The largest crowd of the season was in attendance Friday at Kingsport Speedway for the final points night of racing and running of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Tennessee State Championship Tri-Cities 150 presented by Dalton Direct Carpets, Pizza Plus, Walgreens and Five Star Race Car Bodies for the headlining Late Model Stock division.
Adam Long of Pounding Mill, Va., who captured his first-ever win at “The Concrete Jungle” back in June, swept the action winning both twin 75-lap Late Model Stock features for a $3,000 payday.
With a stellar field of 26 Late Model Stock competitors present, including legendary NASCAR champion “Iron Man” Jack Ingram along with 2012 NASCAR Daytona International Speedway Camping World Truck Series winner John King II, three-time feature winner this season Daniel Pope II wrote his name in the record book by establishing a new track record at 15.134 seconds in qualifying.
An invert-three placed Hayden Woods on the pole with Long on the outside of row one. Before one lap could be completed, contact by David Garbo Jr. with Robbie Ferguson between turns one and two sent Ferguson, the 2002 track champion spinning to bring out the caution flag.
The next attempt at green Woods and Long got a good start, with Long quickly assuming the lead over Woods, Pope, Blake Jones and Lee Tissot.
Tissot got around Jones for fourth on lap 3 racing off the second corner. Pope began mounting a challenge on Woods for second, and after getting alongside the 16-year-old Woods and racing side-by-side around the .375-mile banked concrete overall for four laps, Pope moved into the runner-up spot. Caution waved on lap 10 when Anthony Anders spun at exit of turn two on the backstretch.
The top five in running order going back green were Long, Pope, Woods, Tissot and Jones. On lap 14 racing up off the second corner, Tissot got past Woods for the third spot and just behind them Nate Monteith, who started 10th, passed Jones to move into fifth.
Monteith overtook Woods for fourth on lap 16 between turns one and two, and with the door open Jones also capitalized and followed Monteith to get past Woods for fifth. Caution waved on lap 19 when Austin Peters got dumped from behind by C.J. Hulsey and spun in turn two.
Back up to speed Long was still in command riding on the point followed by Pope, Tissot, Monteith and Jones. But quickly on lap 20, Kres VanDyke got around Woods for sixth to drop the pole-sitter back another position in the running order.
While Pope was glued to Long’s rear bumper, just behind them Monteith was challenging Tissot for third. After running door-to-door for a lap and a half, Monteith assumed the position. Woods lost yet another spot as Matt Bowling got around him for seventh place on lap 28 racing off the second corner.
After getting around Tissot to move into third in the running order, Monteith wasn’t able to close the gap between himself and leader Long and Pope, as they rode about 10 car lengths ahead with the race reaching halfway. Just outside of the top five, battle for real estate involving VanDyke, Bowling, Woods, King, Paul Nogradi Jr., Zeke Shell and Ryan Stiltner. Nogradi and Shell tangled between turns one and two on lap 49 to bring out the caution.
Long had a rearview mirror occupied by Pope going back green, followed by Monteith, Tissot and Jones. With the top 14 cars in the running order running almost nose-to-tail around The Concrete Jungle, King got around Bowling for sixth on lap 55 racing off the fourth turn, with Stiltner looking underneath Bowling racing off the corners trying to overtake him for the seventh spot.
While it appeared Pope just might have a quicker car, the 27-year-old Long, driving the Tru-Line Pipeline, LLC/CNX Gas/Clark’s Automotive Race Engines/Hedgecock Race Cars/Adam Long Racing/No. 3 Chevrolet Impala, never made a mistake down the stretch and held Pope off for his second Late Model Stock feature win on the season. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Monteith, Jones and Tissot.
Completing the top 10 in the running order at the checkers were King, Bowling, Stiltner, Anders and Woods. Nineteen of the 26 starters were running at the finish, with 15 cars crossing the start-finish line on the lead lap.
The top four finishers from the first race were inverted for the second 75-lapper, putting Jones and Monteith on the front row.
At end of the first lap Jones and Monteith were battling for the lead, while just behind them Pope and Long were fighting for position. Racing down the backstretch into the third turn on lap 2, Pope stuck it to the inside of Jones to make it three-wide – and that wasn’t going to work in the tight corners. Jones and Monteith tangled with Jones almost spinning, while Monteith’s left-front received damage to bring out the caution.
