CONCORD, NC (Nov. 3, 2024) – The ninth annual World Short Track Championship concluded Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte with 14 Feature races among 10 divisions.
Each race produced a storyline winner, who either established a new record or visited Victory Lane for the first time.
Full Saturday coverage:
Kyle Strickler Captures Record Fourth UMP Modified World Short Track Championship in Nick Hoffman-Built Car
By Jordan DeLucia
Kyle Strickler and Nick Hoffman. For years, both drivers came to The Dirt Track at Charlotte in October and raced against each other for World Short Track Championship supremacy.
And now, and they’re celebrating together in Victory Lane.
Strickler, 41, of Mooresville, NC, captured his fourth career World Short Track Championship Feature win Saturday night, breaking the tie between he and Hoffman for most all-time in the Summit Racing Equipment DIRTcar UMP Modified division.
“It means a lot to me because I’m here with all my sponsors and hometown people, family, friends and everybody that comes out to this race,” Strickler said. “It’s awesome. I love coming here.”
However, this win came with a bit of irony, as Strickler won the race driving a brand-new Elite Chassis — Hoffman’s own UMP Modified chassis brand.
For most of their careers, Strickler and Hoffman were bitter rivals on the track, at odds with each other personally as well as professionally. Strickler traditionally raced Longhorn Chassis Modifieds while Hoffman built and drove his own Elite Chassis Modifieds, and both had their fair share of success as multi-time winners of World Short Track Championship.
“What’s wild is, if you would’ve seen us about 15 years ago racing locally right around here, we hated each other,” Hoffman said. “We would literally crash each other on purpose, could never finish a race together because we would just wreck each other.
“We were pretty hard competitors, completely hated each other. So, for us to come full circle now… We gained a lot of respect for each other once we started running Late Models and going that route and being successful in other forms, not just Dirt Modified racing. It’s pretty wild.”
Though much time has passed since their days of hard feelings, Strickler said he had driven Hoffman’s Elite cars in various one-off races over his 18-year UMP Modified career, and felt 2024 was the time to finally get one of his own.
“FOX [Racing] Shox, our relationship with them, and Nick’s been tied in with them too on the Modified side, so it made sense,” Strickler said. “Jerovetz Motorsports (Shock Service), Ryan Rosenow and all them guys in Wisconsin — they do all of our shocks for myself and for Nick, even when I was in the Longhorn stuff.”
“He wanted to get a car from me a couple months ago,” Hoffman said. “We talked about doing some stuff. Finally, he got this thing from me about a month ago and finally got it put together for this weekend.”
Right from the drop of the first green flag of the weekend, Strickler’s Elite Chassis was fast, setting the second-fastest lap in the 38-car field in Thursday’s Qualifying session. On Friday, Strickler was strong again, dominating the first Heat Race to lock himself into the redraw for Saturday’s main event.
He drew the outside pole and took off as the green flag dropped on the main event, taking the lead on the opening lap and leading every lap unchallenged en route to the $4,000 victory.
“I really want to thank Nick, because he’s really helped me with any questions I asked him,” Strickler said. “As competitors for so long, we’ve kinda gone two different ways with setup stuff, but there’s a lot of stuff that’s the same, too. So, it’s great to have him be an open book where he could help me learn this new car. It’s been so good right out of the box.”
Crossing the finish line behind Strickler were two Illinois natives and fellow Elite Chassis drivers — Will Krup and Kyle Hammer. Pennsylvania driver Jonathan Taylor finished fourth ahead of Kentuckian Charlie Mefford — another Elite Chassis driver who climbed from 13th on the starting grid to finish fifth, much to Hoffman’s delight.
“It’s really cool for me to have my cars sweep the top three on the podium, and then have four of the top five is really special,” Hoffman said. “I was more nervous standing up there watching this race than I would’ve been sitting out there racing myself.”
RESULTS
Summit Racing Equipment Feature (25 Laps): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 2. K9-Will Krup[3]; 3. 45-Kyle Hammer[4]; 4. 5-Jonathan Taylor[6]; 5. 18-Charlie Mefford[13]; 6. 35-Carder Miller[5]; 7. 8A-Austin Holcombe[11]; 8. 6-Ryan Ayers[21]; 9. 84-Ryan Toole[23]; 10. 00-Michael Leach[17]; 11. 5T-Drake Troutman[7]; 12. 89-Corey Gordon[19]; 13. 12-Ace Claborn[10]; 14. 7-Evan Taylor[8]; 15. 114-Jordan Koehler[9]; 16. 51P-Joey Polevoy[18]; 17. 07-Curtis King[26]; 18. 23Z-Austin Self[24]; 19. 25-Greg Belyea[22]; 20. 66-Cole Falloway[15]; 21. 12R-Ty Rhoades[14]; 22. 99-Cole Hilton[16]; 23. 88-Matt Crafton[20]; 24. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[1]; 25. 44-Dave Hess Jr[12]; 26. 814-Samuel Lamborgini[25]
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Austin Holcombe Wins Third Crate Modified World Short Track Championship Title
By Jordan DeLucia
Austin Holcombe has made World Short Track Championship history in the Hoosier Racing Tire Mid-East Crate Modifieddivision with his third win in the last four years Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Holcombe, 29, of Elm City, NC, tied fellow North Carolinian Jeff Parsons for the most wins in the division at the World Short Track Championship. Parsons took the checkered flag in the Crate Modified main event in 2017, 2019 and 2020, and Holcombe has now tied him with wins in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
“This Crate car — it sits here all year; we run a few races a year with this Crate car and it’s just always good to us,” Holcombe said. “It’s nice to come to Charlotte and it’s nice to win.”
Similar to his previous wins, Holcombe grabbed the lead early and led the entire distance, unchallenged by his competitors, and Saturday night was another installment of his dominance.
