Worth The Wait: A wild night in Kingsport sets the tone for the rest of 2025

      It's been a long wait for the fans of the Concrete Jungle. What was supposed to be a mad string of 4 consecutive races got dashed by spring showers in the Tri-Cities region. April 25th's Lyon Metal Roofing Night had to be postponed to a later date, and last week's Omnia Roofing Race Night pres. by Food City was washed out after the first race's completion. Which brought us to Friday May 9th, what was originally an unsponsored night of weekly racing saw the continuation of last week's Omnia Roofing Race Night and the JB Autoworks Crown Vics getting to make up a race they missed as well. Finally, you couldn't have asked for a better night, a little chilly near the end, but any fan will take that with a clear sky and perfect sunset. A perfect sunset faded into darkness, and proceeded a dramatic and shocking night of racing, the night was heralded as a night with major implications on the season. Those predictions turned out to be true. As Omnia Roofing Race Night's outcomes will provide consequences for the remainder of the season. Both Positive and negative

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     In Hurds Mowing Street Stock and JB Towing Pure 4. Up to this point, two men have ran the whole show. Rob Austin and Steven Watts respectively. As per Kingsport Speedway Rules, both drivers would start the night's races in the rear of the field after winning three races in a row. First in the running order would be Pure 4. Where it seemed Watts would finally be thwarted, even after reaching second, it appeared he had burned up his tires for the race, and Dallas Morelock would no longer be the bridesmaid and win his first feature of the season. Then, disaster struck. A late spin brought out the caution with only ten laps left; stacking up the field and allowing Watts to cool his tires off. On the following restart Watts and Morelock would battle, before Watts as he's done every weekend so far would get around Morelock and go on to win the JB Towing Pure 4 feature. An absolute Heartbreaker.

Rob Austin wouldn't have the same luck in Hurds Mowing Street Stock. While he would make a mad dash all the way up to 2nd; it wouldn't be enough time to catch Joey Sykes who scored his first feature win of 2025! Piloting the iconic "Man in Black," Roger Neece's scheme. As surprisingly, the beat em' up division of the track went clean and green for the whole race.

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The division that did beat each other up, JB Towing Stock FWD. A whopping seven cautions in a 20 lap race, one of those was a multi car crash that collected points leader Joshua Collins, the other saw the wrecker come out for Collins' biggest competition, Chip Moody. All except race winner Roger Wright and 2nd place Sam Ferguson came out unscathed and without incident in this wild race. More drama unfolded in the 4 cylinder pits post race. However the full details of the incident are unclear at this time.

In JB Autoworks Crown Vics. It was smooth sailing for points leader, and Godfather of the division, Tyler Conway despite a tight battle with teammate Brandon Bruner late in the race. Our thoughts and prayers are with Charles Gunther and family, as last week the defending champ had made his return, but was unable to make it this week due to personal reasons. We hope all is well, and we hope to have him back at the track soon.

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     In Hurds Mowing Super Street, it was a showcase for brothers. Kyle and Tristen Barnes owned the night. Tristen would lead the most laps but would suffer mechanical issues late. But no fear, as brother Kyle would be the one to steal the win away. In the middle of the pack was where the action was though, as Marty Tunnel, Marty Robinson and TJ O'Quinn would engage in a heated back and forth, as Tunnell tried everything possible to nurse a points lead over Austin Walters and Tristen Barnes. Walters, absent this weekend as he was on vacation with his family, will undoubtedly be back next race. You also can't rule out the presence of Alex Keith, Ashton Higgins, defending champion Greg Bohannon Jr., and of course, Austin's father and track champion, Billy Walters. All in all an unusually tame night for Super Street (which isn't saying much) but it sets up plenty of stories going forward into the season as the field gets up to full size and power over the summer. 

For Quality Heat and Aire Mod 4. It is safe to officially call it The Kevin Canter Show! As Canter makes it 3 in a row in 2025, it's still not enough to have the points lead over Chris Amburgey, continuing to win the way he has means Canter is well on his way to another Mod 4 Championship. Unless, Amburgey and Rocky Yates can find the secret sauce in the shop to stop him, as it seems they're the closest they've been to catching Canter as they've been all season. The 17 and 5 matching the 3 could mean level headed nature of Mod 4 could unravel at any given moment.