Pope emerged from the altercation in the lead, followed by Long, King, Tissot and Jones, who had saved his car from looping and coming to a stop. Back under green racing conditions Pope and Long begin to separate themselves from King and Tissot, who were battling for the third spot. Tissot got around King for the position between turns one and two on lap 9. Racing into the first turn on lap 12, Ferguson got into the back of Austin Peters with both spinning to bring out the caution.
Pope began to put a little distance between his Chevrolet Impala and Long back under green, while several battles for position back through the field were heated. With a third of the distance in the books, Pope was in control out front while Long and Tissot were feeling each other out.
Jones got around King for the fourth spot on lap 23 racing off turn two, with King immediately being pressure for position by Anders. Anders got around King for fifth on lap 28, and began working on Jones for the fourth spot.
Mounting a charge back up through the field following his early race incident, Monteith was picking cars off for position and passed Stiltner for eighth place on lap 26. Meanwhile out front, Pope had pulled out to about eight car lengths over Long and Tissot. But Pope’s night abruptly ended when he slowed on the backstretch with engine issues on lap 34, thus handing the lead over to Long.
Long looked to back up his victory from the first race and he was riding a strong mount in leading Tissot. With the race running clean and green, the field began to get strung out around the track. Behind Long and Tissot, Anders was having his best run of the season in third, followed in the running order by Jones and VanDyke.
Monteith began working on VanDyke for the fifth spot, and finally was able to get around him on lap 44. With VanDyke holding down sixth in the running order, behind him Nogradi, Shell, King and Stiltner were battling for position.
With 15 laps remaining Tissot was glued to Long’s rear bumper. Over the next few circuits he would stick the nose of his car under Long racing off the corners, but could never manage to get up alongside to challenge for the lead.
With several cars directly ahead for Long to have to negotiate and lap with the race winding down, Tissot was hoping to trap Long in behind one of the slower cars and overtake him for the lead. But that scenario didn’t unfold as Long held off the hard-charging Tissot to claim win number two on the night, with Anders, Jones and Monteith rounding out the top five.
Completing the top 10 finishers were VanDyke, Nogradi, Shell, King and Stiltner.
Monteith’s fifth-place finish secured his second consecutive Late Model Stock track championship, thus meaning he’s also repeated as Tennessee State NASCAR Whelen All-American Series champion. A 12th-place finish for 21-year-old Austin Peters locks up both the track and Tennessee State Rookie-of-the-Year titles.
Keith Helton of Kingsport, driving the Catch 22/Hobby Town USA in Johnson City and Asheville, NC/Spaztix Signs & Mafia Inc. Clothing/Big Herb Racing/Direct Paintless Dent Repair/Ft. Henry RC Speedway/Wallace Nissan Mitsubishi of Kingsport/Team Action Motorsports/No. 9 Saturn, jumped out to a big early lead and appeared headed to an easy victory – until a late race caution five laps from the finish tightened the field for a shootout to the checkered flag. But Helton was locked-and-loaded and ready for battle, as he held off John Ketron, Dean Slagle, Jason Ketron and Chris Neeley for his second straight Pure 4 feature win. Jason Ketron, from Kingsport, with his fourth-place finish wrapped up the Pure 4 championship.
Tyler Goodwin of Kingsport, driving the Bank of Tennessee/Bancsec Inc./Rockstar Graphix/No. 64 McAulay Motorsports 1934 Ford Coupe , wrapped up a phenomenal season by capturing his 17th Legends feature win in 19 starts to claim the divisional title. Goodwin won over Drew Shortridge, Stevie Johns Jr., Greg Turner and Adam Gray.
After seeing his brother Brandon visit victory lane last week, Billy Byington of Kingsport, driving the Toy-Auto/Kenny Absher Motorsports/No. 11 Toyota Celica, captured his first-ever Rookie Pure 4 feature win over Josh Estep, Dylan Bates, Tim Abelseth and Jarrod Willett. Jimmy Hillard, 67-year-old chauffeur from Knoxville, captured the Rookie Pure 4 championship.