From the pole, Holcombe secured the lead on the opening lap and crossed the finish line 1.2 seconds over runner-up Stephen Pedulla.
“It’s all about Qualifying good; you’ve got to start up front, and you need a lot of luck,” Holcombe said. “It worked out for us. We drew the [#1 redraw pill], and anytime you can start out front against any of these guys and you haven’t got to try and pass the cars, it’s just a win in the books right there.”
Pedulla, of Kannapolis, NC, recorded his best career finish in the main event with a runner-up, while 2018 Crate Modified main event winner Jesse Rockett drove from eighth on the starting grid up to finish third.
RESULTS
Hoosier Feature (15 Laps): 1. 8A-Austin Holcombe[1]; 2. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[4]; 3. 7-Jesse Rockett[8]; 4. 14-Jeff Robinson[6]; 5. 32K-Garrett Killman[3]; 6. 6-Ryan Ayers[11]; 7. 5-Ethan Wilson[5]; 8. 2K2-Taylor Kuehl[21]; 9. 44P-Jeff Parsons[12]; 10. 1-Grayson Keaton[10]; 11. 15-Morgan Widener[17]; 12. 45-Cambridge Gann[7]; 13. 92-Tyler Love[25]; 14. 04-Cole Wagoner[16]; 15. 7G-Gary Jarrett[14]; 16. 29-Brandon Bentley[19]; 17. 16W-Dustin Watkins[24]; 18. 03-Oliver Gentry[20]; 19. 73-Chris Nickerson[22]; 20. 88-Jay Seward[9]; 21. 50-Ronnie Covey[26]; 22. 71K-Dennis Kirk[28]; 23. 05-Travis Covey[27]; 24. 2J-Jake Barneycastle[15]; 25. 50B-Justin Blevins[23]; 26. 121-Chase Cardwell[13]; 27. 21A-Adam Favors[2]; 28. 25-Robert Poole[18]
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Dave Rogers Scores Third World Short Track Championship Victory at Charlotte
By Mike Warren
Dave Rogers has become a regular visitor to Victory Lane at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in the past few seasons.
The LaFargeville, NY driver led every lap to win his third World Short Track Championship Feature in the last four years in the VP Racing Sportsman division.
“Every time you can win here, it means the same,” Rogers said. “It’s unbelievable, and it’s a dream come true.
Rogers, the pole-sitter, slid in front of Donovan Lussier in Turn 2 to take the lead on the race’s opening lap. However, he could never pull away from the field with two Pro Fabrication caution flags slowing down the event in the first 19 laps.
Lussier tried challenging Rogers several times but lost second to Derrick McGrew Jr. on the lap 20 restart. The St. Denis-de-Richelieu driver lost another spot when Jessica Power snuck underneath him with six laps to go.
McGrew tried chasing down the No. 44 car, but a caution with three laps remaining for Payton Talbot impacted the top three drivers.
When the race resumed, Rogers pulled away again, but Power dove underneath McGrew in Turn 2, making contact as they raced down the backstretch. The contact sent McGrew’s No. 26 around leaving Zach Buff nowhere to go in the incident.
From there, Rogers took advantage of the single-file restart to pull away from Power and score the $4,000 prize and his seventh career DIRTcar Sportsman Series victory.
“It’s my driving style,” Rogers said. “It’s banked, and you can just run the piss out of it. You got to drive it hard or you’re lacking. As you can see the motor is steaming. I drove the shit out of this thing.”
Power crossed the line second, earning her best finish at the 4/10-mile oval. The Kingston, ON, driver said she thought the cautions at the end of the race stopped her momentum.
“Everyone’s so fast here,” Power said. “You have to capitalize on restarts. It’s terrible what happened with that wreck, but it’s just one of those things that everyone’s racing hard, and I hope everyone’s okay.
“We had a really fast hot rod tonight. I wish we started closer to the front and maybe we could’ve done something.”
Lussier, who won Thursday’s Championship Invitational Feature rounded out the podium.
“I think the car was decent; I just didn’t get lucky with the outside starting position,” Lussier said. “Overall, we had a great weekend. The car was fast every night and I feel like we can just improve for next year.”
Darin Gallagher finished fourth, and Chris Jakubiak rounded out the top five.
RESULTS
VP Racing Sportsman Feature (30 Laps): 1. 44-David Rogers[1]; 2. 52-Jessica Power[7]; 3. 61L-Donovan Lussier[2]; 4. 10-Darin Gallagher[5]; 5. 49-Chris Jakubiak[21]; 6. 80-Joshua Jock[12]; 7. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[6]; 8. 38JR-Jason Parkhurst Jr[13]; 9. 88-Jeffrey Lapalme[18]; 10. 32C-Carter Crooker[3]; 11. 12G-Matt Guererri[16]; 12. 16X-Savannah Laflair[22]; 13. 21-Cameron Norris IV[15]; 14. 20X-Kevin Ridley[8]; 15. 44S-Gordon Smith[24]; 16. 02-Cody Ochs[20]; 17. 61-Derek Wagner[10]; 18. 57-Ray Hall Jr[14]; 19. 58-Logen Lockhart[25]; 20. 23-David Dickey[11]; 21. 26-Derrick McGrew[4]; 22. 14-Payton Talbot[9]; 23. 01-Zachary Buff[23]; 24. 78-Michael Wright[19]; 25. 10X-Cory Castell[26]; 26. 165K-Karston King[17]
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Denis Gauvreau Scores First World Short Track Championship Victory in Pro Stocks
By Mike Warren
After a 900-mile drive from Quebec, Denis Gauvreau made his opportunity count Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
The Chelsea, QC driver powered around Marc Lalonde on Lap 3 of the 25-lap MSD Pro Stock Feature and never looked back to earn his first World Short Track championship win.
