David Clark wins Street Stock Nationals

The Mod Street class would take center stage with the fifth annual Street Stock Nationals. No one has ever been able to win the race twice and with a strong 26 car field on hand it would be hard for anyone to do it this year either.

The first race of the night would be the 20 lap Classic Car feature. Three drivers came into the night still in contention for the season Championship. Lee Merritt and John Stevens would start on row one. Stevens was fresh off a win the previous night and was looking for back to back. Merritt would take the lead on the start with Stevens in his tire tracks. The action was intense further back with Chris Worsham, Mac Lockhart, Joshua Chesney and Charlie Bates going four wide down the back stretch. It was a wild race as the yellow flag was seen a lot during the race. Brad Dyer had moved his way up to the third spot as he set his sights on John Stevens for the runner up spot. Dyer would work the low line trying to get the spot but the momentum on the outside proved beneficial allowing Stevens to keep his #7 in the second spot. Point leader Shaun Sise would take a big hit in the points as he pulled off track earlier. Sise only had a three point lead over race winner Lee Merritt.

Next up was what may have been the race of the night. The Open Wheel Modifieds made their return to Tennessee’s Action Track in what would be a fantastic race. Shon Flanary would earn the pole in qualifying earlier in the day. However it would be another open wheel veteran Billy Palmer who took the lead on the start with Flanary, Dustin Diden and Wayne James in chase. Flanary wouldn’t waste any time turning up the heat on the leader in the early laps. A caution would wave and Flanary ended up spinning into the infield wildly. A broken tire would end the night for the driver with over 100 feature wins. The pressure wouldn’t be off for Palmer as now he had his hands full with Diden and 2017 Open Wheel track Champion Jody Puckett. The three would battle it out the rest of the race with Wayne James just behind in the fourth spot. The long time racer would hold on to pick up his first win of the year.

Next up was the Crate Late Model feature. Logan Roberson and Jesse Lowe would lead us to green on the front row. The night would come to an early end for Tyler Smith who pulled off track after just one lap ending his night. Rusty Ballenger was one of the faster cars on the track as he had a strong third place run going. Ballenger knew he had to find a way to take a chunk out of the lead Josh Henry had in points as they’ll only be one more points race left in the season after this race. Roberson clearly had hit the setup just perfectly as the #17 was hooked up perfectly pulling away from Lowe who still had the runner up spot. Roberson would pull away to a huge lead in the second half of the feature as the race ran caution free.

Next up was the fifth annual $2,000 to win Street Stock Nationals. 26 of the best Street Stock racers around were on hand to do battle for the big check and beautiful trophy. Shannon Emery would take the lead on the very start ahead of David Clark but the engine would let go on the #m2 ending the night early for him. Back under green it was David Clark taking over the lead but he had Chris Rickett and Robbie Buchanan on his bumper. A huge crash would bring out the red flag after Buchanan got into the wall and slid down the track. Jerry Hux, Wendell Spence, Tony Horton were among those involved. Buchanan and Spence would be done for the night with heavy damage to both their machines. Chris Rickett had a strong top three run going but would slow with a left rear flat sending him to the attention of his crew. Rickett would returns but had to work his way back up through the pack. Brad Davis would also have problems as it seemed it was back luck to be running in the third spot in this race. Robbie Comer had the pressure on Clark getting the nose of his #42 on the inside of Clark several times through the 40 lap event. Rickett and Davis would both move themselves back into the top five by the end of the race. A scary moment for Edddie Stewart as his #119 went up in a huge fireball late in the race. David Clark would pull away in the final laps becoming the fifth different winner and taking home the $2,000.

Travis Fultz would be in the #97 usually driven by Chris Coffey. The night would start out great as he got the pole for the A main. That however would be the end of his good luck as he went for a spin on the first lap of the feature. Transmission issues last weekend cost Zach Sise a ton of points likely ending his bid to win the season Championship but he had a fast car again as he took over the top spot after Fultz’s spin. Josh Sneed and the #89 of Brandon Miller had a great battle basically the entire race for position. Another driver who had one of his strongest runs in a long time at 411 was the #33 of Warren McMahan. The Dandridge, TN driver had a strong third place run going early on as he battled it out with Jake Whitehead. However the great run would end as McMahan pulled off track with a cute tire and didn’t return. Trouble for James Kelso who tagged the turn four wall bringing out the late caution. Zach Sise would pull away from his point rival Brad Seagle to pick up another win on the season.