NASCAR’s visit to the Music City saw its dirt representation spread from sea to shining sea this past week, with current and former pavement competitors making noise in a good and bad way.
Kasey Kahne
The former Cup Series regular raced with the World of Outlaws for all four nights of the Huset’s High Bank Nationals in South Dakota Wednesday through Saturday night (June 21-24). Unfortunately for Kahne, the week got off to a slow start, as despite a heat race win Wednesday he was unable to transfer out of the last chance showdown for the first feature.
Kahne qualified for the A-main both Thursday and Friday nights, finishing 14th and 21st in the two events, the latter finish coming after a flip during the race.
Saturday however, proved to be the ultimate disappointment, with Kahne missing a transfer into the $250,000-to-win finale feature by a single position. In a concrete example of what I considered to be underwhelming racing for much of the crown-jewel event, Kahne finished where he started in his heat races all three nights and in his qualifier Saturday.
Mikey Kile
The former ARCA Series regular endured a wreck of the year candidate racing with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series at Whynot Motorsports Park in Mississippi Saturday night, barrel rolling down the frontstretch in an incident that demolished his No. 25 machine.
Kile fortunately walked away from the wreck, being credited with an eighth-place finish in the B-main.
Kyle Larson
The Cup Series regular had one of the more unique weekends at the High Bank Nationals at Huset’s, racing Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights while missing the Friday program due to Cup racing commitments at Nashville Superspeedway. Translation – Larson did not have a throwaway night in accumulating points for Saturday’s big-dollar finale.
Wednesday night that proved to be no concern, as Larson scored his first win of the 2023 WoO campaign for a $20,000 payday.
Thursday night saw Larson again in top form up until the closing laps of the feature, where contact with Rico Abreu sent Larson spinning, relegating him to a 22nd-place finish.
Larson still won a qualifier Saturday and was a factor in the A-main, going from sixth to third over 40 laps. Of note, the third-place finish by Larson was still worth more ($25,000) than his Wednesday night victory.
Ken Schrader
The former Cup Series regular certainly earned the award for longest haul this weekend, as he trekked up to Mitchell Raceway in Fairbanks, Alaska to contest the Alaska Dirt Shootout in a borrowed dirt modified. Schrader scored multiple heat wins as well as feature victories both Friday and Saturday night at the track.
David Stremme
The former Cup Series regular ran with the Modified Mafia tour at the Winchester Speedway in Virginia on Saturday night.
Stremme finished second on the night in a car that he said was too loose all feature long. Look for a video catch-up with Stremme on his dirt racing exploits later this week on the Frontstretch Youtube channel.
Kenny Wallace
The former Cup Series regular again pulled double duty on the weekend, racing his dirt modified Friday and Saturday night. Wallace started Friday night at the Brownstown Bullring in Illinois and had a terrible night, blowing a motor and failing to start the feature as a result.
Saturday night went far better for Wallace, who ran with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals (Hell Tour) at Schrader’s I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., winning his heat race and finishing second in the feature event.
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