A trio of disqualifications overshadowed the actual racing at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, South Carolina.

Dalton Sargeant, racing for Lee Pulliam Performance, and Kenneth Headen had scored victories in the two Late Model Stock Car feature races but both drivers, along with Trey Gibson, were disqualified after the race.  A press release from Greenville-Pickens Speedway said that the shock absorber package the three drivers used were not within the specifications of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) rulebook.

Headen confirmed the disqualification in an interview with RACE22.com on Monday.  Headen said that the NASCAR rulebook states that the shocks have to travel six inches in 90 seconds, but that his took 91 seconds to travel six inches and Sargeant’s took 93 or 94 seconds.

“The time it takes to travel six inches is what we got disqualified for,” Headen said.  “Well, they threw me out for one second.  We were lobbying for, it was 40 degrees on Saturday night and we pulled in the tech shed at 11:30 and didn’t get the shocks checked until 1am.  It cooled off, plus the cold temperatures.  We tried to get the shocks to a room temperature.  Mine was one minute and 31 seconds, Dalton’s was a minute and 33 or 34 seconds.  Trey’s was the worst.”

Headen said he would not appeal the disqualification and that he will continue racing at Greenville-Pickens Speedway.

“It is what it is and I’m glad they’re starting to check more stuff and get the tech shed under control because it’s been crap in previous years,” Headen remarked.  “I don’t believe one second is a competitive advantage.  Our shock guy wants us to request to send to NASCAR R&D to get it rechecked but I don’t think we’ll do that.  It’s done and over with … We’ll regroup and be back out there Saturday.”

Greenville-Pickens Speedway track promoter Anthony Anders told RACE22.com that track officials made every effort to get the shocks through tech and get them to pass.

“We worked with them two hours,” Anders said.  “We tried to do what we could to get them passed.  [NWAAS Director] Kenny Hunley from NASCAR was there.  They were close, all of them were, but they did not pass.”

Anders said that the disqualification of Sargeant had nothing to do with past history between himself, the track and Lee Pulliam.

“I threw out two championship drivers there,” Anders commented.  “Trey Gibson wanted to go for the championship this year.  It’s just, they have to understand rules are rules and they’ll be fair for everybody.”

Sargeant led wire-to-wire in the first race and had raced his way from 10th to second in the second race prior to the disqualifications.  Sargeant’s disqualification in the first race handed the victory to six-time track champion Marty Ward.  David Roberts was credited with second while Bob Root, Andrew Cordell and Tasha Kummer rounded out the top-five.

An inversion put Kummer on the pole for the second race.  Kummer was able to hold the lead until the middle stages of the race when Headen roared past her.  Headen held back Sargeant and Gibson but the disqualification of those three drivers handed the victory to Blair Addis.  Kummer was credited with a second place finish while rookie Emilee Riley finished third.  Joe Wilder and Bob Root rounded out the top-five.

The race was the first race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway under the management of Anders.

Dalton Sargeant and Lee Pulliam could not be reached at the time of publication.