Lalonde, the pole-sitter, led the race’s opening lap in his No. 8 car, setting a fast pace around the 4/10-mile facility.
But behind the Plantagenet, ON driver, Gauvreau started moving toward the front quickly. Gavreau quickly passed Albany-Saratoga Speedway regular Jordan Modiano on Lap 1 and set his sights on Lalonde, the 2019 Plattsburgh Airborne Speedway champion.
With a burst of speed, Gauvreau was wheel-to-wheel with Lalonde as they entered the backstretch on Lap 3. After carrying his momentum on the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4, Gauvreau nosed ahead of Lalonde for the lead at the start/finish line.
Gauvreau went untouched to earn the $3,000 prize and his first DIRTcar Pro Stock Series victory since winning at Autodrome Edelweiss in 2008.
The Canadian debuted a brand new Manimal chassis in Charlotte and said it was the key to victory.
“This a brand new (Nick) Stone car,” Gauvreau said. “It’s the first race. It’s a beautiful car. Thank you, Nick Stone, for this car. I went up to the outside and go for first.”
Three-time DIRTcar Pro Stock Series champion Jocelyn Roy crossed the line second after passing Lalonde midway through the race.
“I’m very happy,” Roy said. “My team is in great shape. The great people in the U.S. are nice. I’m just very happy. My team, my sponsors, and my family are all very happy.”
Lalonde settled for third, earning his best finish in four tries at Charlotte.
“I struggled a bit this weekend with the car,” Lalonde said. “I made some adjustments. It was good. We’re still missing something, but I’m happy with a third racing against all the best riders in our Series and two Canadians in front of me.”
Reigning DIRTcar Pro Stock Series champion Pete Stefanski finished fourth, driving Phil Defiglio’s car, and Eric Jean-Louis rounded out the top five.
RESULTS
MSD Pro Stock Feature (25 Laps): 1. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[3]; 2. 48-Jocelyn Roy[6]; 3. 8L-Marc Lalonde[1]; 4. 2-Pete Stefanski[7]; 5. 921-Eric Jean Louis[4]; 6. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[8]; 7. 8C-Sean Corr[16]; 8. 17-Marc Peladeau[9]; 9. 75-Gary Silkey[5]; 10. 76-Kyle Hoard[15]; 11. 9-Shane Henderson[11]; 12. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[10]; 13. 6C-Brian Carter[17]; 14. 9B-Slater Baker[13]; 15. 2Z-Hugh Page[19]; 16. 93-Sheldon Martin[18]; 17. 4M-Jordan Modiano[2]; 18. 2H-Luke Horning[12]; 19. 177-Chris Stalker[14]; 20. 63-Ryan Crellin[26]; 21. 28-Philip DeFiglio[21]; 22. 771-Jim Duncan[24]; 23. 01-Braxton Mcdaniel[22]; 24. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[23]; 25. 58-Roxanne Roy[25]; 26. 57W-Joe Wilson[20]
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Hoots Charges to SRI Performance Monster Thunder Bomber Win
By Alex Nieten
Last year Mattison Hoots came within two spots of an SRI Performance MMSA Monster Thunder Bomber victory at the World Short Track Championship, forced to watch as Luke Doggett celebrated. But this time it was Hoots’ turn to make the coveted trip to The Dirt Track at Charlotte Victory Lane.
Hoots lined up fourth for the Feature and quickly ripped to the lead by Lap 3 before driving away to his first Charlotte victory.
An emotional Victory Lane followed as he arose victorious on the grandest stage. Hoots was choked up as family and friends surrounded him and the confetti flew. A winner at Charlotte. An honor every competitor at the event covets.
Mark Towell and Stetsen Todd led the field to green, and Stetsen used the outside line to grab the top spot on Lap 1. Right behind him, Hoots went from fourth to second on the opening circuit and set his sights on Todd.
Hoots jumped to Todd’s outside when he saw an opening. The two then gave the fans a multi-lap show as they rolled around the entire 4/10 mile side by side for multiple laps. Both fought hard but clean to get the advantage as they never touched fenders. Finally, Hoots managed to muscle ahead of Todd and clear him to secure the lead.
That proved to be the winning move as Hoots never looked back. He put together consistent laps and grew his advantage north of two seconds by the time the 15-lapper concluded as Hoots crossed the finish line with a comfortable lead.
“I knew watching the previous races that it might get cut short for the cautions and the time, so I knew I kind of had to make a move really fast to get up front,” Hoots explained. “I found some moisture up top really fast and really good, and I was able to make the pass for the lead and hold them off.”
Todd held on for second after leading the first two laps. He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at coming up short with what he felt was the quickest machine on property.
“It sucks because we were the fastest car all weekend,” Todd said. “I didn’t know the groove would be that high, and I didn’t want to get up there and get freight-trained on the bottom. So, I just moved up too late. Then on the last restart, we got kind of moved a little bit. So, he (Hoots) got a big lead, and I just couldn’t reel him in after that.”
Rounding out the podium with a charge from seventh was Tyler Guice.
“This place is so crazy. You don’t ever know what the track is going to be,” Guice said. “We really just come down here to have fun as a team as kind of an end of the year deal.”
