–by T.J. Ingerson (@TJIngerson)
 VMM Editor

SEEKONK, Mass. – Brad Babb stated he took matters into his own hands on Saturday night at Seekonk Speedway.

Seconds after a bang-and-slide battle for the lead with Babb, Scott Payea, and Eddie MacDonald, Babb would get into the back of MacDonald into turn one, turn him sideways, and the two would make relatively hard contact with the turn two wall.

As Babb and Payea battled for the top spot on lap 148, Babb appeared to slip up and make contact with Payea, which allowed MacDonald a run at the inside of the duo as they entered turn three. Babb would come down and make contact with MacDonald, which put Babb and Payea sideways in turn four. Payea was able to gather his car and continue on while Babb’s nose would make contact with MacDonald’s right side, straightening Babb out.

The duo would continue down into turn one where Babb would get into MacDonald and continued up the track and into the wall.

“Scott (Payea) and I were just racing clean and we were going to have a good battle for the win,” Babb said. “And Eddie had to be Eddie and run into everything on the way to the front and run into everything when he got to the front.

“I’ve had enough of his shit and I think he got the point.”

MacDonald offered his version of the events.

“I was watching the two of them and (Payea) had a great run on the outside and I thought he was pretty good, but I knew that (Babb) was just going to drive him up the track,” MacDonald said. “I’ve been on the outside of him before and, unfortunately, it’s definitely tough racing against him. He definitely uses most of the track.

“I’m not looking to get by anyone easy, but it’s a little bit of respect out there. It’s too bad that things happened like that. I felt like we snuck it up in there off the backstretch and it was close getting into turn three. He just kind of turned down on us. He was kind of too worried about protecting the top and the bottom. You have to pick one or the other.

“You leave a hole open with two laps to go, it’s going to get filled. It’s too bad that that’s the way it ended.”

When asked if this was an lingering issue between the two drivers, Babb stated it’s how MacDonald races others.

“He just races that way with everybody all the time,” Babb said. “Nobody ever does anything about it. He’s a superstar so the Tour won’t do anything about it so it’s on the drivers to take care of it and I did.”

When asked about Babb’s comments, MacDonald offered little.

“Yeah,” MacDonald said. “It’s too bad.”

The disappointment of the results were not the same for both drivers immediately.

“It’s probably going to hit me a lot more tomorrow,” Babb said. “Right now, I’m just happy that we ran good. We’ve been terrible all year. To have that good of a run for that long, I’m happy with that. But, in the coming days, I’m probably going to be disappointed that it didn’t work out.

“Oh well, it happens. It probably won’t be the last one I lose in that type of way.”

MacDonald flew in from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and made it shortly before the start of the Propane Plus 150.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” MacDonald said. “We were definitely hoping for a top-five. We were there by halfway and that’s all you can hope for.

“My guys worked really hard and did a great job having the car competitive enough to go out there with no practice and still be fast.”

MacDonald would be credited with a 16th place finish while Babb finished 17th.

A video of the late race incident for the lead between Babb, MacDonald, and Payea can be seen here. 

PHOTO: Brad Babb (#15) and Eddie MacDonald (#17) make contact with the turn two wall at Seekonk Speedway on Saturday night after a late race battle for the lead left the two drivers differing about what happened. (Photo Courtesy Todd Wainwright/Facebook video)