McCarty Sweeps Kingsport Late Model Stock Features

A breakout season for Ronnie McCarty at Kingsport Speedway in Kingsport, TN continues to get even better, as he swept both NASCAR Whelen All-American Series “First Kingsport Credit Union” Late Model Stock Car victories Friday night in the Model City.

The 28-year-old McCarty, from Kingsport, earned the pole award with a fast-time of 15.120 seconds in qualifying. With an invert of two, he started the first twin 35-lap event from outside of row one beside Wayne Hale.

McCarty and Hale battled over the opening circuits, with McCarty finally moving ahead racing off the fourth turn on lap 4. Caution waved the next lap when Bruce Blessing spun between turns one and two.

Off the double-file restart, McCarty jumped back out to the lead over Hale and Kres VanDyke. Lee Tissot moved past Kyle Barnes on lap 6 racing off the second corner to take over fourth in the running order.

With McCarty in command out front, behind him Hale was feeling pressure from VanDyke for the second spot. VanDyke pulled the trigger and shot past Hale for the position on lap 9 racing off the fourth turn, while also opening the door for Tissot to get by Hale for third place.

Scheduled to start from the fifth spot, under parade laps the right-front shock on Zeke Shell’s car came loose forcing him to drop onto pit road for attention from his crew. Shell was forced to begin the race from rear of the field. Shell quickly worked his way forward, and on lap 14 he passed Justin Fontaine for sixth.

With the race running clean-and-green since the lap 5 caution period, McCarty was setting a blistering pace around “The Concrete Jungle” in pulling out to a half-straightaway advantage over those giving chase. McCarty rolled to an impressive victory over VanDyke in second, Tissot in third, Hale in fourth and Shell in fifth.

Fontaine, Barnes, Joey Trent, Derek Lane and Allen Hawkins rounded out the top ten.

The top four finishers from the first race were inverted for the second twin 35-lap Late Model Stock Car feature, putting Hale and Tissot on the front row, with VanDyke and McCarty in the second row.

With Tissot and Hale battling for the lead at the start, caution waved quickly when Rick Pannell and Bruce Blessing tangled in the fourth turn on the third lap. Off the double-file restart, Tissot jumped out into the lead over Hale, McCarty, VanDyke and Barnes.

Barnes got around VanDyke for fourth on lap eight off the second corner. While VanDyke, Shell and Fontaine were engaged in a fight for real estate, Fontaine spun in the first turn on lap 13 to bring the caution out.

Back under green, Tissot led the way over Hale and McCarty. Shell got around Barnes to take over fourth in the running order on lap 16 racing off turn two. With McCarty and Hale mixing it up racing down the front straightaway into the first turn on lap 18, they swapped a little paint and slid up the banking between turns one and two. That allowed a close-following Shell to drop to the inside of the pair and briefly make it three-wide racing off the second corner down the backstretch.

Shell got past both McCarty and Hale and moved into third place. But McCarty wasn’t going down without putting up a fight, and he began working on Shell, trying to get back around into second place. Racing off the fourth turn on lap 22, McCarty moved past Shell and set his sights ahead on leader Tissot, who held a 10 car-length advantage.

Though McCarty managed to chop into Tissot’s lead, he could never close the full distance get to his rear bumper. Tissot took the checkered flag for his apparent first victory of the season, driving a borrowed car, after badly wrecking his ride during open practice on Thursday at the track. But following post-race technical inspection, Tissot had his win disallowed due to a carburetor infraction.

With Tissot’s disqualification, McCarty inherited the win for his second victory of the night, and wins number three and four on the season. Finishing behind McCarty were Shell, Barnes, Hale and VanDyke.

Completing the top 10 finishers were Fontaine, Trent, Lane, Hawkins and Pannell.

Entering the night of racing, McCarty held a slim three-point advantage over Tissot in the Late Model Stock Car standings. But with Tissot being disqualified in both races and receiving no points, he is now basically out of contention for winning the divisional championship.

“Wow, this is awesome to get two wins on the same night,” said McCarty in the pits after the race. “You know, I’ll definitely take the win because our race team is really putting a great car underneath me this season. It’s just up to me as the driver to get the job done behind the wheel. I really feel bad for (Lee) Tissot and his J&J Racing guys, because they’re good friends of ours. Here they wrecked and tore their car up badly yesterday in practice and it was up in the air whether they’d even be able to race, and then they borrowed the car they raced tonight.

“I guess rules are rules, but it’s just a little strange to get a win due to another guy getting disqualified. I’ve never been in a situation before like what happened tonight. You don’t really want to get totally consumed with points racing, but we’re now eight races into the season and we’ve got four victories and seven top-five finishes. I was talking with my dad and mom (Ron and Gina McCarty) and my crew chief (Mark Ketron) after we completed post-race technical inspection, and we’re just going have to change our mindset and start points racing, I guess. We’ll still be looking to win races, but we’ll also have to just be content to settle for solid top-five finishes to help us points-wise each race.”