NASCAR WHELEN ALL-AMERICAN SERIES “DALTON DIRECT CARPETS” LATE MODEL STOCK #1 (75 laps)
Showing Finish Position, Starting Position In Parentheses, Driver Name, Car Number, Hometown
1. (2) Adam Long #3-Pounding Mill, VA
2. (3) Daniel Pope II #16-Smyrna, TN
3. (10) Nate Monteith #44-Blountville, TN
4. (4) Blake Jones #80-Sevierville, TN
5. (6) Lee Tissot #7-Asheville, NC
6. (8) John King II #21-Fort Blackmore, VA
7. (5) Matt Bowling #83-Ridgeway, VA
8. (9) Ryan Stiltner #22-Grundy, VA
9. (17) Anthony Anders #36-Easley, SC
10. (1) Hayden Woods #87-Piney Flats, TN
11. (11) Paul Nogradi Jr. #02-Clinton, TN
12. (18) Royce Peters #38-Kingsport, TN
13. (12) Kres VanDyke #15-Claypool Hill, VA
14. (13) Zeke Shell #97-Johnson City, TN
15. (16) Austin Peters #66-Kingsport, TN
16. (7) C.J. Hulsey #37-El Paso, TX
17. (21) Mike Potter #8-Johnson City, TN
18. (22) Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
19. (24) Dean Barrett #82-Abingdon, VA
20. (19) Wayne Hale #19-Bluff City, TN
21. (25) Phil Harris #55-Piney Flats, TN
22. (26) Jack Ingram #11-Asheville, NC
23. (23) Jamie Harrison #76-Church Hill, TN
24. (20) Joey Trent #26-Gray, TN
25. (15) David Garbo Jr. #8-Stonington, CT
26. (14) Robbie Ferguson #32-Jonesborough, TN
NASCAR WHELEN ALL-AMERICAN SERIES “DALTON DIRECT CARPETS” LATE MODEL STOCK #2 (75 laps)
Showing Finish Position, Starting Position In Parentheses, Driver Name, Car Number, Hometown
1. (4) Adam Long #3-Pounding Mill, VA
2. (5) Lee Tissot #7-Asheville, NC
3. (9) Anthony Anders #36-Easley, SC
4. (1) Blake Jones #80-Sevierville, TN
5. (2) Nate Monteith #44-Blountville, TN
6. (13) Kres VanDyke #15-Claypool Hill, VA
7. (11) Paul Nogradi Jr. #02-Clinton, TN
8. (14) Zeke Shell #97-Johnson City, TN
9. (6) John King II #21-Fort Blackmore, VA
10. (8) Ryan Stiltner #22-Grundy, VA
11. (12) Royce Peters #38-Kingsport, TN
12. (15) Austin Peters #66-Kingsport, TN
13. (10) Hayden Woods #87-Piney Flats, TN
14. (20) Wayne Hale #19-Bluff City, TN
15. (17) Mike Potter #8-Johnson City, TN
16. (21) Phil Harris #55-Piney Flats, TN
17. (18) Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
18. (19) Dean Barrett #82-Abingdon, VA
19. (7) Matt Bowling #83-Ridgeway, VA
20. (3) Daniel Pope II #16-Smyrna, TN
21. (26) Robbie Ferguson #32-Jonesborough, TN
22. (25) David Garbo Jr. #8-Stonington, CT
23. (23) Jamie Harrison #76-Church Hill, TN
24. (16) C.J. Hulsey #37-El Paso, TX
25. (24) Joey Trent #26-Gray, TN
26. (22) Jack Ingram #11-Asheville, NC
PURE 4 (25 laps): 1) Keith Helton #9; 2) John Ketron #26; 3) Dean Slagle #13; 4) Jason Ketron #28; 5) Chris Neeley #94; 6) Glenn Hughes #75; 7) Billy Ketron #27; 8) David Trent #57; 9) Jonathan Reed #51; 10) Charles Sims #99; 11) Darrell Whitehead #44; 12) William Hale #95; 13) Todd Cross #41; 14) Dakota Slagle #2; 15) Steve Skeen #17; 16) Kenny Absher #11
LEGENDS (20 laps): 1) Tyler Goodwin #64; 2) Drew Shortridge #32; 3) Stevie Johns Jr. #91; 4) Greg Turner #64; 5) Adam Gray #37; 6) Aaron Lawson #31; 7) Hubert Whitehead #3; 8) Tony Wiggins #4
ROOKIE PURE 4 (15 laps): 1) Billy Byington #11; 2) Josh Estep #94; 3) Dylan Bates #6; 4) Tim Abelseth #66; 5) Jarrod Willett #99; 6) Tammy Cross #41; 7) Jimmy Hillard #74; 8) Robin Hughes #75; 9) Austin Gray #71; 10) Michael Jeter #51
Kingsports Speedway PR
