(Nashville, TN) Another big field of race cars piled into the confines of Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for the second night of the 40th Curb Records/Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers All American 400 weekend presented by US Tank. 109 different entries were on hand in the three divisions, bringing the weekend total to 214, not counting Sunday’s Super Late Model field.
At 5:00 PM, GoFas Pole Qualifying saw an extremely tight field of ASA STARS National Tour Super Late Models finish with a difference of .001 at the top of the chart. Setting quick time for the $1,000 bonus was Casey Roderick at an 18.390 to Matt Craig’s 18.391. Albert Francis was third, while Dawson Sutton and Jake Finch completed the top five.
Next up was the Vore’s Compact Touring Series Pest Doctor 40. Over 30 cars took the green flag for the popular series with perennial frontrunner, Tom Gossar taking the early lead. With Gossar’s front row draw following qualifying, everyone knew that the Markleville, IN driver would be tough to beat. For 34 laps, everyone looked 100% correct, as Gossar paced the field while everyone diced for positions behind him.
Following a lap 33 restart, Gossar’s car suffered mechanical failure on the exit of turn four, he turned to the bottom to get out of the way, ending his chances at victory. That left Karter Stark, Ron Sagers, and Josh Richardson out front to battle it out.
Over the final six laps, Stark and Sagers gave it their all but Richardson had the car to beat, as he raced to the impressive victory by 1.194 seconds. Following the Fort Wayne, IN racer across the line were Sagers, Stark, Devon Dixon, and Jeff Vore. The rest of the top ten were Tim Cassidy, Curtis Finlayson, Keith Watson, Will Jennings, and Scott Koerner.
Next on track was the 40-lap CRA Street Stock feature, presented by Dixon Plumbing & CJ’s Trailer & Camper Repair. Bowling Green, KY, driver Dillon Oliver held the lead for the first 34 laps before fading to the third spot on lap 35 when Chad Chaffin took the top spot. Just two laps later, Heath Helton wrestled the lead away from Chaffin.
Helton, who won his first ever Nashville start on October 5, is one of the hottest drivers in all of Street Stock racing right now. Helton finished 3rd in the Salem Speedway points and is coming off the Halloween 200 win last weekend.
Helton continued his great season by winning the All American 40 against a stellar field of 32 other competitors. Following the Owensboro, KY driver were Chaffin, Brett Hudson, Chuck Barnes, Sr., and Jamie Sites. Tyler Nicely, Colby Lane, Conner Popplewell, Josh Sage, and Gus Moody completed the top ten.
The evening nightcap was the 100-lap event for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour presented by Chevrolet Performance. The race, a combined event with the Nashville Pro Lates, saw a great field of 35 cars take the green flag.
Connor Mosack took the early lead with Hunter Wright following him closely in second. Wright would only chase for the first seven laps before he became the race leader. Wright went on to lead the 80+ laps but it wasn’t without several battles, mainly with the #20 of Chase Johnson.
Johnson, racing for his first Nashville Pro Late Model win in a new to him racecar that was previously piloted by Michael House, was on a rail giving Wright all he could handle over the first half of the race.
Around the race’s midpoint, Johnson cleared Wright to take the lead, however, Wright utilized a bump and run in turn three dropping Johnson back to fourth. Johnson didn’t give up, knowing he had the car to beat.
On lap 64, Johnson took over the third spot from George Phillips. 18 laps later, Johnson moved past Jeremy Miller for the second spot. At that point, Johnson had 18 laps to run down and pass Wright back for his elusive first Pro Late victory. Fortunately for Johnson, it only took him half of that time as his Action Homes #20 was identifying as a rocketship on this night.
Johnson made the final pass for the lead with ten laps to go to claim his first Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Pro Late Model victory. Following the Mt. Juliet, TN driver to the $6k top prize were Wright, Jeremy Miller, Kaden Honeycutt, and Albert Francis. Phillips, Mosack, Josh Stade, Michael Bolden, and Corey Deuser rounded out the top ten.
Dawson Sutton was involved in a mid-race crash that eliminated him from competition but he was able to hang on for the 2024 track championship. Sutton, of Lebanon, TN becomes the second youngest Late Model track champion, second only to Cole Williams.
Two great days of racing will now culminate Sunday afternoon, November 3 with the 40th running of the Curb Records / Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers All American presented by US Tank. Grandstands will open at 10:00 AM with an on-track autograph session for fans at 11:30 AM. Driver introductions will be at 12:30 PM with the green flag scheduled to drop on the 300-lap affair just after 1:00 PM.
Tickets for Sunday afternoon’s event can be purchased online or at the gate upon arrival. Tickets or more info can be found at www.nashvillefairgroundsspeedway.racing
For those who can’t attend Sunday’ event, TrackTV.com and RacingAmerica.TV will have live coverage starting at 12:00 PM.
