Carteret to close out 2024 with largest Late Model field in speedway history

Carteret County Speedway will close out the 2024 racing season in the Carolinas on December 14 with what appears destined to be the biggest Late Model race in the track’s young history.

29 drivers have already filed entries for the $10,000-to-win Limited Late Model race, which headlines the Christmas Clash, an annual event at the Peletier, North Carolina track, which began in December 2021.  Among the entries are two-time and defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National Champion Connor Hall, 2023 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 Trevor Ward, former UARA-STARS champion and Martinsville winner Jason York, Ross “Boo Boo” Dalton, and multiple former track champions.

Hall, Ward, and York are all former Late Model race winners at Carteret County.

“It is just with excitement that we like to acknowledge this being the biggest race and field of Limited Late Models we’ve ever had at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway.  I know we’re the new kids on the block but I think we’re holding our own and this solidifies that.  We want to thank all the drivers, teams, and the fans for making Carteret County Speedway ‘America’s Nicest Short Track,’ and we look forward to this race and to 2025.”

Also joining the all-star cast are two-time Carteret County Speedway track champions Chris Burns and Dylan Newsome, 2018 track champion Brandon Clements, Multi-time Wake County Speedway champion Clay Jones, Rusty Daniels, and Tristan McKee.

Dylan Newsome, who won championships at Carteret in 2022 and 2023 as well as a championship at New River All American Speedway in 2022, comes into the Christmas Clash on the heels of an impressive performance at the Thanksgiving Classic.  The Goldsboro, North Carolina driver was knocking on the door, figuratively and near literally, of a victory at the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park on Sunday before fading and being relegated to an eighth-place finish.

“I’m looking forward to getting back out on track at one of our favorite stomping grounds,” Newsome told Short Track Scene.  “We’re hoping to carry a lot of momentum from our run at the Classic and see if we can’t bring home the gold.”

The entry list is the largest field of Late Models to ever race at Carteret County Speedway, which held its grand opening on Labor Day Weekend in September 2015 in a race won by Clay Jones.  Brandon Clements also won in a Mini Stock in the very first feature race held at the flat, challenging, 4/10-mile track located just three miles from Emerald Isle, North Carolina.  The zMAX CARS Tour has competed at the track on three prior occasions.

The Christmas Clash will bring an end to the 2024 racing season before things quickly fire back up for 2025 when New River All American Speedway, which sits just 26 miles away from Carteret, roars into action with the Hangover Nationals, part of their Winter Heat Series which is headlined by Limited Late Model racing.

There has been a renewed emphasis on Limited Late Models as many tracks have continued to see their Late Model Stock Car fields dwindle.  Already, Dominion Raceway has dropped the Late Model Stock Car class in favor of its Limited Late Model division, and it is widely expected that multiple tracks will make similar changes.

Entry List

The Format

The Christmas Clash will be a 130-lap race, paying $10,000-to-win and $1,000-to-start.  The race is advertised as a four-tire race, with a competition caution at lap 99.  The competition caution at lap 99 will not be a race break.

While the format will place emphasis on tire management, the race comes on the heels of a 131-lap, four-tire race being held at the abrasive New River All American Speedway complex.  The Battle of the Stars at New River was run without any planned stoppages or competition cautions. 

Much like New River, Carteret County is considered a ‘driver’s track.’  However, Carteret was paved in 2015 and the corners repaved in 2020, making the asphalt less abrasive.  What Carteret’s surface lacks in grit, it makes up for with bumps that challenge the drivers’ and the handling.

The Christmas Clash is a single-day event, with the green flag set to fly at 2:00pm. Legend Cars and Crown Vic Bootleggers will also be in action.