RESULTSSRI Performance Feature (15 Laps): 1. 41-Mattison Hoots[4]; 2. 19-Stetsen Todd[2]; 3. 47-Tyler Guice[7]; 4. 21J-Nate Jackson[11]; 5. 97T-Mark Towell[1]; 6. 51C-Luke Clements[3]; 7. 28-Rod Tucker[18]; 8. 97-Luke Doggett[5]; 9. 43-Jacob Funderburke[12]; 10. G41-Grant Burton[27]; 11. G1-Greg Carroll[20]; 12. 135-Travis Jamieson[23]; 13. 98-Isaiah Parker[24]; 14. 05-Cruz Mattison[16]; 15. 78-Hunter Funderburke[21]; 16. 119-Jason Edmonds[26]; 17. 22W-Walt Waddell[14]; 18. S1-Bryson Sweatt[15]; 19. S2-Garrett Sweatt[22]; 20. 32-Brandon Greene[19]; 21. 16-Benny Peeler[25]; 22. 483-Hannah Wall[28]; 23. 28G-Bryson Guice[8]; 24. S4-Tyler Smith[9]; 25. 4H-Jonathan Hinson[6]; 26. 4-Cory Skipper[17]; 27. 83-Ricky Bogan[10]; 28. P8-Christopher Patterson[13]
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Tucker Tops Street Stocks for Third World Short Track Championship Division Victory
By Alex Nieten
It doesn’t matter the car. Rod Tucker is going to be fast at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
The Greenville, SC native entered this year’s ninth annual World Short Track Championship already an owner of victories in two separate classes, the COMP Cams MMSA Monster Mini-Stocks (2018) and SRI Performance MMSA Monster Thunder Bombers (2022).
He decided 2024 was the right time to make history by adding a third.
Tucker started sixth for the Race Quip Street Stock main event on Saturday, took the top spot on the sixth lap, and held off a late charge from Andrew Durham to get the win.
The victory made him the first competitor ever to come out on top of three different World Short Track Championship divisions. It’s a place he’ll forever hold in the prestigious event’s history.
Calob McLaughlin and Bradley Weaver led the field to green. McLaughlin led the opening lap before Weaver blasted by to take the lead on the second circuit. Tucker began his charge to the front immediately, going from sixth to third in one lap, and then two rotations later he took over the runner-up spot.
A Lap 5 restart set the stage for a thrilling battle between Weaver and Tucker. When the green flag brought the action back to life, Tucker threw a slider at Weaver in Turns 1 and 2 to grab the lead. Weaver returned the favor the next time around in the same set of corners, and the two made slight contact. Tucker came back at Weaver with another slide job in Turns 3 and 4, and the two were side by side when the yellow flag came out.
Tucker held the top spot for the restart, and he made sure to quickly jump ahead and was able to hold off a surging Andrew Durham for his third Charlotte triumph.
“Weaver was really good,” Tucker said of their battle. “I could just get to the center of (Turn) 3 so much better than everybody, I felt like. I knew on restart if I didn’t get to the top as quick as I could and try to slide him down there, it was going to be pretty single file because the top was so good down there. I kind of got tight once I got up there, I think, hurting that fender a little bit like that kind of hindered me a little bit. But all in all we had a good weekend. I’ve got to thank all of my guys for helping me all weekend. It feels pretty cool. We’ve won in three different divisions up here, so I can’t thank everybody enough.”
Durham had an up and down race that ultimately ended on a high note as he claimed the runner-up spot. The result marked his best ever finish in a championship Feature at “America’s Home for Racing.”
“I was kind of surprised that I felt like I was driving up to him (Tucker), but I guess we’ll never know,” Durham said. “It’s a long weekend for not many laps. You never know what you’re going to get when you go out there. You’ve got to be on it and do the best you can and hope you got something good enough.”
Weaver slipped back to third after leading early. The ill-timed caution right as he was re-taking the lead might’ve cost the Shelby, NC driver a potential victory.
“If the caution would’ve come out when I had him cleared, I think we would’ve been alright,” Weaver said. “But the car kind of went away there at the end. Probably could’ve run second had we had some more laps.”
RESULTSCOMP Cams Feature (15 Laps): 1. 12-Rod Tucker[6]; 2. 06-Andrew Durham[4]; 3. 2-Bradley Weaver[2]; 4. 83M-Calob McLaughlin[1]; 5. 11-Kade Langley[13]; 6. 25-Andrew Gordon[17]; 7. 18B-Blake Bentley[10]; 8. 01L-Patrick Lyon[11]; 9. 44-Jeff Parsons[15]; 10. 13-Kayden Outlaw[23]; 11. 99-Stephen Ford[16]; 12. B4-Brandon Satterfield[19]; 13. 18-Ricky Greene[20]; 14. 00-Cody Ussery[26]; 15. 32-Garrett Killman[18]; 16. 9-Ronnie Mosley[22]; 17. H3-Harley Holden[14]; 18. 81-Justin Barber[25]; 19. 5-Hunter Denny[27]; 20. 101-Josh Hellams[5]; 21. 0-Johnny Westmoreland[8]; 22. 39-Steve Greene[12]; 23. JR1-Jake Jackson[7]; 24. 59-Brandon White[21]; 25. 04B-Austin Brown[9]; 26. 5H-Hank Taylor[3]; 27. 57-Michael Wells[24]; 28. 17-Brian Carswell[28]
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John Ruggiero Jr Wins First FOX Factory Pro Late Model World Short Track Championship Feature
By Matt Skipper
John Ruggiero Jr. knew he had the car to beat entering the ninth annual World Short Track Championship.
Leading the final 25 laps, the Lincolnton, NC driver earned his first FOX Factory Crate Racin’ USA Pro Late Models Championship Feature win on Saturday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte,
Clay Hill, FL driver Bubba Roling led the first laps of the 30-lap race, with Quick in second and Ruggiero in third.
Ruggiero got by Quick, then a mistake by Roling entering the top side of Turn 3 on the fifth lap gave way for the No.00 Longhorn Factory Team Late Model to slide down the bottom of the track to take the Feature lead.
On the first restart on Lap 11, defending champion Trent Ivey passed Roling around Turns 1 and 2 to work on chasing Ruggiero for the win.
