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Regular-season finale is Saturday at Raceway

KERENS — Once again Mother Nature played havoc with the racing at Elkins Raceway last Friday night.

Hot laps were run and the first heat had taken to the track before the rains came.

Officials attempted to wait out the rain but it just came back stronger and the event was washed out.

Arm bands will be honored on Saturday evening for the final night of the regular season.

There will be double points in all the classes and gates will open at 6 pm. Load up your friends and family and catch some great dirt track racing before the engines shut down for the year! There may still be racing on Aug. 31, but this will be finalized by the weekend.

There will be no racing this Friday night, only Saturday this week.

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NASCAR action rolled into the high banks of the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway with all three divisions in action.

“It’s Bristol, Baby!”

Thursday night the Camping World Truck series kicked things off with the UNOH 200. John Hunter Nemechek in his family’s truck put on a dominating performance. John was able to sweep both stage victories and was in position to grab the victory. It just wasn’t to be this night as he began to slow on the speedway, literally in sight of victory. It was a tire issue that cost him the win. Johnny Sauter was able to drive to victory. Stewart Friesen also passed John Hunter for second. John was able to hang on to finish third. Parker Kligerman finished fourth. Todd Gilliland made a good come back to finish fifth. Sauter was pretty aggressive with his teammate Friesen in the closing laps and rubbed him up the track to pass him. I just felt this was hard shorttrack racing as Sauter pulled away from him after the incident. This coming weekend the trucks will run Sunday afternoon across the border at the road course at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. This is the only road course event on the truck schedule and it is always full of action. Johnny Sauter was crowned regular season champ and next week begins the round of eight playoff races. The eight drivers eligible for the playoff championship are Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Grant Enfinger, Justin Haley and Matt Crafton.

Friday evening the Xfinity cars ran the Food City 300. News this week included Elliott Sadler announcing his retirement at the end of this season. Kyle Busch is always the dominating threat at Bristol but he had an unusual evening and crashed out early. Kyle Larson was the dominator on this evening, sweeping both stages and the race win. Christopher Bell didn’t make a friend as he bumped his way past Justin Allgaier to finish second. Allgaier was able to hang on to third. Cole Custer and Joey Logano rounded out the top five. This weekend the Xfinity teams move to the road course at Mid-Ohio this Saturday.

The big news for this weekend is the return of NASCAR champion Bill Elliott to racing from his retirement. Elliott will be rejoined with Mike Beam as crew chief as he pilots The GMS racing entry.

Saturday night it was time for “‘Racin’ like it auta be!” The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series ran the Bass Pro Shops NRA 500 Saturday night. Kyle Busch, who is always considered a favorite, had another rough night. He crashed on the third lap, went three laps down and fought back to the top five. He then cut a tire down and crashed out for good. He then had an altercation in the pits after the race with a fan. NASCAR is investigating the situation. Now for the race! Ryan Blaney took the early lead and grabbed the first stage win. Then Joey Logano flexed his muscles on his Penske Ford and took stage 2. The race wound down and Kurt Busch held off Kyle Larson to take the victory. Larson held on to second. Chase Elliott finished third with another solid top five run. Joey Logano finished fourth. Erik Jones continued his consistent top five finishes in fifth. The Cup drivers have a weekend off until action resumes Labor Day weekend with the Darlington Southern 500. This is one of my favorite races all season because most of the teams use throwback paint schemes. It is so cool to see those old colors back on the track from the time I was on pit road.

Remember dirt racing at Elkins Raceway is on Saturday night this weekend and the trucks and Xfinity cars will be road racing with Bill Elliott back in the driver’s seat Saturday! So the column comes to the end, and at the end of the straightaway there’s always Another Left Turn!

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