Austin McCarl Prevails At Knoxville 360 Nationals Opener

Lapped traffic and a wide race track produced a thrilling final eight laps of Thursday's twenty-lap qualifying feature at the Knoxville 360 Nationals with Austin McCarl leading the final four laps to score the victory. 

Austin McCarl - Barry Johnson photo

Pole-sitter Chase Randall set a quick early pace with McCarl in hot pursuit, but most eyes were on the #57 of Kyle Larson who had started fifth and was making his way up to third at the mid-race mark. As it so often does, lapped traffic brought the lead trio together with Larson even dropping McCarl to third briefly. Austin would battle back to take second and as Randall had to pause for a lapper in his line, McCarl would drive around him to take the point on lap seventeen.

Barry Johnson photo

James McFadden and Justin Peck were now in the hunt as well and after Larson disposed of Randall for second he found himself too far back to mount a challenge on the leader as he would finish second to McCarl. McFadden and Peck would also find their way past Randall who slipped to fifth at the checkers. All of the top five started from the first three rows. 

J.J. Hickle who started from the outside of the front row finished in the sixth spot, Chris Martin finished where he had started in seventh while Kerry Madsen came from twelfth to eighth. Justin Sanders, subbing for Aaron Reutzel in the Ridge and Sons Racing #87 finished ninth and Ryan Leavitt completed the top ten.

Coming in with a four race win streak on the ASCS National Tour, Sam Hafertepe Jr. would set the quick time as the first car out for qualifying, but could not transfer out of the first heat race finishing one spot out in fifth in the six car invert. That would land the Texan on the pole of the B-Main that suffered through several cautions and one red flag and as Hafertepe was coming through turns three and four to pick up the checkers his car ran out of fuel and he coasted across the line in seventh ending his evening in a disappointing manner. That would open the door for young Alex VandeVoort who had started from eleventh to snag the fourth and final transfer position behind Tanner Holmes, Daison Pursley and Kade Higday with young Jack Anderson coming up just one spot shy of moving on.

Kyle Larson - Barry Johnson photo

During the post-race press conference McCarl said that he would be pushing the race committee this winter to increase the laps of the weekly races to twenty-five in the 410's and twenty for the 360's because so much seems to change with just a couple of more laps added, especially when the race goes green to checkers like this one. 

When Kyle Larson was asked why he had chosen to run the 360 Nationals rather than the Ironman 55 in Missouri where he has had past success, he noted that with NASCAR in Newton for the weekend it just made more sense logistically to be here. And while he did say that they were still considering going to Pevely on Saturday, since he comes out of tonight as the high point man you can bet that Paul Silva's #57 will be sticking around for Saturday's finale.

Larson's point total of 478 does not guarantee him a front row spot on Saturday by any means, Justin Peck is in second with 477, Chris Martin third with 476, Justin Sanders is fourth with 473 and James McFadden is fifth with 472. Despite the victory, McCarl comes in at sixth with with 471 followed by Chase Randall, J.J. Hickle, Ryan Leavitt and Tanner Holmes.

The other half of the field will be in action Friday night here, all looking to score points to land them in Saturday night's Championship event.

James McFadden - Barry Johnson photo

Cousin Kyle Doubles Up, Starter Huff May Require An MRI At Vinton

Sunday was a strange night at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. You couldn't have asked for a better car count for this weekly show with exactly 100 across the five classes and very evenly distributed as well. To me at least, the track seemed to be good as they were able to race two, three and even four wide from the start of the heat races through the final feature, but holy cow there were so many yellows! Drivers getting sideways in traffic and collecting others, drivers spinning on their own and then just sitting until the race was stopped and drivers just driving through others in a night when sportsmanship seemed to go out the window. For the most part, in the story below, I will provide the "caution stats" but leave out the names of the offenders to protect the guilty, but I have to wonder if flagman John Huff might be checking in for an MRI on his worn out rotator cuff this morning after waving that damn yellow flag so many times!