Ivey closed the gap on Ruggiero until a caution with five laps to go, which involved seven cars, and a late-race dash in which new contenders attempted to dethrone Ruggiero’s lead.
Ruggiero got the perfect start to maintain the lead, while Layton Sullivan took over second from Ivey with a run on the bottom lane.
Cruising to his second World Short Track Championship win in four years, Ruggiero captured the win to begin the Saturday night of Feature racing from The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
“I came with (Longhorn) last year and thought we could win,” Ruggiero said. “I told Steve (Arpin) last night that ‘I feel like we had a car capable of winning tonight, no matter where we start.’ I drew the four on the redraw, things played well for us on the start, with Colby getting tight and Bubba opening it up for me.
“Once we got out in front, I got a little scared with Trent behind me because he’s won here so many times. This one goes out to all the Longhorn guys for giving me an opportunity to drive one of these. It’s been an awesome year, and I hope we can keep things moving forward from here.”
Sullivan, of Gaffney, SC, earned his first World Short Track Championship podium with his second-place drive from starting fifth in the early-going.
“It feels pretty good, honestly,” Sullivan said. “We’ve been coming here for a while, and this is one of my favorite tracks by far. It’s nice to finally get on a podium and have a run that shows this kind of speed that we’ve had. I think the best I’ve finished is eighth, and we’ve felt like we were better than that. When they wet the track before we went out, we kinda missed it on the adjustment. But other than that, we has a really good weekend and really fast car.”
Ivey, of Union, SC, took his third consecutive podium in the Pro Late Models at The Dirt Track at Charlotte with a third-place finish.
“It was my last chance to try something,” Ivey said. “I just couldn’t quite make it work this year, but congrats to John, they’ve done great, and we’ll have to come back again next year. We just needed a few adjustments. We were chasing the car after the track prepping and just didn’t do a good job.”
York, SC driver Jeremy Steele finished fourth, and Roling picked up the top five in his first attempt at racing in the World Short Track Championship.
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Travis Steele, Ricky Greene, Jimmy Thomas
RESULTS
FOX Factory Feature (30 Laps): 1. 00R-John Ruggiero Jr[4]; 2. 2S-Layton Sullivan[3]; 3. G4-Trent Ivey[5]; 4. 22-Jeremy Steele[10]; 5. 515-Bubba Roling[2]; 6. 5-Colby Quick[1]; 7. 22T-Jimmy Thomas[21]; 8. 55H-Benji Hicks[16]; 9. 98-Matt Dooley[8]; 10. 48-Hunter Kohn[13]; 11. 32W-Ethan Wilson[7]; 12. 11W-Joey Warren[18]; 13. 23-Beckham Malone[15]; 14. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[22]; 15. 24-Jacob Brown[24]; 16. 88D-Dalton Dowdy[28]; 17. 21-Mario Gresham[25]; 18. 22H-Matt Henderson[11]; 19. 5S-Travis Steele[19]; 20. 6-Dillon Brown[9]; 21. 127-Austin Yarbrough[6]; 22. 66-Jody Knowles[12]; 23. 17J-John Winge[27]; 24. 45-Nathan Dallas[26]; 25. 78-Blake Pryor[14]; 26. P4-John Price[17]; 27. 1B-Brent Trimble[23]; 28. 18G-Ricky Greene[20]
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John Ruggiero Jr Captures Second Chevrolet Performance Mid-East 602 Late Models Feature at World Short Track Championship
By Matt Skipper
John Ruggiero Jr was unsatisfied with leaving the ninth annual World Short Track Championship with only one Feature trophy.
Instead, he’ll left with two, as the Lincolnton, NC driver led all 20 laps to become the first driver to sweep the FOX Factory Pro Crate Racin’ USA Late Models and the Chevrolet Performance Mid East Association 602 Late Models.
Ruggiero and David Smith led the field to the green flag, with defending 602 Late Model champion Beckham Malone in third as Ruggiero led over Smith.
Ruggiero extended his lead to over two seconds when he encountered lap traffic at the halfway mark of the Feature. Ruggiero made his No.44 Late Model work around every lane of the racetrack with a mix of the high and bottom lanes in his pursuit.
With the caution waving with two laps remaining, Ruggiero had to face the pressure of a potential late-race charge from Smith, Malone, and Mooresboro, NC driver Dalton Peavy, to fend off on the final restart.
Ruggiero got the vital restart to break away from Smith as Malone and Peavy were left to battle for the final step on the podium.
Crossing the finish line as a three-time World Short Track Championship Feature winner, Ruggiero completed a flawless weekend at The Dirt Track at Charlotte for his second career win in the 602 Late Models.
“The track prep from the 604 Feature was a curveball to expect,” Ruggiero said. “I was a little nervous about how the track could take rubber or where it got slick, so I had to be smart and slow down my entry to hit my marks. I knew David and Beckham were behind me and really good, so I just had to do everything I needed to do to stay out front, and it’s the name of the game at places like (Charlotte).”
Smith, of Inman, SC, took home the second-place result, and the Rock Hill, SC driver of Malone rounded out the Feature’s podium finishers.
Peavy drove to fourth, and Trent Ivey of Union, SC finished fifth to bookend the Chevrolet Performance Mid-East 602 Late Models racing weekend.
