]; 5. 5M-Brandon Mckenzie[6]; 6. 22-Dwayne Holder[2]; 7. 81-Lee Jordan[7]; 8. 27-Thomas Sherman[8]; 9. 11-Rich Kuty[10]; 10. 28-Charles Parker[11]; 11. 68-Dean Bonessi[9]; 12. 57-Scott Heintz[12]; 13. 22L-William Lyden[13]

 

VP RACING FUELS SEMI-PRO DIVISION

ROUND 5 A Main (25 Laps): 1. 64-Lucas Vera[8]; 2. 17-Mason Lastra[4]; 3. 01-Brody Gunter[2]; 4. 55-George Phillips[3]; 5. 3NJ-Nathan Divone[13]; 6. 35-Preston Wrisley[11]; 7. 84-Eloy Falcon[20]; 8. 27-Austin McDonald[7]; 9. 9-Chase VanHouten[10]; 10. 04-Cameron Murray[19]; 11. 9W-Sterling Wrisley[14]; 12. 11-Will Geer[23]; 13. 9C-Michael Crafton[1]; 14. 38-Cameron White[22]; 15. 02-Zachary Mertes[28]; 16. 99Y-Connor Yonchuk[12]; 17. 51-Scotty Benford[27]; 18. 88-Rodrigo De Colombres[15]; 19. 40-Erick Zuniga[17]; 20. 007-David Sullivan IV[26]; 21. 19-Adam Congrove[25]; 22. 8W-Trevor Wester[9]; 23. 98-Sean McElearney[6]; 24. 44-Scott Hunter[24]; 25. 42-Alex Reling[21]; 26. 22P-Randy Phillips[18]; 27. 06-Olivia Murray[16]; 28. 87-Dominic Chisholm[5]

Round 5 B Main 1 (10 Laps): 1. 19-Adam Congrove[2]; 2. 51-Scotty Benford[1]; 3. 78-Justin Teresak[7]; 4. 22J-Jordan Plummer[8]; 5. 63-Titan Mauldin[5]; 6. 30-Joey Przybylinski[3]; 7. 74-Jacob Linc[4]; 8. 8-Lance Griffith[6]

Round 5 B Main 2 (10 Laps): 1. 007-David Sullivan IV[1]; 2. 02-Zachary Mertes[2]; 3. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[3]; 4. 84B-Michael Bradshaw[6]; 5. 25-Nate Morris[4]; 6. 44P-Lexi Przybylinski[5]; 7. 75-Makenna Crocker[7]; 8. (DNS) 5X-Jesse Martinez

 

YOUNG LIONS DIVISION

ROUND 5 A Main (25 Laps): 1. 124-Jackson Denton[6]; 2. 95-London McKenzie[9]; 3. 21-Nathan Lyons[1]; 4. 29-Cole Robie[5]; 5. 4R-Ryan Zima[13]; 6. 62-Keelan Harvick[15]; 7. 9E-Garrett Erwin[10]; 8. 97-Isaac Kitzmiller[27]; 9. 20-Evan McKnight[17]; 10. 81-Hunter Jordan[2]; 11. 4-Jake Locklear[25]; 12. 7K-Cassidy Keitt[23]; 13. 99-Spencer Bradshaw[21]; 14. 87-Hayden Wise[11]; 15. 66-Katie Yonchuk[28]; 16. 7B-Karter Beattie[19]; 17. 88R-Max Reaves[3]; 18. 7J-Kai Johnson[12]; 19. 24-Rodney Dowless[22]; 20. 88-Aiden King[18]; 21. 23-Josh Lowe[7]; 22. 40-Dillon Thomas[20]; 23. 7-Levi Canup[16]; 24. 19-Kaeden Ballos[4]; 25. 44-Bobby Gossett[8]; 26. 1-Caleb Johnson[14]; 27. 79-Neal Dulin[24]; 28. 78-Gracie Crocker[26]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Jake Locklear[1]; 2. 78-Gracie Crocker[3]; 3. 97-Isaac Kitzmiller[8]; 4. 66-Katie Yonchuk[2]; 5. 48-Jayden Wagner[5]; 6. 4S-Michael Sinagra[7]; 7. 28-Tyler Miske[6]; 8. 9-Mavrick Page; 9. (DNS) V5-Vito Cancilla

 

BOJANGLES OUTLAWS DIVISION

ROUND 5 A Main (20 Laps): 1. 15-Alison Johnson[3]; 2. 2-Killian McMann[4]; 3. 17-Ben Morabito[2]; 4. 38-Emma Britt[5]; 5. 16-Finn Buckley[12]; 6. 55-Mardy Roberts III[14]; 7. 9-TJ Moon[9]; 8. 28-Kyle Campbell[8]; 9. 5M-Hunter Morgan[6]; 10. 35-Owen Zacharias[1]; 11. M00-Lily Impellizzeri[21]; 12. 5-William Sipala[22]; 13. 28J-Joshua Shine[20]; 14. 39-Chase Spaulding[19]; 15. 11-Addison Schumann[23]; 16. 41-Mandi Lee[25]; 17. 21-Sarah Whitesell[24]; 18. 24-Bryson Brinkley[11]; 19. 6-Bobby Mares[18]; 20. 10-Ryan Likens[17]; 21. 77-Ellie Gossett[16]; 22. 5B-Jeffrey Beck[15]; 23. 4-Mitchell Flater[10]; 24. 88-Brian Rundstrom[7]; 25. 12-Eli Russell[13]

 

BANDITS DIVISION

ROUND 5 A Main (20 Laps): 1. 9-Jack Smith[6]; 2. 26-Laquan McCoy[3]; 3. 2-Wyatt Coffey[1]; 4. 80-Bryson Nichols[4]; 5. 18-Matthew Laprade[5]; 6. 38L-Billy Lee[9]; 7. 24-Colt Johnson[2]; 8. 37-Carson Cauble[8]; 9. 21-Mason Roberts[7]; 10. T2-Camden Truett[11]; 11. 16-Samuel Macedo[12]; 12. 84-Delaney Gray[10]


BEGINNER BANDOLERO DIVISION

ROUND 5 A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 38W-Gerald White III[1]; 2. 33-Roman Petrino[10]; 3. 8X-Addison Martinez[2]; 4. 1J-James Behnke[4]; 5. 40-Roo Reaves[3]; 6. 1VA-Tuggie Case[7]; 7. 16-Matt Hodges[6]; 8. 13-Keatin Lyons[8]; 9. 5-Corbin Cannon[9]; 10. 15-Rhylee Hutchins[5]

ROUND 5 B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 17-Taegan Knowland[1]; 2. 81-Brody Belcher[5]; 3. 05-Charlee Hutchins[3]; 4. 4-Kevin Stiene[7]; 5. 38-Penelope Carlisle[6]; 6. 19-Ava Grace Tobias[9]; 7. 85P-Paisley Lawson[8]; 8. 45-Madden Thulin[4]; 9. 8-Jakob Peterson[2]