DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Kevin Nuttleman is still looking for his first win of the season, even as he moves up in the national standings. But Nuttleman isn’t looking too far ahead because his teammate is right behind him.
Nuttleman, a 10-time Late Model champion at the 5/8-mile LaCrosse (Wisc.) Fairgrounds Speedway, holds the track’s points lead thanks to six top-five finishes in seven starts. It’s enough to put him fourth in this week’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series standings despite the zero in the win column.
“They’re hard to come by,” said Nuttleman, who added he routinely starts mid-pack in the 25-lap features. “It’s been solid, consistent runs, for sure.”
Jamey Caudill from Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly, N.C., took the national lead from South Boston (Va.) Speedway’s Rodney Cook, with 376 points to Cook’s 362. Andy Loden of Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, N.C., is third at 350, while Nuttleman moved from seventh to fourth with 312 points.
Sitting in eighth nationally and second at LaCrosse is Nuttleman’s teammate, Steve Carlson. Carlson has three wins in six starts, having missed a race to run an ASA Late Model event. He is just five points behind Nuttleman in the track standings.
“It’s going to be a dogfight amongst our own team,” said Nuttleman, whose shop also houses a third car run by Emily Sue Steck. Carlson is a nine-time champion of the now-defunct NASCAR Elite Division, Midwest Series. Earlier this season, Steck became the first woman in track history to win a pole in the Late Model division.
Entering its 26th season – and the first in a long-term partnership with Connecticut-based Whelen Engineering – the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series features the best in short track racing across North America. The new point system for 2007, which in addition to crowning a national champion, will honor state and track champions and rank the top-500 drivers.
Under the simplified point structure, the race winner will receive two points for every car in the event up to 25 cars. Second place will receive two fewer points, and so-on through the field. For example, if there are 25 cars, the winner receives 50 points, second gets 48 and third 46. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 30 points, second gets 28 and third 26.
Competitors will count their 18 highest point finishes through Sept. 30. The national champion will earn a reserved spot in the 2007 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in October.
Kevin Nettleman has a pair of NASCAR weekly titles under different formats. He won the NASCAR Great Nothern Region in 1989 and then the NASCAR Division III championship in 2005.
“If NASCAR wasn’t involved, I would have been done a long time ago,” said the 47-year-old Nuttleman, who is in his 28th year of racing.
He is three victories shy of 100 wins for his career.
And showing no signs of slowing.
“We’ve got to keep working on it, or they’ll catch us,” Nettleman said. “We need some wins – we’re going to keep working.”
FEATURE DIVISION
National Top 25 NASCAR Leaders
PosDriver Name Home Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10 Pts
1 JAMEY CAUDILL SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 10 4 5 9 376
2 RODNEY COOK SOUTH BOSTON SPEEDWAY 17 1 9 12 362
3 ANDY LODEN HICKORY MOTOR SPEEDWAY 13 5 9 11 350
4 KEVIN NUTTLEMAN LACROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY 7 0 6 7 312
5 DEREK LEE SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 9 1 4 6 306
6 RYAN RHODES SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 9 0 2 7 300
7 SCOTT YOUNG SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 10 0 2 4 294
8 STEVE CARLSON LACROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY 6 3 6 6 292
9 STEPHEN RHODES, II SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 9 0 4 5 292
10 DEAC MCCASKILL SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 9 3 5 6 290
11 DAVID ROBERTS GREENVILLE-PICKENS SPEEDWAY 7 1 7 7 290
12 DREW HERRING SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 10 0 5 6 288
13 JUSTIN MILLIKEN SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 10 0 2 6 282
14 JUSTIN JOHNSON LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY 8 5 6 8 280
15 DUSTIN ASH LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY 9 0 5 8 274
16 TRAVIS THIRKETTLE IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY 7 0 4 7 274
17 GARY ESTES KIL-KARE SPEEDWAY 10 3 6 10 272
18 RANDY PORTER GREENVILLE-PICKENS SPEEDWAY 7 2 6 6 268
19 COLEMAN PRESSLEY GREENVILLE-PICKENS SPEEDWAY 8 1 5 8 266
20 KERRY MALONE STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY 7 0 3 6 266
21 JOHN BLEWETT, III STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY 8 1 6 7 262
22 MARK LAMOREAUX LACROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY 7 1 4 5 262
23 ANDREW PHIPPS IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY 7 1 5 6 262
24 DONNIE RENNER COLUMBUS MOTOR SPEEDWAY 10 2 8 9 260
25 CURTIS TRUEX, JR SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 10 0 3 5 260