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Jason Dickerson, Bryce Viar, Nickelos Stiles
RESULTS
Chevrolet Performance Feature (25 Laps): 1. 44-John Ruggiero Jr[1]; 2. 11S-David Smith[2]; 3. 23-Beckham Malone[5]; 4. 9-Dalton Peavy[3]; 5. 28-Trent Ivey[13]; 6. 007-Nickelos Stiles[21]; 7. 11B-Dalton Jacobs[24]; 8. T9-Brodie Thompson[9]; 9. 0-Olivia Gentry[23]; 10. 2-Wyatt Coffey[12]; 11. 18-Preston Blalock[25]; 12. J12-Jason Dickerson[19]; 13. 5O-Joey Johnson[27]; 14. 22T-Steven Thompkins[11]; 15. C10-Carl Currin[18]; 16. 27-Mike Davidson[22]; 17. 5-Robbie Gibson[10]; 18. 20-Trey Stamper[4]; 19. 7H-Ronnie Long[28]; 20. 32-Shawn Walker[26]; 21. 5J-Braden Jones[16]; 22. 25V-Bryce Viar[20]; 23. 1J-Morghan Johnson[7]; 24. 24-Seth Wimpey[8]; 25. 22K-Kenny Peeples[15]; 26. 57-Luke Cooper[6]; 27. 611-Koulten Herbert[14]; 28. 515-Bubba Roling[17]
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Cody Keith Scores First World Short Track Championship Title With COMP Cams Monster Mini Stocks
By Spence Smithback
In his fourth trip to The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the World Short Track Championship, Franklinton, NC driver Cody Keith scored his maiden win in the event in the COMP Cams Monster Mini Stock division.
“It means the world, this is always the one you want to win,” Keith said in Victory Lane. “My guys traveled with me up here to see if we could get it done and we did, so it’s pretty cool.”
Keith’s Heat Race win on Friday night netted him the sixth starting spot, while Kevin Cooper and Daniel Coffey shared the front row. Cooper grabbed the early lead through the opening set of corners, but a pileup in Turn 2 behind him reset the field before he could break away.
The ensuing restart was a mirror image of the original start, with Cooper taking the top spot and Coffey sliding into second behind him, but this time they were able to put some laps on the board. Coffey’s time in second didn’t last long though, as contact with Brad Hamm in Turn 4 caused him to fall back several spots and out of the lead group.
That gave the runner-up spot to Matt Gilbert, but before he could get comfortable, a hard-charging Keith made it to Gilbert’s back bumper just past halfway. Keith made his move with six to go and instantly went to work on chasing down Cooper, and with five to go, he ripped around the outside of Turns 3 and 4 before clearing him for the lead in Turn 1.
From that point forward, Keith was off like a rocket, crossing the stripe over a second ahead of the pack at the end of 15 laps.
Behind him, Gilbert wrestled second away from Cooper in the closing stages of the race by squeezing between Cooper and the infield tractor tires in Turns 3 and 4 with three to go. It was his third-straight podium in the World Short Track Championshipfollowing a win in 2022 and a third-place finish a year ago.
“I kind of wish we would have run 25 laps, we may have been able to have something there at the end,” Gilbert said. “All in all, it was a good race, just kind of wish we had a little more laps to kind of show what we had.”
Cooper entered the event as the defending Mini Stock winner and looked to be in position to go back-to-back, but said an ill-handling race car forced him to settle for third.
“We had a pretty good weekend,” Cooper said. “We won the Heat Race, drew the one on the redraw, started on the pole of the main event. Just got real free there at the end and got passed.”
COMP Cams Feature (15 Laps): 1. 51-Cody Keith[6]; 2. 117-Matt Gilbert[3]; 3. X-Kevin Cooper[1]; 4. 98-Brad Hamm[4]; 5. 121-JR Warren[7]; 6. 99-Daniel Coffey[2]; 7. M6-Jamie Massey[14]; 8. 19-Justyn Jacobs[15]; 9. 1-Connor Keaton[17]; 10. 15L-Zach Lankford[22]; 11. 8-Dustin Bolin[16]; 12. H3-Harley Holden[20]; 13. 118-Ronald Arch[10]; 14. 37-Ben Burnett[26]; 15. 2-Johnny Raines[18]; 16. 56F-Nick Fulcher[25]; 17. 12-Pete Brew[23]; 18. 69-Billy Cline[12]; 19. 50-Everette Dunlap[11]; 20. 5-Jack Jordan[27]; 21. 9-Travis Mosley[9]; 22. 8J-Tyler Johnson[21]; 23. D7-Dakota Whitley[28]; 24. 10-Logan Richey[5]; 25. 44-Nick Broome[8]; 26. 03-Damien Bryant[19]; 27. 212-Greg Brew[24]; 28. 96X-Tyler Riddle[13]
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Kelly, Presnell Continue World Short Track Championship Dominance with Saturday SCDRA Hornet Wins
By Spence Smithback
Joey Kelly and Newman Presnell continued their reign over the DIRTVision Hornet division at the 2024 World Short Track Championship, taking home a pair of Sport Compact Dirt Racing Association (SCDRA) Features on Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Feature 1
Shawn Peche got off to a brilliant start in the first 10-lap Feature of the night, going from his fourth-place starting spot to the lead by the time he hit the backstretch on Lap 1. His hopes of a World Short Track Championship victory fell apart one lap later though, as contact with the No. 24 of Chris Martin sent him head on into the frontstretch wall and out of the race.
Before the caution came out, Kelly had already powered his way from 16th up to fourth, which allowed him to restart in the second spot. He wasted no time blasting past CJ LaVair entering Turn 1, but LaVair wasn’t interested in letting Kelly drive away. He looked to Kelly’s inside down the backstretch and stayed side-by-side with him for nearly two laps, but Kelly ultimately prevailed on the outside.
Before Kelly could get too far away, the No. 25 of Gage McManus spun in Turn 3 and was collected by Glenn Engstrom to bring out the caution with two to go. The field was unable to capitalize on their final chance at Kelly though, as he nailed the restart and drove away to his third win of the weekend.