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     And then last, but certainly not least. The RCR Late Model Stocks once again delivered a heart stopper, this time on, and off the track. Going into the night it was Kingsport native Brad Housewright who held the points lead by a slim eight points. After Friday night, not only has that lead vanished, he's dropped even further in points.

Twin 1 was the very first race on the card, the race saw Zeke Shell take the green from the pole and stay there. Leading Wire to wire winning Twin 1. Sharing the win with his daughter, Bristol, who won the juice box race prior to the first green flag of the night. Meanwhile, a rivalry was getting hot in the back. As Keith Helton and Brad Housewright would battle for 2nd behind Shell. Housewright would eventually get 2nd and almost run Shell down on the long run, before a caution would come out, where as mentioned before, Shell would drive away to win. 

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But once again, as it has seemed the case all season, Twin 2 delivered the fireworks. The Top 9 would invert for the 2nd race. After the field would shake out. It would be defending Champion Keith Helton who would take the point for a time. Eventually Housewright and Shell would catch up. The three would battle side by side for several laps before Shell would emerge from the noise. As Shell ran away once again. Helton and Housewright would engage in some very heated racing. Back and forth bump and runs and door to door racing. Helton would give Housewright a huge tap between 1 and 2. Before Housewright would get hot and outright chrome horn Helton into turn 1. Shell would win and sweep on the night. Housewright would finish 2nd and Helton in 3rd in Twin 2. But Housewright wasn't satisfied, or pleased with how Helton raced him. Putting the car in reverse and ramming Helton at the podium. Helton would climb out and wait on Housewright. Housewright would follow and give a huge shove to Helton before officials would quickly break up the skirmish. Both drivers would publicly voice their displeasure to the fans in their podium interviews. Despite their best efforts, track officials and other drivers would prevent Brad and Keith from squaring up once again. 

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Due to the controversy of the previous weeks with track limiting and ride height in Late Models, the top 3 finishers had their cars completely torn down in the rear ends post race in the tech shed. Where Brad Housewright would be disqualified for an illegal trackbar brace. [read UPDATE at the end of this article] This is where Housewright completely lost his championship advantage. From an 8 point lead at the beginning of the night, to being tied with Zeke Shell at the end of the Twins, to falling out of 2nd completely after DQ. It is unclear if Derek Lane or Keith Helton will assume 2nd in points until NASCAR makes results official. However, Housewright quickly becomes an example, that desperation never prevails when battling for a season-long championship. As he now has a deep hole to dig out of; now with a red hot Derek Lane, an extremely volatile and unhinged Keith Helton who appears to have fully shaken off his Championship hangover, another rival of Housewright, and Helton's teammate Hunter Morgan who could reappear at any time. And a Zeke Shell who is all smiles, who sees a golden ticket he's never seen before, parted seas and a clear path to a 2nd Track and State Title. All in thanks to two of Kingsport's "Big 3" (or Big 4 if you count Lane) ready to go to war with one another, maybe forgetting the main goal in the process.

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One quarter of the 2025 season down, another 12 heart stopping nights to go. Race 4 set the stage for the season to come. The season is still young, not all hope is lost. But rivalry and desperation could become costly, as certain drivers have stablished themselves as the drivers to beat on the year. In other divisions, the points battle is still wide open. With drivers coming and going in the entry list, and championship favorites getting junked. It can be literally anybody's championship. If you had something scheduled for Friday, May 23rd, it might be a good idea to clear your schedule completely. And we'll send some thoughts and prayers up that the weather stays clear. Because May 23rd's race at The Concrete Jungle could be one of the most important nights in the track's history. We mean that. The East Tenn. nights are gonna get hotter, so are the tempers, and every week that clicks off is another opportunity made or missed. So...Catch Me If You Can......

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UPDATE

Upon an appeal by the 88 Team of Brad Housewright, and discussions with NASCAR. The DQ for the 88 team has been rescinded. This is solely due to there not being any construction guidelines in the NASCAR rulebook on fabrication of the trackbar support brace.