Fans Treated to a Thriller at Northwest Florida Speedway

BLACKMON, Florida (May 29, 2020) — Northwest Florida Speedway returned to action for the second time this season on Saturday night May 22nd. The clay quarter mile located in the small community of Blackmon just north of Baker, Florida put on a show that won’t be forgotten for many years to come. 

For the first time in a few events the speedway hosted the Street Stocks, a popular division with fans and drivers alike in the South. The speedway promoters have excluded the division in the most recent events due to the lack of car count and support from the drivers to field enough cars to make a show. Nonetheless, with the help from a few sponsors the track decided to give the Street Stock racers a chance to show up and race.

Well, to say the least, they showed up and they raced. The field was packed with veterans and race cars that look immaculate both on the outside and under the beautifully prepared racing skins and bodies as well. 

During heat race action there was little to no action and the feature wasn’t looking very promising. However, that prediction was wrong. The feature was packed with action and left you wondering, “what next?”

Austin Moye, who won the pretty car award earlier in the night and won his heat race, started from the pole, grabbed the hole shot, and took a demanding early lead. Closing in on halfway it was Moye leading Frank Wilson, who was closing in on the lead, when Wilson had a mechanical failure that forced him to stop on track bringing out a caution. He surrendered the runner up spot to Matt Chavers. 

On the restart Moye led Chavers and Tally Warrick around the track for a few laps before Tally Warrick was able to work his way around Chavers and into the second position. Then Warrick tracked down Moye and battled, rubbed, and bumped in an attempt to cleanly pass Moye for the win. With Warrick and Moye battling up front it allowed Chavers to close in and make it a three car battle. 

Warrick tried every way possible to get around Moye in the closing laps but came up about 6 feet short when the field took the checkered flag. The pair upfront was followed by Chavers who had the best seat in the house for the battle in front.

Even though the Street Stocks may have highlighted the night there were four other divisions in action. In the vintage division, Kraig Crossley picked up the victory. Dougie Halford dominated the field in the Pure Stocks. The 602 Sportsman saw Mike Lane pick up the victory in a feature that went flag to flag and took less than 6 minutes to complete. 

The final division in action was the Bombers and they put on a great show in their second ever showing at NWFS. Triniti Ard picked up the win, defeating her sister Destini Ard and the rest of the field of beginners. Ard had a battle with the runner up finisher Charles McDaniel for just about the whole race. McDaniel was within a few car lengths the whole race but he kept finding the roughest lines on the track and wasn’t able to bounce back from a few mistakes which handed the win to Ard.

Northwest Florida Speedway is back in action on June 6th with a very special event. The speedway promoters have decided to give the local area school children a field day and a night of racing all in one. Many kids were unable to participate in their school’s annual field day due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, on June 6th the track will host a sack race, egg and spoon race, and a bike race for the kids. In addition to those fun activities, there will also be a truck tug-o-war with a full program of racing on tap. The speedway is also celebrating 2020 seniors/graduates with $2 admission for them. 

More information can be found on the Northwest Florida Speedway Facebook page.

– Ben Kilcrease, Twitter: @TheBenKilcrease

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