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Preview: Top 10 Veterans to Watch in 2010
Here are the Top 10 Veteran Drivers to watch for the 2010 Season ... Obviously we can't list all the Veterans we want to watch, but here's the Top Ten Guys that we're keeping an eye for one reason or another ...
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#10 - Travis Swaim
Travis Swaim is a guy who anytime he unloads his car at Caraway Speedway, you have to watch him and after capturing the 2009 NASCAR North Carolina State Championship on the heels of five victories, he could very well be the leading candidate to win the state title again. He'll have the normal cast of characters at Caraway Speedway to go head to head with him again this season and with the level of competition that he'll be up against there as well as a handful of starts at Tri-County Motor Speedway no one can overlook Travis Swaim, a three time Caraway Speedway track champion looking to make it two in a row and four overall.
#9 - Jerame Donley
Jerame Donley has been known to win a few races here and there, but no one has ever considered him among the elite in Late Model Stock Cars. This year however, Donley is set to step into a new role, one previously held by among others, Frank Deiny, Jr. as he climbs behind the wheel of a Bob Uncer owned car. Donley has primarily driven for his family owned team for the past several years and with Uncer's race and championship winning past and Donley's abilities this could make for a near unstoppable team. Donley could easily use the 2010 season to put his name in the same category as Deiny, Philip Morris, Chad Harris and others in the record books.
#8 - Justin Johnson
Justin Johnson etched his name into South Boston's list of greats last year as he squeaked out the championship by just a handful of points in an incredible four way battle to the finish. Johnson defeated David Quakenbush, Nick Smith and Deac McCaskill to win his first title and this season he's planning another assault on the 3/8 mile bull ring. This year however he plans to only use one team after rejoining FDJ Motorsports just before halfway last season and he returns with the FDJ army for the 2010 season as he hopes not only to win the track title, but to compete for the NASCAR State & National Title as well, but he's going to need an increase in the car count to compete for those titles.
#7 - Andy Mercer
Andy Mercer finally capped off the season the way he wanted to last season winning the Hickory Motor Speedway championship, but Mercer left a couple of stones unturned last season that he'll be gunning for this year. Mercer won ten races in a row and 14 on the season at HMS, but when it came to his home tracks three big races the veteran came up short. The Dwight Huffman Memorial saw Mercer lead laps, but fade with a cut tire and the Fall Brawl saw Coleman Pressley hold Mercer off to win. The big races seemed to be his achilles heel last season, but he proved he could race with anyone who invaded Hickory. Look for Mercer to be strong all year going after his second straight HMS title and seeking his first NASCAR NC State Title.
CE Falk really probably should have been on our "Top 10 Young Drivers to Watch" list, but how can you classify a defending track champion as another, but a veteran. Though, Falk is young he is beyond his years behind the wheel of a Late Model Stock Car and last season won 11 races at Langley Speedway en route to the track championship and collected another victory on the tough South Boston Speedway. Falk's credentials are building and in 2010 he'll return to Langley Speedway in search of a second straight championship and based his success last season, he should be able to handle this task, but where we're going to be watching him is at other tracks, where he's always been good, but now he needs to break through.
#6 - CE Falk
#5 - Frank Deiny, Jr.
Frank Deiny, Jr. is as well known in Late Model Stock Car racing as anyone, but primarily in the NASCAR LMSC ranks, but in 2010 he'll be one o fthe guys to watch as he makes the transition to the UARA-STARS Series. Deiny will no doubt be one of the guys up front every week and with the level of competition in the tour being a notch above anything he's competed in, in the past Deiny and his FDJ Motorsports team will have to step up their game to race for wins against the likes of Alex Yontz, Kyle Grissom, Brennan Poole, Coleman Pressley and others that the only LMSC touring series has to offer. Certainly all eyes will be upon Deiny and his team in the first few races to see if he can stand-up to the challenge especially give that he's not been able to test like all the other series regulars.
#4 - Kyle Grissom
Kyle Grissom has been a driver to watch from the first time he strapped in a Late Model Stock Car, but this year with the off-season hire of UARA-STARS Series 2008 Championship winning crew chief, Nick Hutchins even more people will be watching. Grissom, who won one race in 2009 and who already has four series victories since 2005 and won the Rookie of the Year in 2005, will certainly be a serious contender for the UARA-STARS Series championship. Last season, Hutchins led Brandon McReynolds to three wins and if not for early season engine troubles, McReynolds could have easily been the champion, so this year for Grissom anything, but a championship will be a disappointment.
In Late Model Stock Car racing today there's no bigger name than, Philip Morris and over the last decade he's proved why winning seven track championships at Motor Mile Speedway and the last five in a row. Morris has been nearly unstoppable, but the one thing that may stand in Morris' way this year isn't another driver, it isn't his age, it's quite simply that at the turn of a new decade things sometimes change and with that could end his reign of dominance. Morris has owned Motor Mile Speedway and three of the last four season he's owned the NASCAR National Title, but it's a new decade and there just could be the next Philip Morris on the rise to knock off LMSC Racing's King.
#3 - Philip Morris
Matt McCall could be the guy for this decade to replace Philip Morris and the two-time UARA-STARS Series champion seems to be headed to Morris' home track in an effort to dethrone him. Motor Mile Speedway will be the place McCall likely calls home this season with nothing left to prove on the UARA tour. McCall's lone run last season at Motor Mile however was ruined by an engine infraction that caused him to disqualified, but McCall hopes to put that in his rearview mirror and focus on trying to beat the ageless, Morris for not only the Motor Mile Speedway title, but the NASCAR National Title as well. It will certainly be interesting to see how these two drivers get along if McCall gets to winning on Morris' home turf.
#2 - Matt McCall
If Philip Morris is Late Model Stock Car racing's King and Matt McCall is it's heir, then where does Alex Yontz stand. Once looked at as the hottest property in short track racing and destined for the next level, Yontz now seems content to be among the greats in LMSC racing being the only driver to ever win at Martinsville & Bristol in a LMSC. Last year, Yontz fell victim to being labeled a cheater, something he'll have to overcome in the season ahead and returning full-time to the UARA-STARS Series he's going up against the best of the best in this business. Yontz now will have to forget 2009 and focus his effort on his new challenge, the UARA championship as well as work to rebuild his reputation and build his new chassis business. To say that all eyes will be on Yontz is an understatement and I'm betting Alex can be sucessful at every turn this season.
#1 - Alex Yontz
