BLOOMINGDALE, TN :: Following heavy rain on Thursday around Northeast Tennessee carrying over into still an early morning drizzle on Friday, the skies finally cleared and sun was shining brightly by midday and that meant one thing – Mobil 1 Night at the Races at Kingsport Speedway would go off as scheduled.
Zeke Shell of Johnson City has been fast in every race this season, but had yet visited victory lane. Shell clearly had the car to beat in the first race, holding a comfortable lead until misfortune struck with the left front tie-rod end breaking loose ended his race prematurely. And last week, after moving into the lead he suddenly had to head to pit road with a flat tire, thus ending his shot at winning.
But tonight Shell finally shook the monkey off his back to capture his first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series “Dalton Direct Carpets” Late Model Stock victory of the season in convincing style, winning over Chad Finchum and Blake Jones by a little over half-straightaway at “The Concrete Jungle.”
Hayden Woods started the evening off by lowering the Late Model Stock track qualifying record at the .375-mile banked concrete oval from 15.060 seconds to 15.031.
With an invert of the fastest four cars from time trials, Kres VanDyke and Finchum led the stellar 21-car field to the green flag. The duo battled side-by-side for the first three circuits before Finchum moved to the point leading VanDyke and Woods. The first caution waved on lap 4, when Erika Schmidt and Bruce Blessing got together between turns three and four.
Finchum and VanDyke brought the field back up to speed from the front row for the double-file restart, with Woods and Shell alongside one another in the second row. After battling for two laps, VanDyke moved into the lead racing off turn two, which also opened the door for Woods to capitalize and get past Finchum and move into second. With Finchum hung out to dry on the outside, Adam Long passed him for the third spot on lap 8.
Fans rose to their feet on lap 12 when Woods stuck his nose to the inside of VanDyke racing off turn two, with Long diving to the inside of Woods a little past halfway down the backstretch to make it three-wide racing off into the third turn. And, that just won’t work.
VanDyke came out on the losing end after paint was swapped amongst the three cars, getting out of shape up high in the banking between turns three and four after contact and almost spinning. When he finally reeled his mount back in he had dropped back to ninth in the running order. With Long and Woods getting together, Finchum saw an opening on the bottom of the track and drove past both to once again move out front into the lead.
Caution waved on lap 21 for a spin by Blessing, with him calling it a race and pulling into the pits.
The double-file restart had Finchum and Long on the front row, with Woods and Shell lined up in row two. Before one lap could be completed, Long and Woods got together between turns three and four with VanDyke and Austin Peters getting caught up in the incident.
With the new restart rule implemented this week in the Late Model Stock division, each time following a caution there would be one attempt to get a lap back under green. If that scenario failed, cars would then be lined up single-file for the next attempt.
Getting back up to speed, Finchum showed the way out front over Shell and Jones. The front trio quickly began to distance themselves from the pack, pulling ahead of Lee Tissot and Paul Nogradi Jr. by almost a half-straightaway by lap 40.
With a couple of lapped cars directly ahead of Finchum racing down the front straightaway on lap 45, it slowed his momentum entering the first turn. After a slight nudge from behind by Shell moved Finchum up the track, racing off turn two, Shell powered into a lead he would not relinquish.
Driving the Fairway Ford of Kingsport/Chef 5 Minute Meals/Shell Media (Printing, Design, Graphics, Wraps, Promotions, Marketing, Advertising)/Nickels Speed Shop/Bobby Myers Performance Racing Engines/Hy-Tec Specialty Coatings/Marlowe Racing Chassis/Zeke Shell Racing/No. 97 Ford Fusion, the 25-year-old Shell began to drive away to easily win by about a half-straightaway over Finchum. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Jones, Tissot and Nogradi.
Completing the top-10 at the finish were Daniel Pope II, Anthony Anders, VanDyke, Ryan Stiltner and Woods.
“Wow, I was kind of beginning to wonder if we were ever going to be able and win us a race,” said a smiling Shell following his crowd-pleasing first victory of the season. “We’ve had a strong car in every race this year and the opportunities have been there to win, but we just hadn’t been able to seal the deal and bring home the trophy. Riding behind Chad (Finchum) I really felt we had a much faster car, but you have to give him credit for doing what he had to do and keep me pinned behind him. But with those lapped cars kind of getting into the picture, I saw that as my chance to make a move. And the final results proved we were faster, as I put several car lengths between myself andChad there at the finish.
“It goes without saying for basically every car in the field last Friday night, it was a wild race and equipment got torn up. We had to take our motor out and take it to our engine builder on Monday to have it worked on, plus all the body damage that needed repairing. So needless to say, we spent many hours back in the race shop this week getting the car fixed. But getting this win tonight, along with the trophy and winner’s sticker, hey, that’s what it’s all about. It definitely makes all of our hard work worthwhile. I couldn’t do this (racing) without my dad (Pat Shell) on my side. We started out many years ago racing go-karts, and now with this win tonight we can say we’ve won at least one race each season since Kingsport Speedway opened back up for full-time racing in 2011. Hopefully this will be just the first of several more trips we get to make to victory lane this season.”
Chris Tunnell and Rob Austin raced door-to-door early in the Street Stock feature before Tunnell moved to the point a third of the way into the 30-lapper. Just behind Tunnell and Austin in the running order, Nick Cole and Jared Broadbent were also battling for real estate, with Cole finally getting past Broadbent for the third spot.
Just before the halfway mark, Cole got around Austin for second and set his sights ahead on leader Tunnell. With five laps remaining, Tunnell looked like he might be headed to victory lane. But Cole, from Bristol and driving the Eaton/United Central Industrial Supply/Matterhorn Boots/Industrial Scientific/3300 Artesian/Benny’s Pipe & Muffler/No. 63 Chevrolet Camaro, refused to lose and maneuvered his way under Tunnell racing off turn two on lap 27 en route to capturing his second consecutive feature win and third on the season. Chasing Cole to the checkers were Austin, Broadbent, Tunnell and Tony Vance.
Chris Neeley jumped into the lead over Kenny Absher and John Ketron at start of the 25-lap Pure 4 feature and appeared to be riding a mount strong enough to capture his first win of the season. But the number 13 proved to be unlucky for Neeley, as the event’s first caution waved on lap 13 when Roger Light hit the front straightaway inside retaining wall.
On the double file restart, with Neeley and Absher on the front row, racing into the first turn contact from behind by John Ketron got Neeley out of shape sending his car up the track into the outside wall around turns one and two. The incident also collected Dan Hall, thus ending the night for both Neeley and himself.
Back green for the final 12 laps, Absher and 17-year-old Sullivan North High School junior Jason Ketron engaged in a spirited battle for the win. Jason captured his division-leading third victory of the season over Absher, John Ketron, Billy Ketron and Derek Penley. Young Jason, defending Pure 4 track champion, also moved into a tie with his father John at top of the point leaderboard.
Billy Taylor of Kingsport captured his first-ever Rookie Pure 4 victory over Brandon Byington, Billy Byington, Brandon Sutherland and Matt Baker.
The Legends division ran a doubleheader, with twin 10-lap features. Zack Walton of Blountville, a 17-year-old junior at Sullivan Central High School, cruised to his second victory of the season in the first race over Jacob Owens, Derek Lane, Tony Wiggins and Hubert Whitehead. In the second race Owens, from Bean Station and an 18-year-old student at Grainger High School, visited victory lane for the second time this season in winning over Derek Lane, Trey Lane, Walton and Whitehead.