Even the kid on the John Deere tractor in the Power Wheels race was swerving back and forth trying to ward off the competition so I should have known what we would be up against as the Sport Mods were first up for features with fifteen laps being the scheduled distance. Seven cautions would fly during this one with the longest green flag stretch being four laps from six to ten. Luke Bird would lead the first two circuits until a restart found him racing three-wide down the back stretch with Tony Olson and the youngster from Utah, Payce Herrera. Olson would prevail and he would lead until lap thirteen when his cousin Kyle Olson would drive under him and to the front. Kyle would then see the caution wave twice after taking the white flag and, on the second one, Huff just threw the checkers as well to send these guys to the pits.

Even Brisket was checking his cell phone during cautions

The Sport Compacts were up next for twelve laps that included four cautions with the longest stretch of green flag action coming from lap two to lap eight. To me it looked like Blake Driscol had lead the opening lap, but the transponders don't lie so Trevor Forey would bring the field back to green after the lap one caution that would then see Driscol spin in turn two collecting point leader Cristian Grady. Grady was rightfully given his spot back for the restart and he would be on the outside of a four-wide scramble for the lead going down the back stretch to take the lead on lap two. A restart on lap eight would give the eighth starting Jake Anderson the opportunity that he needed to drive under Grady in turns one and two to take the lead, and three laps later the victory, his first here at Vinton in 2025. Lukas Rick started twelfth and finished second, Stephen Randall came from ninth to third, Robert Rundle was fourth after starting tenth and Mike Peyton crossed the line in fifth. However, in one of those "I've never seen that before" moments, it was announced that Peyton had been disqualified because he had his cell phone in the car. Apparently having that lady's voice on Waze constantly saying "turn left" is not allowed. 

The Stocks Cars were up next for twenty laps and the first three of a total of eight cautions all came with two laps on the scoreboard and ironically all three involved three cars in turn number two. Kyle Olson would lead the opening lap before getting a bit crossed up himself allowing David McCalla to slip to the front on lap two. However when McCalla went off the top of turn four that allowed Kyle to regain the lead on lap four. We did get ten laps of caution free racing here that saw Brandon Tharp working the high line to move from sixteenth to second, and when he went around John Oliver Jr. for that second spot it showed the track point leader that the top was now good to go.

Following a restart, Oliver worked the outside of Olson to lead lap thirteen by a bumper at the line and of course a caution would then wave with Oliver now setting the pace back to green. Olson was not to be denied though as he charged back under Oliver with four laps remaining and then rode out two more cautions to earn his second victory of the night. Oliver, the current National IMCA Points leader finished second with Tharp plus thirteen in third, fourth went to Shane Richardson who also used the high line to come from twelfth and veteran driver Norman Chesmore finished in fifth.

Could the Hobby Stocks break the streak and run a clean fifteen laps of feature racing?

Nope.

Seven cautions would wave during this one with the longest string of green flag laps coming from lap seven to lap thirteen. Michael Kimm would lead the opening two laps before Dalton Weepie took over on a lap three restart and caution #6 came when the driver starting from the inside of the first double row in a Delaware Double File restart spun Weepie as the field came to green with two laps remaining. He would be given his spot back and while Joren Fisher was there to challenge, there would be no stopping Weepie from scoring his second win in a row here at Vinton. Fisher was second, Leah Wroten third, Matt Brown came from row six to finish fourth and pole-sitter Michael Cheney closed out the top five.

Could the Modifieds close out the evening with minimal issues? Well, not really as they had five cautions wave during the twenty lap finale. We did get five laps in though before the first caution was needed, the most to start any of tonight's five features, but that five lap segment would tie with laps six through ten as the longest stretch of green in this one. Hometown driver Jerry Dedrick would lead the way early before being swallowed up by the ninth starting Troy Cordes on that lap five restart.

Even with the restarts Cordes would be well in control the rest of the way while drivers battled for position well behind him. One driver on the move was Spencer Diercks who, earlier in the evening, had cost himself a spot in the invert when he spun in turn three on the final lap of his heat race. That would start him nineteenth in the twenty car field, but he was up to fourth and charging late when he was clipped from behind sending him for a spin in turn four with just four laps remaining. The other driver was charged with the caution though, so Diercks would restart fourth but his momentum was now stalled and that is where he would finish as Cordes secured the win. Trevor Fitz charged from fifteenth to finish second, Dedrick held on for third and Jacob Snyder completed the top five.

