Fans were treated to a memorable Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday evening with Chase Janes, Josh Berry, and Kyle Campbell taking home victories in the Limited Late Model, Late Model and Carolina Pro Late Model Series features, respectively.
Janes was forced to work his way from the back of the field after a fire broke out inside of his car during the early stages, but he took advantage of a late-race accident between Kyle Mansch and Zack Miracle to bring home the checkered flag.
“We took the green and I was sparking because I was hitting low air pressure,” Janes said. “I must have had a little drop in the fuel cell spark and catch something on fire. We had to pit and go to the rear, but there were a bunch of wrecks and we played the caution game, but I just tried to drive the car as hard as I could during the race.”
While Janes bided his time, Zack Clifton appeared to have one of the best cars after starting on pole, but he was forced to vacate the lead early after encountering a transmission issue, which gave Joshua Gobble control of the race.
Gobble held the top spot until Kyle Mansch took it away from him on a Lap 47 restart and would go uncontested for most of the second half as the handling went away on Gobble’s Late Model, all while Janes powered his way into the third position.
With 10 laps remaining, Zack Miracle ran down Mansch for the lead and engaged him in a fierce side-by-side battle, which ended with Miracle turning Mansch around in Turn 2, bringing out a late-race caution.
NASCAR elected to penalize Miracle for his maneuver on Mansch, which gave the lead to Janes. No one had anything for Janes on the final restart, who pulled away for another win in a successful season at Hickory.
“On that last restart, I just took all of my experience from this year and made sure it worked,” Janes said. “I thought I had at least a third or fourth place car, but we capitalized on the opportunity and won the race.”
The 200-lap LMSC feature followed the eventful LLM race, where Josh Berry worked the tire conservation strategy to his advantage by dropping to the middle of the pack from the pole during the first half of the race before carving his way through the field to claim the win.
“We’ve had such an amazing season,” Berry said. “To cap all of this off in the biggest race of the year at Hickory is obviously so special. The car wasn’t as good as I hoped and we got a little bit tight, so we had to make some adjustments at halfway and save the left-side tires there at the beginning, but I’m just thankful to be here.”
Ryan Millington, who clinched the LMSC championship at Hickory, controlled the early portion of the LMSC feature after passing both Berry and Sam Butler within the first ten laps. He proceeded to run away with the top spot until the caution was displayed for the halfway break.
A strong start by Justin Johnson following the break gave him the lead over Millington, but he only held the front for a few laps, as Gracie Trotter used an aggressive move to nudge Johnson out of the groove and assume command of the race.
Berry followed Trotter past Johnson and tucked in behind her while he waited for an opening to appear. Berry nearly found that opportunity with 70 laps to go after getting a strong run on Trotter and making contact with her back bumper, but Trotter kept her composure and maintained the lead.
Berry finally drove past Trotter for the lead a few laps later, and managed to hold off Millington on a late-race restart to secure his fourth victory in the Fall Brawl at Hickory and pad out his solid advantage in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Standings.
“[Millington] and I were both just slipping and sliding on old tires, but he was doing his job and I was doing mine,” Berry said. “He’s been a tough competitor all year. They’ve fallen off a little bit as of late, but he was real tough tonight, so congrats to Ryan and his guys on a great year.
Rounding out the evening was the 100-lap Carolina Pro Late Model Series feature, which saw Kyle Campbell earn his first win after points leader Carson Kvapil, who had the quickest car in the race, encountered multiple problems that relegated him to a fifth place finish.
“I knew Carson Kvapil was going to be the one to beat tonight,” Campbell said. “I didn’t think I could do it and then I saw him coming in my rearview mirror with about 30 to go and thought it was over, but it turned out to be a pretty good night for us.”
Amber Lynn led the field to the green flag after Kvapil, who won the pole, elected to start from the rear of the field to claim a $500 bounty that had been put on him. Within 30 laps, Kvapil found himself in the third position with only Lynn and Tyler Church standing in his way.
Kvapil took the lead away from Lynn with 60 laps to go, but a tire issue forced him to stop on track and bring out the caution. Kvapil would be penalized one lap by NASCAR for intentionally brining out the yellow, but he got back on the lead lap by the free pass after an accident between Church and Tissot caused another caution.
With only 45 laps to work with, Kvapil picked off his competition one-by-one and quickly erased Campbell’s sizeable gap to re-take the lead, which would once again be short lived for Kvapil, as Campbell turned him around on Turn 4 while the duo tried to navigate through lap traffic.
A multi-car accident with 16 laps to go formally ended any chance Kvapil had of securing the victory, enabling Campbell and Lynn to settle the win amongst themselves, with Campbell ultimately earning that honor after beating Lynn on a late-race restart.
“I don’t shift on the restarts because I like to roll as fast as I can to get it,” Campbell said. “I’d spin my tires a couple of times, but we’d really hit on something going into Turn 1. I would door Amber [Lynn] a little bit and she’d get me sideways, but it was good hard racing and she told me so afterwards.”
Kvapil, who claimed the Carolina Pro Late Model Series championship after winning every race he entered prior to Hickory, was proud of all the hard work his team put in to make his car competitive on a weekly basis, but he wished that he could have capped off his stellar campaign with one more win.
“You live and learn I guess,” Kvapil said. “What really caused all of this was the lapped car I had to check up for, and then I got hit in the ass by Campbell when that happened. I think I can be a little more patient when I have things covered and then everything will work out on its own.”
LMSC Feature Results:
- 88 Josh Berry
- 15 Ryan Millington
- 77 Shane Lee
- 08 Justin Johnson
- 12m Austin McDaniel
- 20 Gracie Trotter
- 88m Connor Mosack
- 3 Will Cox
- 6d Mike Darne
- 14j Conner Jones
- 2 Matt Leicht
- 6 Bryson Dennis
- 81 Sam Butler
- 07 Chase Dixon
- 77w Trevor Ward
- 66 Zack Wells
- 14 Akinori Ogata
- 11 Dillon Houser
Carolina Pro Late Model Series Results:
- 45 Kyle Campbell
- 2 Amber Lynn
- 21 Jacob Perry
- 43 Nick Loden
- 35 Carson Kvapil
- 13 Eric Nash
- 80 Toni Breidinger
- 5 Max Gutierrez
- 27 Lee Tissot
- 51 Zach Keller
- 03 Sterling Plemmons
- 5x Chad Mallory
- 1x Tyler Church
- 4 Michael Pilla
- 9 Grayson Ward
- 61 Gabriel Fogg
- 48 Toby Grynewicz
- 2x Terry Thompson
LLM Feature Results:
- 47 Chase Janes
- 18 Cody DeMarmels
- 44 Josh Kossek
- 81 Zack Clifton
- 99 Kade Brown
- 71 Landon Huffman
- 80 Toni Breidinger
- 17m Kyle Mansch
- 38 Alex Posey
- 88 Joshua Gobble
- 97L Billy Jack Lester
- 8p Travis Powell
- 32m Zack Miracle
- 8 Ryan Walker
- 1 Kyle Barnes
- 29 Dennis Trivette
- 22 Whitney Meggs
- 55 John Reynolds
- 43p Kenneth Pardue
- 57 Ashton Trivette
- 17 Skyler Chaney
- 5 B.J. Moose
- 72 Pete Johns
- 10 Wyatt Underwood
- 30 Blake Sharpe DNS
- 71L Nathan Lineback DNS
