Nashville, TN – A hot July night greeted fans and drivers alike on Saturday at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for the JEGS High Performance 100 with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance. Mother nature intervened twice, but not before the night became official. A total of 20 cars checked in, but after mechanical problems, 17 cars took the green flag en route to a shot at the coveted Guitar and notch as a winner at the historic high banks known as America’s Favorite Short Track.
The night began well for Dylan Fetcho, the current points leader for the Nashville Pro Late Model division. Fetcho, a former Nashville track champion, set fast time with a 19.085 second lap, nearly two-tenths of a second faster than Jackson Boone. Bryson Shaffer, Hunter Wright, and Jim Wall rounded out the top five in qualifying.
With the threat of weather on the horizon, the JEGS Tour clicked off 50 straight green flag laps before the first caution flag flew, that being the competition caution that is displayed when 50 consecutive laps are run. After the caution, mayhem broke out for the first time in of the night. Coming off turn four Boston Oliver and Micheal Bolden came together with both cars coming to rest up against the wall. The contact accident spelled the end of the night for both drivers.
On the restart, an intense battle resumed within the top ten with Jim Wall and JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Championship Points leader, Chase Burda running door-to-door. The ended when Wall washed high in turns one and two and got into the side of Burda. The contact sent Wall spinning up the race track and he caught light contact from Bennie Hamlett who had nowhere to go.
Despite the battles through the field, one thing remained constant, Fetcho’s dominance at the front over Jackson Boone. After opening up a nearly one-second lead, Boone started to reel in the fellow former Track Champion as lapped traffic became a factor in the race. Then, with seven laps to go, the winds in Nashville picked up, and everyone knew what was just moments behind the wind. Like clockwork, the wind turned to rain and the race was called official on lap 94 of the scheduled 100. Fetcho grabbed his second win of the 2023 season, extending his Championship Points lead at Nashville, and marking his second career JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour win. Boone came home second, Wright third, fourth to Shaffer, and Burda rounded out the top five.
The next event for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour is the Masters of the Pros 184 at Owosso Speedway on Saturday, August 19th. Champion Racing Association is back to racing on Saturday, August 5th with the Vore’s Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman for the Madison County 200 at Anderson Speedway. For more information on CRA, visit www.CRA-Racing.com, find CRA: Champion Racing Association on Facebook and follow @CRARacing on Twitter.