So let's summarize the stats here, in eighty-two laps of feature racing there were thirty-one cautions, or one every 2.65 laps and the longest stretch of green flag action came in the Stock Cars when they reeled off ten in a row. I have been to Vinton enough to know that tonight was an anomaly and if the racing had been one lane as well I would have left after the first ten cautions. I would definitely go back again soon because you can bet that promoter Corey Dripps will be giving the drivers an ear full during next week's Drivers Meeting! And John, rather than trying to come up with a reason for your insurance to cover that MRI on your right shoulder, hopefully just a bag of ice on and off throughout the day will get you back to one hundred percent soon.

Weather permitting it is back to the county fair circuit this week with the PRO Late Models headlining at the West Liberty Raceway on Wednesday night and then Thursday the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders return to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Hope to see you there!

Alberson Rallies In Thriller at 34 Raceway

My Thursday started at the Lake of the Ozarks, saying goodbye to my son and his three boys as they headed back to Dallas after an eleven day visit, the final four of those spent on a surprisingly calm lake after all of the Fourth of July revelers had headed home. We then made the 242 mile trip back to Mount Pleasant so that I could put on my Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders shirt and I then drove the 81 miles up to Tipton where twenty-two Invaders had signed in for a night of racing at the Cedar County Fair.

During that drive though, the skies darkened to the west and just before 6 p.m. the Fair suffered a pretty solid downpour for about ten minutes. After assessing the situation, including a dismal looking "future" radar that showed more rain coming around 9 p.m., the decision was made to cancel the event and so with a check of Waze to determine the quickest route, I started the 78 mile drive in hope of catching most of the Lucas Oil Late Model Series event at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

So using my trusty calculator, that would be 401 miles of driving in order to go to a race at a track that is just 20 miles from my home! Fatigued from that, and with a big pile of items to catch up on from being away from work all week, I am going to refer you to my Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans who has a detailed report of the evening in Racin' Down The Road, but I wanted to make a few comments on what was a fantastic program by the national touring Late Model series.

Having experienced a short rain delay as well, we were walking in as FloRacing announcer Dustin Jarrett was delivering the invocation and to say that the track prep was spot on would be an understatement. This was immediately evident in the three Late Model heats where despite lining straight up from qualifying, there was action from front to back and by the luck of how the qualifying order shook out, the top four in LOLMDS points were all in the second heat. And Man, did they put on a show!

With one of the twenty-seven entrants scratched following the heats, officials scrapped the B-Main and would start twenty-six cars in the fifty lap $15,000-to-win headliner. The first ten laps were frustrating as while the racing up front was phenomenal, it was interrupted by five different caution flags. Finally we would get five straight laps of racing in before point leader Ricky Thornton Jr. slowed at the top of turn four requiring one of the Beckman Towing wreckers to take him back to the work area.

Thornton would return to the track just as the field was going back to green nearly a half lap behind the back of the realignment so it was no surprise when he would happen to "spin out" in turn two on lap eighteen. His penalty? He would now make up that half lap distance and restart with the rest of the field. Yes, I know that he is your point leader and that a national touring series needs to take care of the regulars, but are you really okay with a driver, any driver, manipulating the circumstances in this manner to his favor?

I have always had a problem with how drivers on both national tours are allowed to cause multiple cautions during a feature race without some kind of a penalty. That's why you haven't seen me at Knoxville for the one hundred lapper for several years as drivers who didn't like how their race was going would just slow on the track to draw a caution, and then go to the work area to make changes, including tires, to their car in hope of more than overcoming the fact that they would now restart at the rear. Think about it, if this would have been a normal show at any other race track around Iowa, Thornton would have been done for the night for causing his second solo caution. But I digress......put a little teeth into it Lucas Oil, perhaps dock a driver 5 points for every solo caution they create over two?

