The ladies of NASCAR took to a 1/5th-mile oval track in Legends cars at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway. McCall Gaulding, girlfriend of Camping World Truck Series driver Zane Smith, won Motor Racing Outreach’s Better Half iRacing Dash Thursday (June 10).
Gaulding took the lead from polesitter Kelly Earnhardt Miller and held on during a green-white-checkered finish to win $10,000 for her charity, Lake Norman Humane.
Thirteen women raced in the event with their husbands and boyfriends sitting as crew chiefs. However, Gaulding was the class of the field all weekend, posting faster lap times than everyone, including Zane Smith.
Congratulations @McCallKelli, 2021 #BetterHalfDash Champion!
McCall and her crew chief @zanesmith77 take home $10,000 for @lkn_humane!
Thanks to all our drivers and partners – @USLegendCars @NASCAR @NASCARONFOX @TXMotorSpeedway & @iRacing for helping us bring back the Dash! pic.twitter.com/iKK2i8pEd0
— MRO (@FollowMRO) June 10, 2021
The 32-lap race started off relatively calm, with a few spins early, but the drivers would continue on as the damage feature was turned off. Christopher Bell’s wife Morgan and Taylor Gray’s girlfriend Kennedy Gaulding got together in turn 1.
Later on, the 2017 Better Half Dash champion in real life, Jennifer Self, got turned around. She quickly continued on, though, as did Megan Smith (Regan Smith’s wife) and Morgan Bell who crashed together in a turn.
Another quick racer was Julia Piquet, girlfriend of Daniel Suarez; Piquet moved up through the field all the way into second place at one point.
Then chaos ensued coming off of turn 3.
BETTER-HALF BIG ONE. AND @tammymrice LOVES IT.
This was fun.#NASCAR #BetterHalfDash pic.twitter.com/kjvW13ELC3
— nascarcasm (@nascarcasm) June 10, 2021
A couple of cars got together in the turn and couldn’t get going again before more piled in, causing the caution flag to fly with three laps remaining.
On the restart, Miller and Self crashed as soon as the green flag dropped, allowing McCall Gaulding to get a good jump on the rest of the field. She never looked back and won the trophy and prize for her charity.
Very proud of @McCallKelli. Winner of the better half dash! pic.twitter.com/R072BoNVbk
— Zane Smith (@zanesmith77) June 10, 2021
Other ladies competing in the event were Kristen Labonte (Bobby Labonte’s wife), Tammy Rice (wife of Kaulig Racing President Chris Rice), Marissa Briscoe (Chase Briscoe’s wife), Jenna Petty (Harrison Burton’s girlfriend), Karissa Flores (wife of Ryan Flores, Team Penske front tire changer) and Alexa De Leon (girlfriend of Tyler Reddick).
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.