In other action, Chris Tunnell jumped out into the lead at drop of the green flag in the 30-lap Street Stock feature over John Harrell and Jared Broadbent. Tunnell showed the way out front until just past halfway, when Harrell powered into the lead racing off turn two.
Once out front, Harrell would go on to record his fifth victory in six races this season, winning over Tunnell in second, Broadbent in third, Royce Peters in fourth and Paul Shull in fifth.

Chris Neeley had been knocking on the door of winning in the Pure 4 division, having put together finishes of third, fourth, second and fourth in the last four races.

Neeley grabbed the early lead over Billy Ketron and Kenny Absher and at times held over a half-straightaway advantage over his closest challengers. However, a late race caution on lap 19 when Kevin Darnell spun between turns three and four erased Neeley’s lead to set up a sprint to the finish.

Neeley would not be denied a visit to victory lane as he captured his first win of the season. Absher finished in second, with John Ketron third, Jason Ketron fourth and Billy Ketron in fifth.

Nasty Jones recorded his third straight Pure Street victory over Hershell Robinette in second, with Jake Phipps third, Marty Tunnell fourth and Gary Crumbley fifth.

Dwayne Banks cruised to his second Rookie Pure 4 feature win over William Hale, Chris Wilhelm, Robert Young and Larry Stapleton.

Kingsport Speedway returns to action on Saturday, May 23, as the track hosts the Southeast Super Truck Series. For more info, visit NewKingsportSpeedway.com.

Kingsport Speedway – Kingsport, TN
Race Results – May 15, 2015

Late Model Stock Race 1
1. (2) Ronnie McCarty #5-Kingsport, TN
2. (3) Kres VanDyke #15-Abingdon, VA
3. (1) Wayne Hale #19-Bluff City, TN
4. (5) Zeke Shell #97-Johnson City, TN
5. (7) Justin Fontaine #60-Fletcher, NC
6. (4) Kyle Barnes #0-Draper, VA
7. (8) Joey Trent #26-Gray, TN
8. (9) Derek Lane #28-Kingsport, TN
9. (10) Allen Hawkins #14-Kingsport, TN
10. (11) Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
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12. (12) Bruce Blessing #55-Gate City, VA
13. (13) Tyler Goodwin #67-Kingsport, TN
14. (15) Adam Bolyard #8-Gray, TN
DQ: Lee Tissot #63-Asheville, NC

Late Model Stock Race 2
1. (4) Ronnie McCarty #5-Kingsport, TN
2. (5) Zeke Shell #97-Johnson City, TN
3. (7) Kyle Barnes #0-Draper, VA
4. (1) Wayne Hale #19-Bluff City, TN
5. (3) Kres VanDyke #15-Abingdon, VA
6. (6) Justin Fontaine #60-Fletcher, NC
7. (8) Joey Trent #26-Gray, TN
8. (9) Derek Lane #28-Kingsport, TN
9. (10) Allen Hawkins #14-Kingsport, TN
10. (11) Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
11. (14) Tyler Goodwin #67-Kingsport, TN
12. (12) Jamie Harrison #76-Church Hill, TN
13. (13) Bruce Blessing #55-Gate City, VA
14. (15) Adam Bolyard #8-Gray, TN
DQ: Lee Tissot #63-Asheville, NC

Street Stocks
1. John Harrell #19
2. Chris Tunnell #6
3. Jared Broadbent #74
4. Royce Peters #48
5. Paul Shull #48
6. Mark Christian #43
7. Sam P. Hurd #11
8. Dennis Deese #24

Pure 4
1. Chris Neeley #94
2. Kenny Absher #11
3. John Ketron #27
4. Jason Ketron #28
5. Billy Ketron #26
6. Billy Byington #01
7. Dylan Bates #6
8. David Trent #57
9. Richard Quillen #15
10. Keith Helton #9
11. Kevin Darnell #4
12. Bruce Crumbley #33
13. Tim Abelseth #66
DNS: Jay Swecker #77

Pure Street
1. Nasty Jones #13
2. Hershell Robinette #9
3. Jake Phipps #1
4. Marty Tunnell #99
5. Gary Crumbley #59

Rookie Pure 4
1. Dwayne Banks #4
2. William Hale #47
3. Chris Wilhelm #99
4. Robert Young #59
5. Larry Stapleton #15
6. Daniel McMurray #0
7. Larry Bowens #18
8. Dennis Stanley #21
9. Andrew Hill #69
DNS: Craig Phelps #00