Garrett Alberson had been leading these first eighteen laps running the bottom on both ends with a variety of drivers getting up to second at one time or another, but unable to mount a challenge on the leader. Devin Moran, who won this race here last season, was up to second from fifth and was keeping pace with Alberson until his right rear tire went flat with twenty laps to go. I believe that it was during this caution when Jarrett said "I don't believe that I have ever seen 34 Raceway this good" and that was not hyperbole as drivers were finding a quick line on the bottom, around the top and even through the middle, especially on restarts.

Brandon Overton who had started sixth was now on the hunt of Alberson ripping the cushion on both ends, but Garrett still had things under control until he left the bottom and started to search around. On lap thirty-five the leader would drift up the track exiting turn four and Overton pounced to go door-to-door with Alberson down the front stretch and then take the point himself with just fourteen laps remaining. Hudson O'Neal who had started from row six was right there as well and he drove under Alberson to take second lap later.

The caution would wave one final time on lap thirty-nine with Thornton again the culprit as he had bounced off the wall in turn three and then came down into the path of Daulton Wilson. The damage for RTJ, who had rallied back to seventh, was too much to overcome and he would be done for the night while Wilson was able to get some body work pulled out and restart. To say that it was a rough night for Ricky Thornton Jr. would be an understatement.

Once back to racing we would cringe every time that Overton hit the cushion in turns one and two as it was now right at the top of the speedway and one minor mistake would cost him several positions, but he would actually open up about ten car lengths on O'Neal and Albertson before that lower line came right back to the challengers. After scoring lap forty-five O'Neal's entry into turn one would more than "show" Overton that he was there so after getting the big run off of turn two, Brandon went to the bottom in turn three to block. That was like Christmas in July for Alberson who headed straight for the cushion and swept around both of them to take the lead and four laps later he would win his first Lucas Oil race of 2025.

O"Neal would drive under Overton after he went back to the top to finish second, Brandon was still in good spirits despite going from first to third in the final five laps, Jonathan Davenport would leave 34 as the new series point leader after coming from eighth to fourth and Carson Ferguson would close out the top five. The next three finishers were all big movers with Chad Simpson coming from sixteenth to sixth, Danial Hilsabeck came from fifteenth to seventh, Tyler Bruening started in the eleventh row and finished eighth. Brandon Sheppard and Devin Moran would finish out the top ten, both having come from the rear after changing flat tires.

The Mini Haulers/Trucks would run fifteen laps with just one caution as Brian Tipps went flag-to-flag for the win just prior to the Late Model headliner and following a lengthy post-race session on Flo, the twenty lap Modified race was dominated by pole-sitter Tripp Gaylord. There has been a lot of chatter lately in regard to the number of support classes, in particular with the UMP Summer Nationals, and if you want an example of how perfectly support classes can add to a show by filling the time needed for the premier division(s) to prepare, it was this night. A couple of simple suggestions for those tracks where the support classes made for some late nights: 1. Don't qualify them, draw for either the heat races or as they did in Davenport, a feature only, and 2. Use the "One Spin and Your In" rule in the heats and maybe even the feature.

So, my Friday night plans were just changed as the Sprint Invaders show at the Lee County Fair have been canceled for tonight and with a tornado warning close by I will now be watching Ryan Hall Y'All to stay safe. You do the same and I hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch.

A "New To Me" Track, Summer Nationals Thoughts, Facebook Comments and More

One of my goals each year is to add a new track to my list of those that I have seen a race at and with a family trip to visit my aunt and uncle's lake house in northeast Michigan this past weekend, I knew that this would be my best chance for 2025. Originally my sights were set on Merritt Speedway, but after noting that it would be nearly a two hour drive from the house in Harrisville, I started to look at another option. The quarter-mile paved oval Whittemore Speedway was an hour shorter drive and their biggest race of the year was on tap making the decision even easier. 

After enjoying the best chicken gizzards that I have ever tasted at the Hard Hat Tavern a bit north of the speedway, my uncle Dennis, my brother Kurtis and I made our way in to "Michigan's Oldest Continuous Speedway Since 1948" for the Growler 100 featuring the Outlaw Super Late Models. A large crowd filed in on a beautiful evening for racing and qualifying for the Late Models started right at 7 p.m.. Heat races for the Legend Cars and the Front Wheel Drives followed and then most of the Late Models came to the track for a half hour autograph session that seemed to be well timed with the sun dropping below the tree line beyond turns three and four.

