Nashville, TN (Saturday, April 17, 2021) – The 64th Season of Asphalt Racing is now officially underway at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. A massive opening weekend of racing has concluded that featured high speeds and high drama to kick the season off in style. When the smoke cleared, former Pro Late Model Champion, Michael House found his way to the Winner Circle amid the nearly 30 car field that raced Saturday night.
House began his night of winning by setting fast time earlier in the day. The 2018 Pro Late Model Track Champion bested Chase Johnson for the top spot by just 0.014 seconds on the clock, turning in a 19.063 second lap. House’s invert put him just inside the top 10 in seventh for the start of the first 100 lap race of the season.
Kyle Neveau and five-time USAC Silver Crown Series Champion, Kody Swanson led the field to the green flag. Swanson quickly jumped out to the lead and made it a comfortable one in a hurry, thanks in part to a poor start by Neveau. Swanson’s first test of the night came when the caution flew early in the race for Zach Johnson who spun into the turn one wall. Swanson made the interguinging decision to line-up on the outside for the restart, putting former champion Cole Williams to his inside.
The restart proved no issue for Swanson. Williams pulled ahead briefly down the backstretch before Swanson pulled back around the fellow Indiana driver and back into the lead. Swanson again stretched his lead out to a few tenths-of-a-second. Near the halfway mark of the race, drivers began getting anxious to improve their position. Another caution flew when Tracy Green spun on the backstretch. On the following restart, chaos broke out when Davey Coble got loose off the fourth turn and spun in front of half the field. The incident involved drivers like Neveau, Tandy Marlin, William Hale, Austin Wilson, Daniel and Michael Bolden, as well as Jolynn Wilkinson.
The next restart led to the fall of Kody Swanson who jumped out to a lead momentarily, but it wasn’t long before House began tracking him down. Just after lap 60, House passed Swanson and never looked back. House held on through a few more restarts, including two with around 20 to go. House picked up the win, followed by Jake Garcia, Jackson Boone, Christopher Tullis, and Cole Williams.
In other divisions, 2019 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers Super Trucks Champion, John Burns made his first trip to the Winner Circle this season, holding off Troy Hall for the win.
On the quarter-mile, Jeremy Burns raced his way to the first win of his season holding off Kevin Rollins and Jim Jordan for the win in Limited Late Models. For Street Stocks, Billy Shaffer led nearly every lap of the race en route to his emotional win. John Bradley and Dylan Jones waged war in another one of the entertaining races of the night. Bradley came out on top for the Pure Stock Feature. Jesse Litchford proved he had a chip on his shoulder with an impressive win in the Pest Doctor Front Runners.
The next event for Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is the Music City 200 with the ARCA Menards East Series. Plus, the North/South Super Late Model Challenge with the Southern Super Series, CARS Tour, and ARCA/CRA Super Series for 100 laps. Plus, the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour paired up with the NFS local Pro Late Models. Tickets and more information are available online now at www.NashvilleFairgroundsSpeedway.Racing.