As the temperatures fall for most of the country and the fall season is in full swing, big money race season is now upon us as the All American 400 at The Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville (Tennessee) kicked it off for the Super Late Model division this past weekend. Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina’s native son Trevor Noles was one of many drivers to skip last week’s 400-lap race in Tennessee in preparation for the 400-lap race this weekend.
Noles is primarily a Super Late Model racer and has been since 2014, but as of lately, he’s had some bad luck in the high horsepower division.
He and his team was running in the top-five at the U.S. Short Track Nationals back in May at Bristol, when the power steering line busted open and laid oil all over the car and tires during qualifying and thanks to a huge crash in the race, his day was done. He’s been running top-five in two recent races in North Carolina, when problems arose and costed him potential wins in both race. Noles has dabbled into what you could consider the “youngest brother” of Late Model Racing in the Late Model Stock Car division.
What steered him towards the smaller horsepower cars is the ValleyStar Credit Union 300. He competed last year and didn’t have a good showing, but with the allure of the new LED lights being added and that particular race being the first under the new lights, Noles had that race circled on his calendar. The team showed some great potential as a threat for the rest of the LMSC Big Race Season.
“We unloaded real fast,” said Noles. “We just tweaked on the car here and there and we found ourselves up front during practice. Qualifying went really well and we won our heat and that helped us out to stay out of the carnage. We got the lead after the (first) break and lead some laps and we got behind the 8 ball after the other break, we didn’t make the right at the four-tire break and that’s what took us out of contention in the end.”
This weekend Noles will climb back into his super for the Winchester 400. He’ll look to ride the wave of momentum from Martinsville. He won’t run in the family owned car nor the Jamie Yelton Fathead Racing car. Instead, he’ll be wheeling a car that’s been prepared by Donnie Wilson and Wilson Motorsports. Wilson is a former champion of the Southern Super Series and he’s coming off of a win last Sunday in the All-American 400.
“Donnie [Wilson] is definitely one to contend with week in and week out,” said Noles, giving recognition towards Wilson. “I just can’t thank him enough for preparing me a car capable of winning the 400.”
Noles touched on how the good run at Martinsville was and how the momentum helped the team heading into Winchester.
“I think so, it’s definitely been a confidence booster for the team and myself head in into this weekend.”
Noles and his team w”ith the Wilson Motorsports prepared car will head to the high banks of Winchester Speedway this weekend in Winchester, Indiana looking for redemption and hoping nothing goes wrong this time around. Last season, Noles’ run at the prestigious race was cut short and his first attempt in 2015 was even shorter. This year, he is looking to capitalize on those bad finishes and hopes this season will be better and go a lot smoother than the past two seasons.
Noles thinks the addition of Wilson Motorsports in his racing career and especially at Winchester, where he was running pretty good last year until his power steering went away and a cut left front tire ended his day. He also felt like with him being asked to race a car prepared by that team and racing alongside of Donnie will be pretty good for both of them.
“I feel like I bring another driver to the team,” Noles said when asked what he brings to the team. “I feel like I bring another set of notes for not only me, but Donnie too can rely on and we can bounce information off of one another, which will help us both out.”
As stated previously, Noles has been to Winchester a few times before with dismal results from excellent performances, Trevor offered his insight on the fastest half mile track.
“Winchester is a driver’s track for sure, you carry a lot of speed into and through the corners, you definitely have to be on your A game there no matter what.”
The Winchester 400 weekend kicks off on Friday as the JEG’S CRA Pro Late Models feature along with the Vore’s Compacts will have their feature, along with the new stars of the CRA Sportsman & Street Stocks. Saturday will be action packed with qualifying day and features for the Sportsman & Street Stock and the always fun Run for the Gun 50 lapper for the IMCA Type Modifieds. The main event will kick off Sunday afternoon at 2:00.