The Legend Car feature would serve as an appetizer before the 100 lap headliner and with the twelve car invert being drawn by quick qualifier and defending Growler 100 champion Blake Childers, I assumed that we would be treated to a few lead changes along the way. Pole-sitter Jason Felver had other ideas though as he would jump out to a big lead during each green flag segment and even though Childers would get to second late and would try to get a nose under the leader on a restart without about fifteen laps remaining, Felver would not only hold him off but would again start to stretch it out as he scored the $7,500 victory. Childers would have to settle for the runner-up position, John King started seventh and finished third, Chase Rosebrugh who has already posted at least four wins in his dirt Modified this season showed his versatility in fourth and Justin Claucherty took fifth. Another name that I recognized from the dirt Late Model ranks was Chad Finley who drove a team car to Rosebrugh to a sixth place finish. 

The race had its fair share of cautions and a couple of red flags where cars had gone off the end of turn three and had to be retrieved. And on one of the cautions it looked like track officials had a hard time determining who should be penalized as the cars circled the track for nearly twenty laps before a realignment could be set. While this was a bit frustrating for my trio, the rest of the crowd did not seem fazed so maybe I'm just a bit spoiled by how things are done here in my area. 

Along with my goal of getting to a new track each year I also love to go to at least one pavement show for a few reasons. One is that I love seeing how clean and straight the cars are, two is that the smell of hot rubber and the exhaust is different from the scent of a dirt track and, three, is that the racing more often than not reminds me of how lucky I am to be based in the heart of dirt track racing! The Whittemore Speedway satisfied both of my annual goals in one night as it becomes track number 222 in 25 different states and now joins the Galesburg Speedway, the I-96 Speedway and Thunderbird Speedway as my stops in Michigan. 

Growler 100 Winner Jason Felver - From the Whittemore Speedway Facebook page

This is the second year in a row that I have subscribed to DirtVision and I believe that I get my money's worth just in following the UMP Summer Nationals. For the most part the racing has been enjoyable and it is fun to watch the wide range of drivers that roll in and out of the intense schedule of races. It has been interesting to watch just how much the track prep, and efforts to rework the surface as the night wears on effects each show. As my friend Gary Lee noted from his seat at the track, the heat races at the Springfield Raceway were four of the best that you will see anywhere on the tour and promoter Jerry Hoffman did not rest on his laurels with the preliminaries as he continued to tickle the surface to provide an entertaining feature race as well.

On Tuesday night at Benton I dialed it up in time to catch the last couple of heat races and it was follow the leader around the bottom. To their credit though, the track prep team spent nearly an hour trying to give the fans a good race and they did just that with entertaining features for both the Late Models and the Modifieds. Last night I got home from dinner with my lovely wife around 8:45 and thought that I would pick up the show from Spoon River around Last Chance Showdown time and instead they were in the final ten laps of the Late Model feature. The track was locked down and one lane around the bottom with Tyler Erb tucking in behind a car at the back of the field and holding his line to take the win. The Modified feature looked like it might get a bit interesting by getting into traffic a couple of times, but cautions for spins would wipe that out and Tyler Nicely also paced a single file procession to the checkers.

A couple of weeks ago, apparently social media went off on the Kankakee Speedway for running a late show that included a couple of track reworks during its Hell Tour stop and perhaps the promoters at Spoon River had set a goal to not run late? Don't get me wrong, I am never a fan of a late running show, but if a big part of the reason is because you reworked the track to give me a better feature, then I am usually just fine with that. With eighteen events already in the books, the Summer Nationals still has nine more shows to run over the next ten days and while my chances of watching any of them live will be little, you can bet that I will be dialing up the replays whenever I get the chance.

Speaking of social media, we are once again at that point in the season where promoters and the leaders of sanctioning bodies feel compelled to defend themselves from people bitching on Facebook. Once again I will offer up the same advice that I gave just over a year ago in The Internet Is Full of Meanies:

I believe that race promoters need to use social media to promote their events and provide any necessary updates in regard to weather, etc., but then just "step away" from it. 

