KNOXVILLE, TN :: Chad Finchum is a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track champion for the second consecutive year. Finchum clinched the track championship at Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, Virginia on Saturday night after scoring 10 wins on the season.
Finchum had only raced at Lonesome Pine Raceway one time in his career prior to the start of the 2014 season. When the team first hit the track, they figured it out pretty quick and translated that quick study of the track in to dominance during the season.
“We went in and this is our first year there,” Finchum said. “We didn’t know what the setup was or what line to run. There are a lot of variables there. We showed up at practice day and, by lap three, we were running pole times. We just worked on the car all year and, we had our ups and downs but that’s every team, but we’re very blessed. 19 wins combined. First year there, win the track championship, I can’t put it in to words.”
Finchum said this season may have even topped last season, when he won the track championship at Kingsport Speedway and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Tennessee State Championship.
“Last year was a dream year, we knew it would be hard to back up and top off but, in a sense, we did because we had more wins,” Finchum stated. “We still ended up with a championship at a different track we were new to. You can say we’ve done better than last year. We wanted to win at Kingsport again but it was impossible considering we had bad races. Bad luck stepped in our way.”
Calling the season “incredible”, he said the team set even higher goals this year than last year.
“It’s been incredible. We set our goals even higher this year and topped it. I think we topped what we did in national points. I’m very happy and this could not have been done without the help of everybody that has supported us and is backing me – from every one of my crew members, to my mom and dad, sponsors, track promoter, fans, race director, everybody behind the scenes, this couldn’t have come true if not for everybody at the track week in and week out.”
Finchum scored 10 wins on the season at Lonesome Pine Raceway on top of the nine victories he scored at Kingsport Speedway. Finchum finished second in points at Kingsport. On top of 19 wins, he scored 33 top-five finishes in 2014.
