The United States Modified Touring Series continued their run of races in the state of Texas, heading to the Rocket Raceway Park near Petty for the first night of the Texas Spring Nationals on Friday night, March 7th. In what was one of the longer and caution plagued events that the USMTS has run recently, North Carolina's Kyle Strickler made a first lap move stick to grab the early lead and then hold off Rodney Sanders over a long period of time to get his first ever USMTS win.
When Strickler opted to test the USMTS for a full season in 2025, it was assumed that it wouldn't take him long to find victory lane as he is one of the top Modified drivers in the entire country, and that proved to be the case as in only his third USMTS run of the season, he found victory lane despite a tough battle to hold off Sanders for the win.
The Texas Spring National also had racing in three other classes on this Friday night with the Factory Stocks, Stock Cars and Limited Mods/B Mods all running under USRA rules and the winners of those three mains included Richard George Jr, Tyler Honeywell and Boone Evans.
Forty three Modified drivers signed in to race on Friday night, or at least that's what My Race Pass said. However, I think A.J. Hoff and Reece Solander were only signed in for points purposes and they were not on hand and actually hundreds of miles away from the track. With forty one drivers actively on hand but missing only two of the top twenty in current points, the program would include qualifying, four heats, a pair of B Features and the forty lap main event.
Qualifying would produced a large surprise when Sean Gaddis pulled one out of his hat, increasing his lap speed by over six tenth of a second on his second lap and getting the quickest lap of the night. He then pulled a "three" for the invert that set the lineups for the heat races.
The heat races were significant in two regards. Kale Westover showed great speed in winning a heat race. Unfortunately, his car was "up" on the bars at its conclusion due to a suspension problem and he was disqualified for a deck height issue. He later would make the main as a provisional starter. Quick qualifier Gaddis hammered the wall during his heat race, tearing up his car badly and he also had to start the main as a provisional racer.
With all the non qualifiers that had to be added, a big field of twenty eight drivers would take the green flag for the forty lapper. The track had been a low groove track all night to that point and it got even more pronounced so in the main event with everyone fighting to get to the inside line and only the brave trying to gain ground around the outside. For a number of laps, the double file restarts with some trying the second lane produced some side by side racing but that gradually went away as the track started to take rubber around the halfway point of the event.
With everyone fighting for the low side real estate, it was the perfect scenario for some beating and banging and this broke out early and never did ease up. Unfortunately, the scoreboard was not linked up with the Modifieds so it was nearly impossible to determine just what lap the race was on until the halfway signal was given by the flagman, who by the way was outstanding.
Trevor Hughes held the pole but he slid up the track on the opening lap and with a bold move, Strickler shot up from the second row to lead the first lap as he recognized how important it was to get to the front quickly. He then led the rest of the race but the constant yellows and eventually Sanders did not make it easy for him.
The first yellow was triggered when Jason Hughes slowed and clipped Terry Phillips before he could exit the track. The retirement for Hughes was apparently a short one as he will run a "pick and choose" campaign after having sold his chassis business to his son. For Phillips, he must have wondered what he did wrong on this night as at least three times he was involved in accidents, none of his doing.
The first half of the race was especially troublesome with at least six yellows and this would not have been the night to take a new fan to the track as it was a trying experience. Having quick cars and taking advantage of all the slow downs, Sanders and Jim Chisholm marched through the field, Sanders from fourteenth and Chisholm from the row behind him.
Tanner Mullens used the outside on several restarts to try and get past Strickler but couldn't pull it off and as Sanders got past him for second, Mullens hammered the home stretch wall, slowing and ending his chances for a win.
The last half of the race saw Sanders apply heavy pressure to Strickler, several times getting to his back bumper but unable to find a way by on what was now a very one lane track. Sanders may have been just a tick quicker, but the veteran Strickler was not about to make a mistake and give Rodney any openings. Strickler crossed the finish line with a couple car lengths on Sanders and Chisholm close behind him in third. Tyler Davis ran a consistent race for fourth with Trevor Hughes holding on for fifth. Only thirteen drivers would finish out the contest with many thankful that there would be no racing on Saturday due to the damage that many had suffered. With his consistent runs so far in 2025, Sanders would leave Texas with the point lead for the USMTS as the troops march on next to Lucas Oil Speedway for the King of America event, moved to Wheatland Missouri for the first time this year.
The Factory Stocks and Stock Cars both had small fields of drivers on hand for Friday. A dozen drivers took the green for the Factory Stock main event with Richard George Jr jumping past pole starter James Proctor to take the early lead. Rodney White, the winner in the last Factory Stock special held here earlier this month, moved quickly into second and put the pressure on George Jr for the lead.
White was one of the few all night able to make the second lane work and as George Jr kept his car pinched tight against the inside berm, White was able to gain a little momentum and pull up beside the leader.
However, just as he made the pass for the lead at the halfway point, the lone yellow of the race flew for a spinning car. This gave George Jr. the point back, and he would broaden out his line just enough that making a move past him was challenging, George Jr would not be challenged the rest of the race and drove on for the win over White, Rowdy Day, Colton Frazier and Daylon Briscoe.
Eleven drivers took the green for the Stock Car feature with significant happenings on the opening lap when pole starter Tommy Fain spun in turn one. All drivers missed him but he would have to go to the tail of the pack, at least for some laps.
During the afternoon, Tyler Honeywell spotted me in the pits from last year, remembering that I was wearing my Packers sweatshirt and stopping me since he was a gigantic Packer fan, even though he lives in Texas. He remembered me from last year and had to show me his three Packer racing helmets, one for each color that Packers wear. He selected the yellow one for Friday night and it looked good in victory lane as Tyler got the jump on the restart and held off the field for twenty laps.
It was not an easy win however, as Boone Evans was all over him the first half of the race. Evans was running up the rear bumper of Honeywell so he made a bold move to the outside but found the track couldn't handle his charge and he went spinning off the end of the track.
This put Shawn Graham all over Honeywell while one of the other few able to make the second lane work was Fain, who had moved from the back of the pack up to fifth by the halfway point.
Fain continued his charge and as Honeywell held off Graham, Fain moved into the picture. On the final lap Fain drove around Graham and then charged after the leader. Tommy got a great run off turn four but came up a half length short as "Packer" Tyler Honeywell took the win. Michael Smith and Anthony Boatman completed the top five.
The Limited Mod feature had a full field of cars, split between Southern Sport Mods and B Mods. There was also plenty of trouble in this race, with five yellows for spins and a couple of collisions. Mason Day grabbed the initial lead from Matthew Riskey but after a lap and under the yellow, Day headed for the pits with mechanical issues, turning over the lead to Riskey. But he was challenged by both Denny Gieber and Boone Evans, up from fifth.
Evans, who seems to have a car to race in every class here in Texas, drove past Riskey on lap five and once in front, he then pulled away from the pack.
Despite three yellows during the second half of the race, Evans was the class of the field as he pulled away from the pack each time the green waved. There was a good battle, however, for the positions behind him with considerable trading of positions that came right down to the finish.
Riskey battled with Matthew Day for second and grabbed that spot on the final three laps with Josh Landers slipping past Day for third right at the end and Cody King completed the top five.
New track General Manager and Promoter Kevin Rogers was introduced to the crowd. Rogers, the head of RaceOn, recently purchased the track from Kevin Sustaire.
The Texas Spring Nationals was scheduled to be a two night event but with a dreary weather forecast for Saturday, it was announced during the evening that the Saturday part of the program was cancelled and the drivers quickly loaded up and headed home once they were done racing.
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