KINGSPORT, Tenn. - The 2018 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing season at Kingsport Speedway began on a sunny Saturday afternoon back in March, and concluded Friday with Championship Night presented by K&N.
Kres VanDyke of Abingdon, Virginia, held off a hard-charging Nik Williams to capture his fourth NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car feature win.
But the big winner was Zeke Shell of Johnson City, Tennessee, who won both the Kingsport Speedway and Tennessee NASCAR Whelen All-American Series State Championship.
“We did it, we finally were able to win the championship,” said Shell while celebrating with his crew following post-race technical inspection and everything checked out fine. “Tell me I’m not dreaming. We really did win the championship, didn’t we? Oh my, what a stressful deal tonight was.”
Shell has attempted to win the Late Model Stock Car title since weekly NASCAR racing returned to the Model City in 2011, finishing second in the standings a couple of times along with third and fourth-place finishes. With each new racing season, there’s hope for reaching the coveted pinnacle of being crowned champion.
Looking for a fresh start, a new beginning with a determined focus on the task at hand, the 31-year-old Shell made the decision back in winter to change his car number for 2018 to No. 1. After all, finishing first and winning the track championship was his one-and-only goal.
VanDyke was fastest in qualifying at 15.043 seconds to earn the pole starting position for the 60-lap Late Model Stock Car feature, with Shell second-quickest at 15.122.
VanDyke jumped out to lead on the start over Shell, Robbie Ferguson, Nik Williams and Hayden Woods. Shell lost positions to both Ferguson and Williams on lap 8, dropping to fourth in the running order. With the race running clean-and-green, VanDyke, Ferguson and Williams began to separate themselves from Shell, Woods, Joey Trent and Dillon Hodge.
With VanDyke riding on the point, the 57-year-old Ferguson who has announced he’s stepping away from racing full-time after over 40 years behind the wheel of a race car, was feeling pressure from Williams trying to wrestle second place away. But Ferguson is a grappler, and wasn’t about to roll over and allow the 21-year-old Williams to easily take the position.
Williams was finally able to pass Ferguson for the spot off turn two on lap 41. Ferguson and Shell were racing for third place and on lap 47 in turn two, Shell spun around and tagged the inside concrete wall along the backstretch to bring out the caution.
With only 13 laps remaining in the feature, Shell was at back of the field chauffeuring a damaged race car and his closest challengers in the championship battle, VanDyke and Williams, were at front of the field.
On the ensuing restart, VanDyke pulled back out into the lead over Williams, followed by Ferguson, Trent and Woods. A final caution waved on lap 54 when Derek Lane looped his mount between turns one and two.
On the restart, VanDyke took the lead over Williams, Ferguson, Woods and Trent. Wayne Hale was running sixth, ahead of Shell, who had worked his way back up to the seventh position.
Up front VanDyke was being pressured from Williams for the lead, while eyes were focused on Shell trying to get back inside the top five. Shell passed Hale for sixth on lap 55, and one lap later got around Trent for the fifth spot.
VanDyke held Williams off for his fourth win of the season, with Ferguson finishing third. Shell got to inside of Woods racing into the third turn on the final lap, and coming off the fourth turn to the checkered flag Shell nosed Woods out for the fourth position at the start-finish line.
Completing the top 10 finishers were Trent, Hale, Hodge, Bryson Dennis and Lane.
In other action, Royce Peters took the Modified Street feature victory, wrapping up his second division championship. Chase Dixon finished in second, with Rusty Clendenin in third, Austin Peters in fourth and Trey Lane in fifth.
Keith Helton scored his eight Pure 4 feature victory of the season, with Brandon Sutherland in second, Craig Phelps in third, Brett Hall in fourth and Chad Jeffers in fifth. Bruce Crumbley came home in 13th, which was good enough to lock up his first division championship.
Kevin Canter recorded his 12th Mod 4 feature of the year and wrapped up third straight division championship. Kirby Gobble, Billy Duty, Jimmy Acito and Chris Amburgey rounded out the top five.
Rob Austin scored the Pure Street feature victory, with Ricky Payne in second, Mike Mays in third, Kevin Darnell in fourth and Jon Cook in fifth. Jay Swecker finished 10th to take home his second straight division title.
Jamie Meadows recorded the Vintage feature win over Jeremy Mullins, William Jones, Calvin Crabtree and Scott Baker. With the second-place finish, Mullins captured the Vintage track championship.
For more information on Kingsport Speedway, visit NewKingsportSpeedway.com.
Kingsport Speedway – Kingsport, TN
Race Results – August 31, 2018
Late Model Stock Cars
1. Kres VanDyke #15 – Abingdon, VA
2. Nik Williams #32 – Chuckey, TN
3. Robbie Ferguson #7 – Jonesborough, TN
4. Zeke Shell #1 – Johnson City, TN
5. Hayden Woods #87 – Piney Flats, TN
6. Joey Trent #26 – Gray, TN
7. Wayne Hale #19 – Bluff City, TN
8. Dillon Hodge #5 – Kingsport, TN
9. Bryson Dennis #15 – Greeneville, TN
10. Derek Lane #28 – Kingsport, TN
11. Trey Bayne #21 – Knoxville, TN
12. Dale Cline #99 – Wytheville, VA
13. Jerry Broyles #72 – Jonesborough, TN
14. Rick Pannell #4 – Kingsport, TN
Modified Street
1. Royce Peters #42
2. Chase Dixon #07
3. Rusty Clendenin #27
4. Austin Peters #48
5. Trey Lane #9
6. Daniel McMurray #0
7. Richard Adkins #73
8. Kevin Wolfe #17
9. Tim Barnette #7
10. Alex Miller #37
11. Dennis Deese #24
12. Hannah Seal #13
Pure 4
1. Keith Helton #9
2. Brandon Sutherland #48
3. Craig Phelps #00
4. Brett Hall #7
5. Chad Jeffers #38
6. Paul Stanley #40
7. William Hale #47
8. Chris Stine #10
9. Bucky Smith #99
10. Dennis Cross #7
11. Josh Collins #77
12. Nasty Jones #13
13. Bruce Crumbley #28
14. Lance Pratt #51
15. Dustin Nave #13
16. Josh Detwiler #38D
17. Brian Eggers #59
18. Greg McCoy #4
19. Larry Stapleton #15
20. Joey Amburgey #53
21. Paul Acres #71
22. Kenny Absher #11
23. Jimmy Thomas #14
24. Billy Byington #11
25. Dennis Stanley #1
26. Tim Jennings #1
DQ: David Trent #57
Mod 4
1. Kevin Canter #3
2. Kirby Gobble #77
3. Billy Duty #1
4. Jimmy Acito #57
5. Chris Amburgey #17
6. Brad Ball #17
7. James Deese #14
8. Jessie Amburgey #7
9. Greg Clevenger #12
10. Randall Artrip #2
11. Zach Fritz #33
12. Chris Coleman #20
13. Mike Pendergrass #2
14. Ted Glover Jr. #03
15. Dalton Thomas #22
Pure Street
1. Rob Austin #18
2. Ricky Payne #1
3. Mike Mays #30
4. Kevin Darnell #4
5. Jon Cook #17
6. Jason Herron #7
7. Jessica Payne #12
8. Penny Hurd #11
9. Sammy Ferguson #5
10. Jay Swecker #77
11. Brian Eggers #74
12. Joey Sykes #23
13. David Strong #53
14. Virgil Young #13
15. Brandon Yarber #51
Vintage
1. Jamie Meadows #11
2. Jeremy Mullins #06
3. William Jones #8
4. Calvin Crabtree #16
5. Scott Baker #43
6. Tim Austin #11
