Nick Smith crossed the line in first place at Dominion Raceway’s inaugural race on Saturday night but the victory went to Tyler Hughes in one of the most bizarre finishes to a race imaginable.
Hughes, 19, from Cordova, Maryland struggled a bit in practice but some adjustments his team, led by crew chief Paul Green, made right before qualifying allowed him to take the pole with a 14.90 second lap.
“We didn’t have the best car all day in practice,” Hughes said. “We threw something at it right before in the third practice and it worked. Right after practice, we did the adjustment and went more and it worked for qualifying. I wasn’t expecting a 14.90 in qualifying because we ran 15.40 in practice. When my spotter and said I ran a 14.90, I knew it would be a tough time to beat. There were fast cars left but I was shocked that I ran that fast.”
The early portion of the race, however, was dominated by Mike Darne after the top six qualifiers were inverted. Hughes struggled to make passes in the early stages of the race as he was held up on the outside by cars in front of him. Once the race had a long green flag run, that changed and Hughes began to make moves.
“The early portion of the race, I started on the outside in sixth after an invert. So, I kind of got held up and pushed back a few spots. I kept trying to pick and choose a lane. I knew I was fast on the outside but the guys in front of me weren’t able to. We got a long green flag run from lap 20 to 40 and I was able to pick up four or five spots and then the next caution that came out, we were in fourth.
“When they sit the cone out, the top three went to the bottom and I jumped to the outside and ran Nick on the outside until the lights went out.”
The outage, which occurred around lap 60, caused a near half hour delay and resulted in the track running past their local curfew. That resulted in Dominion Raceway shortening the race from 100 laps to 75 laps. However, things would only get more bizarre from there.
“By then, when they told us they shortened it to 75 laps, I had taken the lead from Nick on the outside and beat him to the line a few times. We had the advantage. We had the lead on the restart, chose the bottom, got out quite a few cars after that restart. I was sitting comfortable, had a six-seven car-length lead and prayed a caution didn’t come out.”
Another late race caution would come out, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
“Came around, got two to go and got the caution which set us up for the final restart which became controversial,” Hughes commented. “I took the lead, got out by a half car-length before Nick cleared Doug Barnes. He was able to stick with me.”
Hughes was leading the race on lap 75, when the race should have ended after the race was shortened from 100 laps after a lengthy delay when the lights went out. However, in a situation similar to what happened at a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Smyrna earlier this year, the race ran two laps too long which was just enough time for Nick Smith to get by.
“I had known the race went too long because it was supposed to be a green-white-checkered and I came back around, didn’t see a flag,” Hughes elaborated. “Came back around again, then they showed me two to go and then, next time, I saw the white and knew something wasn’t right. I drove it down to one and trying not to let Nick get to my bumper and overdrove the corner. We got side-by-side, tried to race him as hard as I could but he had a better car on the inside and cleared me when we got to the line.”
Hughes’ team immediately protested the result, knowing that they had the lead when the checkered flag was supposed to be displayed.
“I came over the radio immediately and said the race was too long,” Hughes explained. “When I came in, we found the officials, talked about it and, sure enough, they looked back at it and declared us the winner. By their race monitor, we ran 76 laps when it was supposed to be 75.”
Hughes ended up being declared the winner, the third Late Model Stock Car win of his career. Along with his victory at the brand new track in Thornburg, Virginia on Saturday night, Hughes has also won at Langley Speedway, which is currently sitting dormant in Hampton, Virginia, as well as the now defunct Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia – the track Dominion Raceway has replaced in Northern Virginia.
“It’s very satisfying to win the first race at Dominion and, with everything I’m going through with my dad, I wanted to win for him,” Hughes said after winning the race. “We worked so hard this winter to win the first race. To win the first race and get the pole, it was an overall great night for us and we’re looking forward to going back to get more wins this year.”
Nick Smith ended up finishing second while Doug Barnes finished third. Former Old Dominion Speedway champions Adam Brenner, Michael Hardin, David Polenz and Mike Darne finished fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. JJ Pack, Tyler Daniels and Eddie Johnson rounded out the top 10 in the 28 car field.
Photo credit: Tom Rothenberg/G2 Racing
Rob Staley
April 18, 2016 at 12:14 am
Glad to see a huge turnout at this new venue.