LaVair ended the race as the runner-up for the second night in a row, while Reggie Twing came home third to stand on the podium for the first time at Charlotte.
RESULTS
DIRTVision Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 88-Joey Kelly[16]; 2. C4-CJ LaVair[14]; 3. 5-Reggie Twing[11]; 4. 55C-Rusty E Catoe[15]; 5. 3B-Brad McManus[7]; 6. 41JR-Kolten Saam[12]; 7. 25-Gage McManus[5]; 8. 58-Ronnie Hall[10]; 9. 777J-Jeffrey Erb[8]; 10. 17E-Glenn Engstrom[3]; 11. 359-Michael Lambert[9]; 12. 0-Shawn Peche[4]; 13. 24-Chris Martin[6]; 14. 59-Ron Scully[1]; 15. 21A-Adam Asbill[2]; 16. 94-Payne Pickles[13]
Feature 2
Ricky Weaver started on the outside of the front row and broke away to a large lead early with Mike Crickmore and Jacob Bright side-by-side behind him for second. Their battle was quickly interrupted by a lightning-fast No. 48 of Presnell, who raced from 14th all the way to third in the first half-lap.
Presnell picked off Crickmore on Lap 2 before turning his attention to Bright in second. The two battled door-to-door briefly, but a slip-up on the high side for Bright was all Presnell needed to take over second.
Presnell stayed in the low lane as he went after the leader, and while Weaver was able to hang with Presnell for a bit longer than Bright or Crickmore, he still had no answer for Presnell’s pace on the bottom.
After taking the lead at the halfway point, Presnell never looked back and led the field by almost three seconds at the end of the caution-free Feature.
“Feels good to be out here, back at Charlotte again getting another win out here,” Presnell said after his second win in as many nights. “We have a blast out here, we love this race.”
Bright got by Weaver for the second spot with two to go, forcing Weaver to settle for third – matching his career-best finish at Charlotte from 2022.
RESULTS
DIRTVision Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 48-Newman Presnell[14]; 2. 95-Jacob Bright[8]; 3. 21-Ricky Weaver[2]; 4. 66-Mike Crickmore[4]; 5. 55-Larry Lamb[10]; 6. 77NY-Kris Clark[5]; 7. 91-Allen Griffith[9]; 8. 15-Kenneth Colf[15]; 9. 66W-Michael Wallace[16]; 10. H2-Alex Brooks[13]; 11. 68J-Jessie Joyner[3]; 12. 328-Zachary Slone[7]; 13. 08-Dallas Griggs[1]; 14. 96-Kevin Brazell[6]; 15. 14-Wayne Taylor[11]; 16. X-Shannon Barnhill[12]
—
Presnell, Harris, Haskin Win Big With DIRTVision Hornets During World Short Track Finale
By Nick Graziano
The final day of the ninth annual World Short Track Championship at The Dirt Track at Charlotte continued to provide stellar racing and even better storylines with the DIRTVision SEHA Hornets Saturday night.
Two more first-time winners were crowned, and a father-and-son duo continued to sweep the weekend.
The field of 72 SEHA Hornets were split into three 10-lap Features, which concluded Saturday night’s Feature action.
Feature 1
The DIRTVision SEHA Hornets kicked off Feature #1 with opening laps fit for an action film.
Cars battled five-wide for second and the leader slid into the Turn 2 wall the next lap, creating a frenzy for the top spot. Cars shifted from two- to four-wide in the first corner, but TJ Slack had the better run of them all and pulled away down the backstretch.
His time out front was cut short after the PRO-FABrication Headers caution flag came out on Lap 2. Dale Bennett, who restated third, timed his restart well, darting into second by the first turn and stayed glued to Slack’s bumper by Turn 2.
Bennett pulled ahead down the backstretch, but Slack fought back, throwing his car low in Turn 3. The two raced side by side for nearly a whole lap before another caution came out.
To Bennett’s fortune, he was ahead at the line before the caution was thrown. That gave him the preferred line for the restart and the ability to hold off another attack from Slack.
In the lead with clean air, Bennett looked to be on his way to Victory Lane. However, he was a lone swimmer in an ocean already conquered by the approaching predator. Kayden Presnell, who won his first World Short Track Championship Feature Friday night, was already up to third – from 16th – at the halfway point of the race.
On Lap 7, Presnell was up to second. And in the final three laps, he devoured Bennett’s lead and powered past him on the final lap to win the Feature.
“We definitely got pretty lucky on all of them starts,” Presnell said. “It all worked out perfectly… It’s definitely been a really good weekend.”
Presnell and his father, Newman Presnell, both won their Features Friday night and then both won them again on Saturday night.
RESULTS
DIRTVision Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 48-Kayden Presnell[16]; 2. BAND1T-Dale Bennett[10]; 3. F1-Travis Lankford[12]; 4. 57-Jordan Mauney[17]; 5. 25J-Josh Whitfield[13]; 6. 09-Dean Riddle[6]; 7. 212-Tanner Coggins[11]; 8. 58H-Ronnie Hall; 9. 41S-Kevin Saam[14]; 10. 27M-Keitha Martin[20]; 11. 21G-Brandon Greene; 12. 78-Ethan Fowler[15]; 13. 2L-Kylee Laws[19]; 14. 57G-John Graybeal[22]; 15. 32-Christian Byers[4]; 16. D2-Danny Tate[21]; 17. 214-Thomas Mcgahee[2]; 18. 8-Charles Johnson[1]; 19. 16-Barry Bennett[3]; 20. 17E-Glenn Engstrom[5]; 21. 0-Corey Harper[7]; 22. 135-Travis Jamieson[8]; 23. 3-Jaycob Johnson[9]; 24. 2DD-Dylan Douglas[23]; 25. 21-Nick White[24]; 26. (DQ) 33S-TJ Slack[18]
Feature 2
Justin Harris made the second Feature all about him. He was quick to the throttle on the initial start, going from fourth to first on the first lap and then never looked back.
