Ever since the closing of Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas Virginia back in 2014, owner Steve Britt opens Dominion Raceway for the 2016 race season in the town of Thornburg Virginia not to far from the original track. With much anticipation, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model racing is back in business and once again the lights are back on at the all new Dominion Speedway, or at least for most of the evening. Featuring fourteen degrees of banking in the corners, the track measures at 4/10’s mile in length and will offer several lanes of racing wall to wall around the track.

Thirty two Late Models were on hand looking to win in Dominion Raceway season opener while twenty eight participated in the afternoon time trials. When all was said and done, Tyler Hughes clocked in a hot lap at a blistering 14.966 sec or 96.218 mph to claim the pole for the Raceways first NWAAS Late Model feature. Johnathan Findley was fast also just four hundredths of a tick off the pole speed of Hughes. Also laying down some really good laps was Nick Smith, Doug Barnes Jr and Adam Brenner who made up the grids five best.

Other notables in the field were the efforts by Mike Darne, Robert Bruce, Eddie Johnson, Michael Hardin and Sergio Pena who occupied sixth through tenth in the field respectively. After three long years, Late Model race teams once again saw the green flag wave to open up the 2016 season at the all new Dominion Raceway. Mike Darne would lead lap one of the event thanks in part to a six car inversion to begin the race.

Pole sitter Tyler Hughes would start sixth on the grid began to make his march to the front when the race saw it first caution as Mike Ganoe goes around. Back to the green and once again Darne is in control but the yellow flag flies for the expired engine of Ray Terczak. Lap five restart and new leader to the race was Adam Brenner but just as the field started to sort itself out, Logan Jones brings out yet another caution period to the race. After yet another caution flag, Nick Smith worked around Brenner to become the races third lead change of the night.

Finally at this point, green flag laps were clicking off and Nick Smith continued to show the way in the early portions of the race. Doug Barnes and Sergio Pena who were second and third on the grid were not to far behind the leader. Several laps in and the leaders would encounter heavy race traffic when suddenly the caution flag waves as Sergio Pena who was running third runs into a slower car. Halfway point in the race and Smith continued to lead when on the ensuing restart, Tyler Hughes from the six spot on the grid became the fourth race leader of the night.

When in a seemingly bizarre event, the track lighting suddenly goes out as Hughes and company goes into turn three. To the surprise of many, while a race marred with cautions, somehow nobody wrecks during the blackout over the raceway. After a lengthy delay, racing resumes on a lap fifty four restart with Hughes as the leader. After another caution period, race teams were informed that the race was being reduced from a hundred lap feature to a seventy five presumably due to curfew regulations.

As a result, nine laps remained in the season opener at Dominion Raceway. Lap sixty four restart and once again Hughes jumps out to a sizable lead as Nick Smith gave chase. Doug Barnes showed some late race muscle running third giving Smith all he wanted but then the races final caution flag waved on lap seventy setting up what many believed would be a GWC finish to the race. Back to the green, Hughes edges out Smith to secure the lead but here would come Smith to challenge for the spot.

White flag comes out and its Hughes on the outside crossing the stripe first to lead the lap. Nick Smith would fire back underneath of Hughes on the backstretch setting up would be a fantastic finish. Coming out of turn four, Smith makes it stick and beats Tyler Hughes to the line by a half a car length as checkers wave for Nick Smith. Hughes finished second while Doug Barnes Jr, Adam Brenner and Michael Hardin completed the top five.

Then in a strange turn of events, Smith and his race team were celebrating in Victory Lane when the news broke out that Tyler Hughes was awarded the win negating Smith as the second place finisher. From the officials tower at the track, the reasoning for taking away the race win from Nick Smith was that the race was accidently extended an additional lap outside of its seventy five lap schedule. Which to Hughes credit, he indeed was the leader at the time the white flag was displayed or according to the scorers tower, at that point the race should have concluded.

But they continued to race likely because the flagman was waving the white flag when on the next lap, the checkered flag flew and it was Smith crossing the strip first. Though both drivers handled the matter professionally considering the emotions of it all, Smith’s car owner soon made it known they’re intentions to appeal the race and its results. Race action at Dominion Raceway will pick back up on April 30th for another seventy five lap race event for its Late Model division. At the time of this write up, results of the Late Model feature are still unofficial pending appeal and the finishing order down below is what we know to date.

Race Results
1 #8 Tyler Hughes
2 #12 Nick Smith
3 #88 Doug Barnes
4 #22 Adam Brenner
5 #7 Michael Hardin
6 #33 Davis Polenz
7 #21 Mike Darne
8 #61 JJ Pack
9 #45 Tyler Daniels
10 #57 Eddie Johnson
11 #29 Robert Bruce
12 #79 Barry Dean
13 #07 Richard Storm
14 #16 Jeff Oakley
15 #86 Mike Marr
16 #36 Owen Smith
17 #64 Bill Leutz
18 #28 Cameron Burke
19 #23 Wes Green
20 #01 Sergio Pena
21 #89 Irwin Cook
22 #18 Chandler Sherman
23 #44 Keith Carpenter
24 #4 Johnathan Findley
25 #77 Logan Jones
26 #51 Ray Terczak
27 #17 Doug Liberman
28 #82 Mike Ganoe