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Preview: Weekly Tracks Power Rankings

Starting now, every week we're going to give you the "Weekly Tracks" Power Rankings featuring the "Most Powerful" drivers from around the regions Late Model Stock Car tracks including NASCAR and ASA sanctioned and outlaw tracks.  Here's the Pre-Season edition and obviously with no racing going, we're going off of off-season moves, late 2009 momentum and the history of these drivers.
  

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#10 - Jason York

At the beginning of any season you have to think that this could be one of those years for Jason York, a year like he had in 2008 and so many times previous to that.  This year could well be one of those years after he had an off season in 2009, where he only picked up three wins, but had began to pick up steam toward the end of the season winning two of the final five races at Caraway Speedway.  He'll be back at Caraway this season and in a recent test had his jet black car looking pretty smooth, which could be bad news for his competitors.
 

#9 - Nick Smith

Nick Smith overcame a 2008 season that saw him repeatedly disqualified and with a new team won five races at South Boston Speedway in 2009.  Turn the page to 2010 and this could be the year for him to take over the 4/10 mile South Boston, VA track as he'll return with the same team for the first time and the young driver has yet another season under his belt.  He's shown talent in the past and in 2010 we could see his evolution come even further and he could just walk away with the track championship and he may well flourish in the LMSC "big races".
 

#8 - Marty Ward

Marty Ward ... it's a name that at Greenville Pickens Speedway has been synonymous with winning where he's a multi-time track champion and last year won the NASCAR South Carolina State Championship despite falling short in the Greenville Pickens Speedway points due to a couple of disqualications.  Ward certainly will pick up right where he left off last season where he won 13 races, the second most in LMSC racing in 2009 and this veteran driver can easily find himself at the top of this list with a few additional performances like he had in 2009.
   

#7 - Kevin Leicht

In 2009, Kevin Leicht put his name on the map winning eight times at Newport Speedway, where he also won the track championship and an additional win at Tri-County Motor Speedway in the Firecracker 150, the biggest race of the season.  In 2010, Leicht and his brother, Matt will call Tri-County home and with his performance in the seasons biggest race last year, he could well be the top contender for the 4/10 mile track and put his stamp on another regional short track.
 

Justin Johnson took a season with two different cars and two different teams and turned it into a championship performance at South Boston Speedway in 2009.  In 2010, Johnson will be back with the team he finished the season with, the FDJ Motorsports team led by Late Model Stock Car legend, Frank Deiny, Jr.  Johnson will have his hands full though as he will have many of the same competitors back going head to head with him like Nick Smith and Deac McCaskill.  With Frank Deiny's guidance from start to finish in the 2010 season, Johnson will be one to watch and one to contend with.
 

#6 - Justin Johnson

#5 - Travis Swaim

In 2004 and 2005, Travis Swaim went back to back, winning the Caraway Speedway Late Model Stock Car track championship.  In 2009, Swaim won the Caraway title for the third time and he'd like nothing better than to win the track championship again, going back to back for the second time in his career.  Swaim certainly seemed to have a strangle hold on the 4/10 mile Asheboro, NC track in 2009 and with little changes to the team, the veteran driver could easily find himself repeating as champion once again, but certainly the competition hopes to shut him down.
 

#4 - CE Falk

CE Falk turned Langley Speedway up on it's ear during the 2009 season, going from a winless 2008 campaign to win 11 races on the tricky Hampton, VA track.  Falk kept the local duo of Greg and Danny Edwards out of victory lane for the most part, which was a huge accomplishment, but his biggest win may well have come at South Boston Speedway, against the stiffer competition.  In 2010, Falk will return to Langley Speedway, which should easily produce some wins, but where CE could be the biggest threat is in part-time starts on other NASCAR Weekly venues.
 

Matt McCall could be headed to Motor Mile Speedway for the season and that could mean the dethroning of five time track champion, Philip Morris.  McCall is coming off one of his career best seasons with four UARA-STARS Series wins and a win in the second biggest LMSC race, the Dwight Huffman Memorial.  In 2010, while he'll be up against nearly as stiff of competition as he was in the UARA, McCall is expected to be one of the top contenders and is looked at as maybe "the guy" to knock Morris off his perch on the 4/10 mile track.
 

#3 - Matt McCall

Philip Morris could easily be considered the best Late Model Stock Car driver of all time and although his second place status may not look like, Morris appears to be nearing the end of his reign over Motor Mile Speedway and NASCAR Late Model Stock Cars.  He's the only three-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion in history, but last season he went from having easy double-digit win seasons to only six wins at Motor Mile and three more at South Boston.  Could this be the end of the line for Morris' dominance?
 

#2 - Philip Morris

Many people will question Andy Mercer being number one, many people question the level of competition at Hickory, but one thing stands out like a sore thumb ... 14 wins at any race track in the ultra-competitive LMSC's is an incredible season.  Mercer is looking to 2010 to lay to rest the doubt in the minds of his many critics, as he returns to Hickory for the championship, looking to repeat, he'll also begin stepping out to other tracks to gain valuable NASCAR National and North Carolina State points and that's when we'll see what he and the Mercer Racing team are made of.
 

#1 - Andy Mercer