Special from Speed51.com – The weekend didn’t start off on the right foot for the Rackley W.A.R. team, but it ended on a high note in the Music City.
At Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, the team’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team suffered a practice crash with Timothy Peters behind the wheel. They unloaded the backup truck for the race, only for the night to be cut short after just 13 laps with mechanical issues, finishing last in the 38-truck field.
The team went from last place on Friday night to first place on Saturday night, with Willie Allen taking the victory at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in the Pro Late Model 100-lapper.
Allen is no stranger to victory lane at the Fairgrounds, a former track champion at the 5/8-mile oval. However, he won’t get tired of winning any time soon, especially after the struggles of Friday night in Charlotte.
On a night marked by calamity and chaos throughout most of the local divisions in action, the Pro Late Models bucked the trend by running all 100 laps of their feature caution-free. This allowed Allen to take a car that he felt may not have been the best in the field and carefully negotiate his way to the front, holding off defending track champion Dylan Fetcho for the win.
“We were off a little bit there, and me and Dylan [Fetcho] were matching times pretty close. He would have a better lap, and I’d have a better lap, and we were able to just maintain. I was hoping we wouldn’t have a restart there at the end.
“That’s my kind of race. I hope it wasn’t too boring for the fans. I love races like that, with tire wear, a tire-saving race. I didn’t expect it tonight. The track was really slick.”
Hunter Wright led the first two-thirds of the event, with Allen taking the lead on lap 67. Relying on his experience around Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, Allen turned up the wick around the halfway mark of the race to make his move for the win.
“Probably around the 50-lap range. It was getting strung out and I wasn’t sure we were going to have a caution. I thought we would try to close it back up. We were off a little bit so I couldn’t charge up there. Those guys were running real fast, but around lap 50 or so, I figured I’d close it up a little bit.”
Fetcho left satisfied with a second-place finish to Allen, unsure what he and his team could have done differently to change the outcome of the race.
“I’m not sure what else we could do to it. The car was really good tonight. Willie is just one of the best here. To get beat by him, I feel good about it.”
Michael House, winner of the 2021 season opener at Nashville, scored another solid points night with a third-place finish to complete the podium.
“We fought a loose car, it was a tough deal, green flag all the way. Hats off to Willie and his guys. They had a hell of a run right there. We’ll go to work and come back to the next show. It was a good points event.”
The next racing event for Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway will take place on Saturday, June 12. That race will be headlined by the Modifieds of Mayhem taking on the high banks of the Fairgrounds.
The next time Pro Late Models race at Nashville, it will be July 17 in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Masters of the Pros 150. That night will also see the Superstar Racing Experience conclude its inaugural season as part of the racing docket.
-Story by: Zach Evans, Speed51 Content Supervisor – Twitter: @ztevans
-Photo credit: Speed51 Photo