Special from Speed51.com – Over the last two seasons, Stephen Nasse has earned himself a gladiator sword and a rifle by winning marquee races. On Sunday afternoon, he added the Nashville guitar to his collection in the Pro Late Model portion of the All American 400.
The Florida driver dominated from the start of the 100-lap event, but several cautions and a flurry of challengers kept him honest in the second half of the race. After main challenger Derek Thorn dropped out and several others flip-flopped positions behind Nasse in the final laps, he was left to hold off 2018 track champion Michael House in the final laps.
“Derek (Thorn) gave me a real good run there, he was able to get by me and we had a little rubbing to get the lead back but I’m sure it was a good show for the fans,” Nasse said on the Speed51.TV broadcast. “I was luckily able to hold Michael House off there towards the end, it was definitely worrying me.”
“From the get-go, we had a real good car. I tried to get out front early and set a good pace and we were able to do so. I had a couple good, close runs with a couple guys and good, hard racing. It was a lot of fun out there today.”
According to TheThirdTurn, Nasse has been making the trip to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway since the inaugural Southern Super Series event held back in 2013. Sunday’s Pro Late Model triumph marked his first win at the historic track, earning a trophy that’s been long on his bucket list.
“It’s definitely pretty awesome, I’ve been to probably seven or eight All Americans and many more trips here for regular races. I’ve been hunting for that guitar for a long time and I’ve been really close a couple times. To finally go and get one feels real good.”
Michael House had a race similar to the most recent local Pro Late Model show, falling back early before making a charge at the end of the race. He ended the race in second, two weeks after scoring his first win at Nashville since his championship season in 2018.
“We had a loose car at first and having run here a lot in the past. I knew how hard I could lean on the right side tires,” House said. “I knew if I would’ve kept going at the pace I was going, I wasn’t going to have a right rear at the end of the race. I slowed my pace down and gave up a couple spots but we had a couple cautions and a red flag.
“After that, the car tightened up. I started picking up cars, I think I even went by the No.46 (Cole Williams) on the outside. It felt good.”
House was racing for a special cause Sunday. Car owners Jonathan and Jenn Brown lost their daughter in a car accident on October 20, three days after their most recent win as a team. With the performance they put up Sunday, it felt like a win to them.
“This race is in memory of Jonathan and Jenn Brown’s daughter, they lost their daughter two weeks ago. It feels good to get one for them and their friends and family. Without them, I can’t do this.”
The Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Pro Late Model championship came down to two drivers and who would finish ahead of the other. Dylan Fetcho finished third compared to a seventh for Cole Williams, giving Fetcho his first track championship at the 5/8-mile oval and putting his name among the likes of Darrell Waltrip and Sterling Marlin as Nashville track champions.
“It’s great, the history here is unbelievable. Everybody likes this place, everybody wants to run here,” Fetcho said. “I just ran my own race and finished third and locked it up.”
Fetcho never finished worse than fourth in any of the weekly points races at Nashville. That trend continued Sunday after an eventful weekend that saw him break a track bar in practice Friday.
“We didn’t change much since the last race so I knew the long run speed would be there. We definitely could’ve made it a little bit better but we won the championship.”
A replay of Sunday’s All American 400 will be available soon on Speed51.TV.
-Story by: Koty Geyer, Speed51 National Correspondent – Twitter: @kgeyer3
-Photo Credit: Speed51 Photo
All American 400 – Pro Late Model Results