FEATURE RUNDOWNS
Pro Late Models 37 Entries
A Feature 1 100 Laps
1. 20-Chase Johnson[4]; 2. 29-Hunter Wright[3]; 3. 5M-Jeremy Miller[2]; 4. 47-Kaden Honeycutt[16]; 5. 33-Albert Francis[6]; 6. 55-George Phillips[5]; 7. 25-Connor Mosack[1]; 8. 17-Josh Stade[20]; 9. 95-Michael Bolden[22]; 10. 14-Corey Deuser[11]; 11. 5-Brett Roberson[19]; 12. 14P-Chase Pinsonneault[14]; 13. 32-Chris Shannon[15]; 14. 14C-Davey Coble[30]; 15. 11-Stacey Crain[25]; 16. 16-Jackson McLerran[24]; 17. 15-Trey Craig[9]; 18. 5S-Will Sahutske[31]; 19. 09-Daniel Bolden[21]; 20. 98-Bennie Hamlett[17]; 21. 26-Dawson Sutton[7]; 22. 01-Austin Wilson[10]; 23. 99-Chad Willis[12]; 24. 87-Mike Mazzagatti[29]; 25. 22-Chase Burda[33]; 26. 88-Boston Oliver[8]; 27. 69-Scott Melton[35]; 28. 12-Quinn Davis[27]; 29. 3-Chris Munson[34]; 30. 91W-Jim Wall[13]; 31. 6-Brandon Lopez[32]; 32. 88W-Tucker Wingo[28]; 33. 71-LB Skaggs Jr[23]; 34. 116-Zach Johnson[18]; 35. 8-Michael Pannell[26]
Street Stocks 32 Entries
A Feature 1 40 Laps
1. 16-Heath Helton[5]; 2. 3C-Chad Chaffin[1]; 3. 00H-Brett Hudson[3]; 4. 44-Chuck Barnes[9]; 5. 98-Jamie Sites[4]; 6. 25-Tyler Nicely[16]; 7. 21L-Colby Lane[12]; 8. 19P-Conner Popplewell[8]; 9. 88-Josh Sage[19]; 10. 84-Gus Moody[10]; 11. 2-Danny Smith[23]; 12. 07-Michael Pannell[17]; 13. 05-Blaine Akin[7]; 14. 03-Dillon Oliver[6]; 15. 19-Cole Baxter[11]; 16. 94-Jeff Stith[14]; 17. 2C-Corey Plunkett[25]; 18. 11-Josh Lundy[21]; 19. 21-Nick Reed[22]; 20. 03L-TIM LOGUE[26]; 21. 282-Phillip McCord[24]; 22. 3-Travis Arms[2]; 23. 8-Aaron Wilke[27]; 24. 34-Michael Tucker[29]; 25. 14-Jason Mahaffey[20]; 26. 98B-Brad Blue[30]; 27. 84L-Xavier King[13]; 28. 97-James Swan[15]; 29. 1-Ryan Amonett[18]; 30. (DNS) 19E-Austin Evans; 31. (DNS) 00-Beau Mitchell; 32. (DNS) 3M-Cole Munson
Vores Compact Touring Series 38 Entries
A Feature 1 40 Laps
1. 14X-Josh Richardson[5]; 2. 29-Ron Sagers[8]; 3. 192-Karter Stark[1]; 4. 111-Devon Dixon[10]; 5. 107-Jeff Vore[15]; 6. 93-Tim Cassidy[16]; 7. 53-Curtis Finlayson[14]; 8. 51X-Keith Watson[31]; 9. 1-Scott Koerner[27]; 10. 17-Jeremy Hargis[12]; 11. 0-Tom Gossar[3]; 12. 18-Axel Sullivan[26]; 13. 39-Kyle Frame[2]; 14. 5-Brett Smith[20]; 15. 711-Jason Baker[18]; 16. 89-Danny Keyser[21]; 17. 27I-Dan Irvine[9]; 18. 25-Shawn Bonar[13]; 19. 71G-Nathan Spencer[35]; 20. 71-Trent Gossar[6]; 21. 6-Chris Jennings[4]; 22. 07-Steve Vore[22]; 23. 15-Kyle Finlayson[19]; 24. 50-Sean Fredrick[23]; 25. 77-Maston Conley[25]; 26. 67-Rob Rehm[28]; 27. 28P-Pete Doxey[29]; 28. 92-Kyle Stark[7]; 29. 66-Chris Harman[11]; 30. 7-Zachary Morris[24]; 31. 44-Bubba Kincaid[30]; 32. (DNS) 9-Will Jennings; 33. (DNS) 189-Nathan Goodman; 34. (DNS) 36VT-Kodi Sabins; 35. (DNS) 110-Austin Scott; 36. (DNS) 69-Jeff Streigel; 37. (DNS) 114-Al Strobel; 38. (DNS) 9A-Aaron Tatman