As the season begins to dwindle down at America's Nicest Short Track, Carteret County Speedway, the championships in all our local divisions will be finalized on October 14th at Night of Champions. In addition to our eight weekly series, we'll also be joined by the Grand National Super Series and the USCA Eastern Midgets, both whom are also ending their championship on the same night.
In the Limited Late Model division, the championship is not mathematically locked in for leader Dylan Newsome, but he does have a seven-point lead over second place Kenneth Mercer. Mercer would have to win the race and Newsome finish 9th or worse in order to change the outcome of the championship.
Scotty Benford has officially secured the 2023 championship in the Legends division but the battle for second comes down to four drivers all separated by three points. DJ Murphy enters the night tied for 2nd with Brenton Irving with 73 points. Ferrari George is third with 72 points, just two ahead of Carsyn Gilikn who enters the night with 70 points. While the champion has been determined it will be exciting to watch the battle for 2nd position and 3rd position in the championship's final race.
The Bombers have been the story of the weekend almost every event of the 2023 season and Night of Champions is no different. Bob Snow, who has had a story book season with six wins leads the championship standings heading into October 14th with 152 points. Haley Brown, who has amassed 11 podium finishes this season enters Night of Champions just two points behind Snow. Brown needs to finish three positions ahead of Snow to snag the championship; Fun fact: She's finished ahead of Snow in the last three consecutive races. If they tie, the tiebreaker would go to Snow for having the most wins. This scenario, of course, is only true if both drivers get the extra point for pre-registering.
The Mini Stocks will see no change in the top three standings, no matter the outcome. Travis Miller has secured the 2023 championship. The same goes for the Street Stock Stock with Tyler Smith securing the championship with four wins in the 2023 season.
Curtis Lanier has one every UCAR race this race and has secured the 2023 championship. The Bandoleros championship will be given to Landon Burbage if he takes the green flag on Night of Champions.
Finally, the Jr Mini Cup division enters Night of Champions with a one point difference between championship leader Landon Strickland and 2nd place Michael Bivens. Bivens must finish two positions ahead of Strickland to regain the championship lead and win the championship. If there is a tie (Strickland finishes one position behind Bivens) then the championship would be awarded to Strickland who has the most wins and would still have the most wins if Bivens wins on this night. In the very unlikely scenario that both Bivens and Strickland weren't able to take the green flag and Nolan Walker finished second or higher then he could steal the championship.
While all the championships are being decided for our weekly series the touring series that are the Grand National Super Series and the USAC Eastern Midgets will also decide their championship at America's Nicest Short Track, it is "Night of Champions" after all.
The Grand National Super Series will bring its exciting twin-feature format and feature the amazing machines that once competed in the NASCAR Grand National Series, the Hooters Pro Cup Series, and possibly even the NASCAR Xfinity or Cup Series. NASCAR Legend Jeremy Mayfield, who was involved in a vicious crash the last time the series was at Carteret County Speedway, will be back on October 14th for redemption and in search of a win. You can meet him and all of the other stars during the Meet and Greet which is slated for 3:00 pm.
The USAC Midgets make their return to Eastern North Carolina for the first time in many years with an exciting 35 lap main event. These open-wheeled cars, powered by 4-cylinder engines are always exciting because the power-to-weight ratio is almost that of a Formula One racecar.
Tickets are on sale now at carteretspeedway.com/champions
REMINDER: As fall approaches, our green flag time has been moved to 4:00 pm!