A caution slowed his momentum early, but once the race resumed, he returned to his groove by the first corner, pulling ahead by a few car lengths.
He had few scares throughout the 10-lap Feature, but Casey Towell aimed to give him one. He moved into second with three laps to go and tried to cut into Harris’ lead every lap. However, time wasn’t on his side.
Harris saw the checkered flag for the first in his career at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. He had tied his career best finish of second the night prior.
“Finally, a fat guy won this thing… I’m out of breath,” Harris said in a comedic tone.
RESULTS
DIRTVision Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1H-Justin Harris[4]; 2. 11-Casey Towell[6]; 3. 4TJ-Mitchell Coggins[2]; 4. 48K-Newman Presnell[21]; 5. 78H-Steven Herring[15]; 6. 58-Eddie Segars[18]; 7. 26C-Carson Venable[13]; 8. 3C-Scott Cloninger[24]; 9. 58K-Kason Bright[8]; 10. J6-Jimmy Price[3]; 11. 4-Daniel Wright[12]; 12. 77NY-Kris Clark[7]; 13. 15-Ken Colf[10]; 14. 44-Jordan Webb[19]; 15. 28A-Tyler Langley[1]; 16. 2-Tyler Capps[17]; 17. 81A-Avery White[20]; 18. 328-Christopher Gardner[9]; 19. T2-Jose Hernandez[22]; 20. 03-Jamey J Bresette[5]; 21. 41-Gage McFadden[11]; 22. 25K-Jeremy Hudson[16]; 23. 35-Ashley Parker[14]; 24. 58H-Ronnie Hall[23]
Feature 3
The theme of first-time winners continued in the third, and final, Hornet Feature of the night. And not only a first-time winner at World Short Track Championship and The Dirt Track at Charlotte, a first-ever winner.
Willie Fowler took the lead into the first corner on the initial start, but Austin Haskin had a launch like a rocket ship, soaring from fifth to second through the first turn. He carried his momentum to the outside of Fowler and drove past him before the lap was complete.
He took the lead just in time before a caution on the first lap too, helping to place him in the top spot for the restart. When the race resumed, Haskin, again, had a strong launch and pulled ahead of the field by multiple car lengths.
Cars battled three-wide for third behind him allowing a heavy hitter to make up time. Joey Kelly, who became the first Hornet driver to win two Features on the same day on Friday, was picking up and laying down cars.
Kelly started 13th and got up to fourth by the halfway point. He ran down the top three in the closing laps, passing third-place Trent Blackwell with two laps to go. But that was as far as he could make it.
Haskin saw the checkered flag for the first time in his career – ever.
“I don’t know what to say…” Haskin said, trying to find the words that would best describe winning his first race. “It feels good doing it right here at Charlotte. It’s awesome.
“There are a bunch of good guys that we race with. I’ve tried to outrun them all year. I had car troubles last night. I pulled the motor out and put it back together and she was on the rail.”
RESULTS
DIRTVision Feature 3 (10 Laps): 1. A53-Austin Haskin[5]; 2. A23-Andrew Rich[2]; 3. 88K-Joey Kelly[13]; 4. 22-Trent Blackwell[21]; 5. 511-Bentley Caudle[4]; 6. T3-TJ Hill[14]; 7. 2D-Daniel Tate[7]; 8. 19-Willie Fowler[3]; 9. 5-Reggie Twing[17]; 10. 14-Wayne Taylor[18]; 11. 10-James Morrow[8]; 12. 33-Scott Isbell[12]; 13. 21G-Brandon Greene[1]; 14. 96-Kevin Brazell[20]; 15. 07-Brayden McDonald[19]; 16. 27-Chris Jaret[15]; 17. 23-Austin Burch[16]; 18. 115-Kylon Tate[10]; 19. 116-Gavin Bright[23]; 20. T3JR-Riley Hill[6]; 21. C4-CJ LaVair[9]; 22. 08-Dallas Griggs[11]; 23. 18-Phillip Taylor[22]; 24. 19X-Chris Harvell[24]
A promising start to Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway ended in disappointment for Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team.Burton, who started a season-best sixth suffered a transaxle failure on Lap 346 of 500 and was unable to continue. He was scored 36th.Prior to that time, the No. 21 Mustang Dark Horse showed some good speed. Burton fell in line in seventh place after the drop of the initial green flag. He was in eighth place when the race’s first caution flag flew at Lap 77.After a pit stop he fell in line in 19th place and ran there until the final laps of the first 130-lap Stage, which ended with Burton in 20th place.He moved back into the top 20 after a pit stop at the end of the Stage but spun after contact from Carson Hocevar on Lap 158.After a pit stop during the caution period for his spin, Burton worked his way from 28th place up to 24th. When the caution flag flew at Lap 187, the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team elected to stay on the track while others pitted and he moved up to eighth place for the restart.The disadvantage of older tires was apparent as he dropped to 23rd place by the time Stage Two ended at Lap 260. Back on the track after a pit stop, Burton moved up to 18th place before pulling off the track at Lap 346.Burton and the No. 21 team now head to Phoenix Raceway for next Sunday’s Cup Series championship-deciding season finale.
WITH 35 NASCAR CUP SERIES RACES COMPLETE:Wins: 15Poles: 10Top-Five Finishes: 69Top-10 Finishes: 143Stage Wins: 23
“It was really positive. I expected to have a difficult car to drive as I’ve heard in the past about these cars, but I think I had a lot of confidence with the car. For sure, there is some technique that needs to be fine-tuned,” said Vesti, who will make his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in January at the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse are set to start a season-best sixth in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.