To say that Chad Finchum knows his way around Kingsport Speedway would be an understatement. After all, the 21-year-old from Knoxville has many race wins and also captured the 2013 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track championship, along with being named the Tennessee NASCAR Whelen All-American Series State Champion.
Finchum only ran twice at Kingsport Speedway last year, but he made the most of both opportunities as he captured the checkered flag on each occasion. He ended the 2015 campaign at “The Concrete Jungle” by capturing the biggest win in his career when he pocketed $6,000 for winning the Fright Night 300.
Kingsport Speedway opened the 2016 racing season Saturday, with Finchum riding the high-line in the early going to work his way into the lead, and then holding off a hard-charging Ronnie McCarty (2015 track champion) to park in victory lane as the race was held under beautiful sunny skies in Northeast Tennessee with temperatures in the mid-70s, for his 18th overall victory at the .375-mile banked concrete oval.
With a stellar field of 19 Late Model Stock Cars present, Finchum was fastest in qualifying (14.986-second lap with a 90.084 mph average speed), but was forced to start sixth after an inversion of the top qualifiers from roll of the dice.
Joey Trent and Wayne Hale brought the field to green from the front row, with Zeke Shell and Ronnie McCarty in the second row, followed by Kres VanDyke and Finchum in row three. Hale jumped out to the lead followed by Trent, McCarty and Finchum. The event’s only caution waved on lap 5 when Danny Casteel spun between turns one and two.
Hale and Finchum restarted side-by-side from the front row, and back under green the duo battled before Finchum powered into a lead he would never relinquish on lap 7. Once out front and with a clear track ahead, Finchum began putting some real estate between himself, McCarty (who got around Hale for second), Hale, VanDyke and Shell.
“Our car was good today, matter of fact it was real good,” said Finchum following the race. “We unloaded for practice and went to top of the speed charts during both practice sessions, and then we backed our fast practice time up by capturing the pole award. Even with the invert of the top six times from qualifying, which put us starting sixth (outside of the third row), I felt really good about our chances for the race.
“We were quite fortunate there at start of the race that the outside line kind of took off better than the inside line of cars. To be perfectly honest, I really thought the outside line would get rolling better than the inside at waving of the green flag. I had just gotten clear around (Ronnie) McCarty to take over second place when the caution waved on lap 5. (Wayne) Hale chose the inside on the restart and I was glad to see him do that, because I like how our car runs on the high-side. I pulled ahead of him to take the lead there on lap 7, and out front in clean air our car ran really well.”
With Finchum holding about an eight car-length advantage over McCarty with 20 laps remaining in the 60-lap Late Model Stock Car portion of the season-opening Model City 175, hot track conditions began to factor in. Finchum’s right-front (tire) began to heat up, and McCarty started to cut into the leader’s advantage. With 10 laps to go, McCarty had closed to Finchum’s rear bumper. But McCarty drove Finchum clean down the stretch and never “roughed him up,” and Finchum captured a very special victory.
“I want to really thank (Ronnie) McCarty for driving me clean, because he had opportunities to get into my back bumper and move me and make a pass for the lead,” said Finchum. “But he raced me clean, and I’ll remember that in the future when he and I are racing close together. We (my parents James and Linda Finchum) weren’t really sure what we wanted to do racing-wise in 2016, whether to obligate ourselves to running weekly and try to win another NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship, or look to continue running some NASCAR K&N Pro Series events.
“We hadn’t even unloaded our car out of the hauler from last October, when we won the big $6,000-to-win race here, until the first of last week when we decided to come test and see how the car would run. Surprisingly, right out of the trailer we ran pretty good, we were clicking off some consistent laps. We felt good about our practice session and loaded the car back up and headed to the race shop. We kind of tweaked on some things back at the shop, and I was very pleased with how good the car was on race day. It’s always great to win, and I hope the big crowd present today really enjoyed the show. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Cars here at Kingsport Speedway, this field of cars ranks right at the top of any NASCAR sanctioned track in the Southeast. Many people will say if you can win a race here, you’re capable of traveling to any track and winning.”
For Finchum, the victory was especially sweet considering that Saturday was his father’s birthday.
“When I was younger racing go-karts and also Legend cars, we would race on my dad’s birthday and I was able to win for him, but today was the first Late Model win I’ve been able to get,” Finchum said. “To be able to celebrate dad’s special day, getting him a trophy in victory lane, it just doesn’t get much better than that. It goes without saying, dad loves racing. And racing is something that both he and I share a mutual passion for. It’s just awesome to have won for my hero and also No. 1 fan.”
Finchum has tentative plans to run some NASCAR K&N Pro Series races this season for the Martin-McClure Motorsports team, owned by Hal Martin and longtime NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Eric McClure. Further information will be released by both Chad Finchum Racing and Martin-McClure Motorsports in the near future.
The Chad Finchum Racing team will be back in action on Friday, April 1 at Kingsport Speedway competing in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car division.
Chad Finchum Racing is owned by James and Linda Finchum, with crew members J.E. Blankenship, Tony Cordell, Tyler Reed, Jacob Ruble, Bobby Hall and Phil Tuell.
Supporters for Chad Finchum Racing in 2016 on the No. 19 Ford Fusion include: A-1 Finchum Heating & Cooling, Texas Roadhouse, Finchum Paint & Body, Loveland Baptist Church, RW Race Engines, Five Star Race Car Bodies, CARS Etc., and Hedgecock (Race Cars) Racing Enterprises.
To learn more about possible sponsor opportunities with Chad Finchum Racing, contact James Finchum at (865) 740-3535. To keep up with Chad Finchum’s racing throughout the season visit his website at www.ChadFinchum19.com or follow him on Twitter @ChadFinchum.
Chad Finchem PR
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