DON'T READ THE COMMENTS! And by all means do not respond to them. Put more trust in your true fans to be able to filter out the bullshit and usually it will be someone with common sense who might refute it anyway. Know that you made the right decision for you and your business and ignore the idiots, because most everybody else does as well.

There is no doubt that race promoting is a tough job and I have the utmost respect for each and every one of you who are out there doing it. I give my advice above in hope that it removes some of your stress and allows you to have more enjoyment in what you do. Because without you, the many of us who have nothing but appreciation for your efforts would have nowhere to go.

How bad has it gotten this year? A week or so ago IMCA Racing posted an anonymous letter (Keith Knaack rolled over in his grave as his policy was to never publish a letter to the editor that had not been signed, whether it was positive or negative) on their Facebook page calling attention to their rule that allows them to take action against negative comments on social media. Then, in perhaps one of the most ironic situation possible, they asked for people's comments as to how they should apply the rule that allows them to take action against someone's comments on social media. The range of answers was very entertaining, but seriously?

I made the decision long ago to either just ignore the comments, or simply to read them for amusement and see who the idiots are. I have also unfollowed those friends and family of mine who kept filling my news feed with politics (right and left), WNBA drama, etc. and I am a much happier person for it. Yes, I realize that it can be tough for promoters to block it out, but if somebody has something that they generally want to discuss with you, they should be doing it face to face in the first place.

Don't read the comments, make the decisions that are best for you and your business, and trust that a vast majority of the fans and drivers will understand.

As I was working my way through the results from races in Indiana over the past couple of weeks I noticed that Adel, Iowa's Kelby Watt had posted a third place finish in the Winged 410 Sprint Car feature at Terre Haute and this came on the heels of his IRA victory at Plymouth, Wisconsin, the night before. Of course Watt got his start racing weekly at Knoxville, but it can be a bit humbling racing against the best of the best as a "local" at the famed speedway so it has been good to see him get out on the road this season starting out in Pennsylvania before returning to the Midwest and driving past Knoxville from time to time to compete with the IRA series. A visit to victory lane in a 410 Sprint Car race is a confidence booster, no matter where it comes at, and it will be interesting to see how that will enhance Kelby's performance as we head toward the Knoxville Nationals in August. 

Taking a look at this week's update of the All Iowa Points, Terry McCarl is now just one point behind point leader Tasker Phillips in the 360 Sprint Car standings. McCarl already has more AIP championships than any other driver, regardless of division, with twelve. Could championship number thirteen be on the way for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame member?

As I head into retirement from my paying job (maybe next year?) one of my bucket list items is to follow the Midwest Madness Tour from start to finish. Yes, I have been to all of the tracks on the current roster (Worthington, Spencer, Park Jefferson, Alta and Stuart), but it is a reasonable drive each day with an interesting mix of drivers in all participating divisions. If I didn't have three of the grandkids home for the holiday I would be making my way to Stuart for tonight's finale of this year's Madness with the Ron Little Memorial. Please get there and fill my seat if you are in the area!

Another bucket list item for Barry Johnson and I is to rent a camper and spend the full Octoberfest race weekend on the grounds at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Maybe we will check that one off in 2026.

Once we celebrate the Fourth, my schedule gets busy again starting with the LaVeine Sanitation Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday July 5th at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Not only do all fans get into the grandstands for free, but all drivers receive a free pit pass as well as they will compete for a $1,500 top prize in the 305 Sprints, Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods while the Sport Compacts will do battle for a $500 winner's check. Get there early to get a good seat, but make sure that you hydrate beforehand!

On Sunday night the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders return to the Benton County Bullring in Vinton for some quarter-mile Winged Sprint Car action. Then next week the Invaders go full swing into county fair action with a Thursday night, July 10th stop at the Cedar County Fair in Tipton, then on Friday the 11th the Invaders return to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the always well attended Lee County Fair.

Have a safe and fun-filled Fourth of July and I hope to see you again soon out on the Back Stretch!