With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series and K&N Pro Series East in action this weekend at nearby Bristol Motor Speedway, there was also the exciting weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing program at Kingsport Speedway on Thursday night.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, winner of 84 career races and named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers, greeted fans and signed autographs. Local Northeast Tennessee racing legend John A. Utsman, who over the years won many NASCAR Late Model Sportsman races at Kingsport Speedway, served as honorary starter.
Kres VanDyke of Abingdon, Va., powered into the lead at drop of the green in the “First Kingsport Credit Union” Late Model Stock 60-lap feature and never looked back en route to capturing his second victory of the season.
Ronnie McCarty, fresh off a win last week at the .375-mile banked concrete oval, set fast-time in qualifying. But with the dice roll coming up an invert-three, McCarty was relegated to a starting spot inside the second row.
VanDyke and Zeke Shell led the 17-car field to green, with VanDyke immediately grabbing the lead when the engine on Shell’s car began misfiring (due to plug wire issue). Both Lee Tissot and Kyle Barnes quickly got around Shell for position.
With the race running clean-and-green, VanDyke was setting a torrid pace out front in pulling away to an eight car length advantage over Tissot and Barnes by the lap 15 mark. The event’s first caution waved on lap 20, when Bruce Blessing slowed to a stop high in turn two with a flat right-front tire.
The double-file restart had VanDyke and Tissot on the front row, with Barnes and Shell alongside in the second row. VanDyke shot back out into the lead over Barnes and Tissot, with Shell being challenged for fourth in the running order by McCarty.
McCarty got around Shell on lap 22, which opened the door for 17-year-old Justin Fontaine to pressure Shell for the fifth spot. Racing into the first turn on lap 25, Fontaine attempted a move to the inside of Shell and the two cars tangled, with each spinning to bring the caution out. Both would tag on at rear of the field for the restart.
VanDyke and Barnes brought the field back up to speed off the restart, with VanDyke once again flexing his muscle to pull back out into the lead. Just behind VanDyke and Barnes in the running order, Tissot, McCarty, Taylor Coffman, Robbie Ferguson and Wayne Hale were battling for real estate around “The Concrete Jungle.”
Racing up off the second corner on lap 31, McCarty passed Tissot for third. Just five circuits later Hale got around Ferguson for sixth, and began pressuring Coffman for the fifth spot. After racing each other door-to-door for five circuits, Hale completed the pass on Coffman racing off turn two on lap 46.
But out front it was all VanDyke, as the 34-year-old was in command leading over Barnes and McCarty. VanDyke, driving the Service Fuel Inc., Pizza Plus, Burger King, Wheel Chill, AR Bodies, Hy-Tec Specialty Coatings, RW Race Engines, Townsend Race Cars, Pro Image Graphics, No. 15 Chevrolet SS, pulled off the flag-to-flag run to victory in winning over Barnes, McCarty, Tissot and Hale.
Completing the top 10 finishers were Coffman, Shell, Fontaine, Ferguson and rookie Trey Lane with his first-ever top-10 outing.
“This is one of the most special wins in my career,” said VanDyke after climbing from his car in victory lane. “The reason I think it’s so special is because of all the hard work it’s taken this past week just to get the race car repaired from the deal last week where (Tyler) Goodwin and I made contact racing up off turn two. It was just a racing incident. He and I both were battling hard for position and as we raced up off the corner, he was to the inside and I was on the outside. Tyler got over into me a little and I got bounced over against the outside concrete wall.
“Maybe from a fan’s point of view from the grandstand it might not have looked like that hard a hit, but it was significant. You wouldn’t believe all the damage to our car, and I don’t just mean cosmetic body damage. It (impact with the concrete wall) shattered the axle and broke stuff inside the rear end, and underneath the back of the car there was a lot of suspension damage. I just can’t thank all the guys enough that help me work on the car for all the man-hours we’ve put in back at the race shop getting the car repaired. I also want to thank former two-time track champion Nate Monteith for letting us borrow the rear end out of ‘Lightning’ to use this week, while we’re getting our piece fixed. Considering all we’ve gone through working to repair the car, to come out tonight and run strong and get the win, it’s put a smile on all the crew members’ faces to see the car parked in victory lane.”
