HomeMissouriLebanon I-44 SpeedwayLebanon I-44 Speedway Completes Competitive 2015 Nascar Whelen Season/ Drivers To Be...

Lebanon I-44 Speedway Completes Competitive 2015 Nascar Whelen Season/ Drivers To Be Honored November 21st At Banquet

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Lebanon-I-44-Speedway Lebanon, Mo.- The 2015 Nascar Whelen Series action at The “High-Banks” of The Lebanon I-44 Speedway will go in the record book as one of the most action packed, competitive seasons in the long history of the beautiful Missouri Short-track which began life in 1983 as a Dirt-Track.

For the 2015 season, 16 nights of racing saw over 90 race teams check-in for the Chase For the Championship, 49 different drivers in the 5 classes captured either a heat race or feature event win was the O’Reilly Auto Parts Pro Late Models topped the stat column as 15 different drivers took qualifying heat race wins as Veteran Steve Holt topped the win column with 6 wins in heat races while 2015 Nascar Missouri and I-44 Track Champion “The Stoutland Rocket” JC Newell topped feature wins with 5 during the season as 8 different drivers took home a feature win. The season started with 7 different drivers grabbing feature events before Newell, A 3rd Generation Ozarks driver and 2012 Sportsman Champion became the 1st repeat winner on Aug. 1st. Newell finished in the top 3 for 11 of the 15 races while starting from an average of the 12th starting spot or farther each week. Over 31 different Late Model drivers checked in for the points events with drivers such as Nashville Champion Willie Allen, 2013 Champion Cole Williams, Dirt-track standout Bill Frye, former 2-time Champion Mike Slone, and a host of others each week as an average of 15 plus Late Models checked-in weekly. 2014 Rookie Of The Year Kyle Donahue nipped Mike Slone for the honor of winning the season ending Salute To 75 while 2014 Sportsman Champion Paul Jepsen grabbed Rookie of The Year while capturing a feature win on July 18th with several strong runs this season and 5 heat race wins.

For the Budweiser Modifieds, The 2015 season saw over 20 entries during the season with 8 different drivers grabbing heat race wins with 2014 Champion Stephen Countermand and former Nascar Regional Champion Ricky Icenhower topping the list with 9 each. 4 Different drivers took feature events with Icenhower topping the list with 7 feature wins, but it would be Veteran Tim Swearengin taking home the season title despite being shut-out of the feature win column. The former 3-time Late Model Champion and 2014 Modified runner-up grabbed 4 heat race wins this season while finishing runner-up in feature event 4 times along with 5 3rd place finishes out of 16 events. Swearengin has captured 4 I-44 Track titles(2000-2002) and this season and is tied with Chris Nichols and trails Larry Phillips, Ken Essary in I-44 track history with 5 titles total. The Ground-Pounders averaged close to 12 each week and Former 3-time Champion David Bates took the emotional Roper Family Classic 54 lap feature on Aug.13th.

For Sportsman Veteran “The Gentle Giant” JC Newell, 2015 saw him capture his 1st ever I-44 title and 1st ever on Asphalt in a small, but very racy field of cars. 5 different drivers took home heat race wins with “Little” JC heading the pack with 9 checkered flags while “Grandpa” JC grabbed 4. Little Newell started the Sportsman season late, but headed the win pack of 5 different winners with 9 features including 6 in a row before Grandpa Newell stopped his Grandson’s streak on Sept. 12th. Along the chase, Big JC grabbed 3 feature wins with 2 of them holding back Grandson, 6 runner-up spots and 4 3rd place finishes out of 15 events. The season started with 4 different winners starting the season before the Champion became a repeat winner in race number 5. 1999 Late Model Champion Ken Dickinson joined the class later in the season and took a win on July 25th. 14 different drivers checked-in this season.

The Hoosier Tire Street Stocks provided a complete turnaround from the 2 previous seasons under The “New Nascar Era” as 13 different drivers took heat race wins as Zack “THE Z-Man” Morgan lead the pack with 8 checkered flags, and 6 different drivers lead by 2015 Champion Jordan Nisbett with 8 grabbed feature events as a wonderful mix of new talent and regulars kept the fans on edge each week. With an average car count of around 13 each week. A rookie driver and graduate of the Charger Class, Jordan Nisbett drove a tribute Terry Brumbley car owned by Bumblebee Racing to a opening night win and during the stretch drive won 5 of the last 7 races to wrap-up the title. Along with the 8 wins Jordan took the 33 car to 2 runner-up finishes and 3 3rd place spots out of 16 features as the mix of metric cars and Older style Camaros brought the weekly night features with many nights of green, white, checkered racing with 2-3 wide racing all night long. Nisbett had to start in the back with an average starting spot of 9th most nights as 20 different drivers competed. Les Mallard took home the special distance race and had the honor of winning a feature in week 2, while having to be towed to the winner’s circle as a wild finish saw him with a wrecked car while grabbing the win. Some drivers who really made strong showings included Zack Morgan, the points runner-up grabbed 3 wins this season and Michael Juergensen really turned up the wick with 3 top 3’s in the last 3 features. 2 former champions Chris Nichols and Steve Shaw showed some muscle as Nichols won in Morgan’s car on July 4th, and Shaw ran off 3 straight nights of top 3 finishes.

The Coca-Cola Chargers provided the best points battle all season and went to the final night before the Speedway’s first repeat titlest in the new era was crowned. 8 different drivers grabbed heat race wins as 2013 and 2015 Champion Jimmy Poindexter topped the field with 9 wins while 4 different drivers grabbed feature wins as Ben White took home 8 victories against Poindexter’s 6 wins as the final night win nailed Poindexter the title. Poindexter not only had 6 wins but also was runner-up 7 times with 3 3rd place finishes while White had 6 runner-up spots and 2 3rd place spots in 16 features. Twice White reeled-off 3 wins in a row as Poindexter did 3 in a row once. Even when each driver had an issue, the other was there to help out to keep each other on the track. 15 different drivers competed as the class is providing new talent weekly.

The top drivers will be honored on Saturday November 21st at the Springfield University Plaza with the doors to open at 6 and the Banquet begins at 7PM. Any drivers, team members and fans that do not have their banquet reservation forms turned in may call Debbie at 417 532-2728 to finalize their reservation and order their meal(s) immediately. Seats are filling up and it should be a great evening to cap off the 2015 season.

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