Wythe Raceway
Peeples earns $10,000 with Fastrak victory at Wythe
By Langley Austin
Wythe Raceway
Kenny Peeples Jr. earned $10,000. (Opal Davis)
RURAL RETREAT, Va. (Sept. 1-2) — Nearly 70 competitors came to Wythe Raceway looking for a $10,000 payday, but hometown driver Kenny Peeples Jr. defending his home dirt.
Peeples won a mid-race duel with Shanon Buckingham and went on to a 75-lap Fastrak Racing Series victory in the Mountain Empire Late Model Nationals. Lee Cooper of Greer, S.C., started third, dropped back to fourth early, but rallied to finish second ahead of Shane Roberts, Austin Dillon and Shanon Buckingham.
Buckingham took the early lead over polesitter Randy Weaver with Peeples in third. The drivers battled through the early stages until Weaver cut down and tire and was forced to make a pit stop.
Buckingham held the point over Peeples, Cooper and William Thomas nearly until the midway point, but Peeples was out front for the lap-40 fuel stop.
On the restart, Peeples began to cruise out front while Buckingham started to fade. Thomas fell out of contention on the 54th lap when he broke a driveshaft and was done for the night.
Peeples held on the rest of the way while the 19th-starting Dillon dropping Buckingham to fifth on the final lap.
Notebook
Randy Weaver set fast time with a lap of 18.732 seconds. ... The qualifying times for positions five through 27 was less than a second. ... The 75-lapper was slowed by seven caution flags, three for spins, three for flats and once for the broken driveshaft of William Thomas.
Mountain Empire Late Model Nationals: (1) Kenny Peeples Jr., (2) Lee Cooper, (3) Shane Roberts, (4) Austin Dillon, (5) Shanon Buckingham, (6) Randy Weaver, (7) Royce Bray, (8) Matt Long, (9) David Smith, (10) Jordy Nipper, (11) Johnny Cloer Jr., (12) Ed Dixon, (13) Donald Bradsher, (14) Timbo Mangum, (15) Terry Lumley, (16) Chris Chandler, (17) Clinton Cook, (18) Ty Lowe, (19) David McCoy, (20) John King, (21) Chris Cantrell, (22) Vic Chandler, (23) John Llewellyn, (24) David Wikle, (25) William Thomas, (26) Owen Osteen, (27) Greg Burchett, (28) Randy Taylor, (29) Todd Davis, (30) Phil Gann, (31) Chase McCormick, (32) Jason Lawrence.
