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It was a beautiful night in Callaway Virginia at Franklin County Raceway for the annual visit of the SMART Modified Tour.  The Kenny Minter Classic was the main event of the night and consisted of 110 laps of exciting SMART Modified Tour racing. There were three other races on the night consisting of the 602 Modifieds, INEX Legends and Stock 4. American Idol contestant Kam’Ron Smith was on hand for the National Anthem and special guest Satch Worley received an award for his legacy and contribution to modified racing. 

The action started out with Luke Baldwin winning the pole position for the SMART Modified Tour race. After the redraw, Landon Huffman was out front with Bryce Bailey beside him for the drop of the green flag. Bailey jumped out front at the start of the race, but it did not take long for Luke Baldwin to make it to the front of the field. He stayed up front until the stage break on lap 30. Joey Braun was able to make it to the front and stayed there until he made a pit stop when the caution came out for a turn one spin involving Carter Mcmurray, Joey Coulter and Slate Myers. When the green flag dropped again, Jake Crum was out front. With his new tires, Braun was too strong for Crum to hold off and Braun was back up front and would stay there until the yellow flag flew again, this time for a big accident when Jonathan Cash spun out coming out of turn four and Daniel Yates got together with Landon Huffman, taking them both out of the race. With fluid on the frontstretch and all around turns one and two, all the speedy dry was used so they resorted to using dirt to get up the remaining fluid. This caused a red flag situation with only eight laps remaining and the cars were impounded in the pits as they ran the Stock 4 race to test out the track. After a great race by the four-cylinder cars, it was time to restart the modified race. When they dropped the green flag, it was with a single file restart and Braun was out front with Ryan Newman in second place and Luke Baldwin third. Braun was not able to hold off a hard charging Newman, and Newman ended up in a shootout with Luke Baldwin. Luke Baldwin was able to get to Newman’s bumper in turn three of the last lap and moved Newman up the track, but in the end, Newman was able to hold him off at the finish line in a photo finish. Blake Barney was third and Danny Bohn fourth. After leading much of the race, Joey Braun had to settle for fifth.

In the Stock 4 race, Wesley Givens ended up with a hard-fought victory, crossing the line in front of Kaleb Hall and Chris Lilly who finished second and third respectively. Next up was the 602 Modifieds. When the green flag dropped, Brooklyn Newman spun out and had to make a quick pit stop. After joining the field with a damaged car, Newman steadily made her way to the front of the field, but her driveshaft gave out just a few laps from the finish. Brian Weber took advantage of the situation and moved up front and held on for the win. The last race of the night was the INEX Legends, which was won by Daniel Silvestri. Montgomery finished second and Phillip Smith third.  

It was a beautiful night at Rice Lake Speedway for the Henry Repeating Arms Springtime Modified spectacular. Blake Adams started from fifth position and made it to the lead with ten laps remaining. He was able to hang on to the lead over Jack Rivord for the win and secure his second win of the season in his rookie campaign in the Wissota Auto Racing Modified division. Adams also was the hard charger of the race for making the most passes, moving up five spots in the race.

Devon Fries picked up his first win of the year in the Pure Stock feature. Fries jumped out to an early lead and battled the rest of the way to secure the win after keeping Eric Crosby at bay. Crosby was looking for his third win for this season but came in third. George Richards finished a hard fought second.

In the Street Stock class, Nick Traynor continued his domination this year by winning his third straight race at the track. Traynor was able to work himself in to the lead by lap seven and never looked back. Cody Cimfl and Travis Loew finished second and third.

Eric Olson had a dominant performance in the Super Stock feature, starting on the pole and never relinquishing the spot for the win. It was Olson’s first win of the year at the track, but it did not come without some late race drama as the yellow flag came out late in the race, setting up a two-lap sprint to the finish. Olson was able to jump out to a good lead, leaving Shawn McFadden and Curt Myers having to settle for second and third place respectfully.

It was Nick Koehler who picked up his second win of the season at the track in the Midwest Modified main event. Koehler was working the top line as Mike Schnider was making the bottom line work well for him. Koehler had to make adjustments to his line and ended up holding off Schnider by a margin of .022 second for the closest finish of the night.  

It was an exciting weekend in Winston-Salem NC at Bowman Gray Stadium.  For a summary of the race and pictures of the event, visit our Cup series page.  Cup Series - Finish Line Report