PLYBON BACK TO FORM AT STATELINE SPEEDWAY
Haeden Plybon ended a drought of seven series starts in the NW Super Late Model Series at his home track at Stateline Speedway in the “Knottical Marine 150” on May 17. Dishaw Photography
From NWSLM media and NW Motorsports Report
Stateline, Idaho – Haeden Plybon found himself back in Victory Lane May 17 at Mode Stadium Stateline Speedway in the “Knottical Marine 150”.
Plybon has had speed, but hadn’t visited Victory Lane in his last seven series starts, which was accompanied by a series of disappointing results outside the series. He ended that streak of misfortunes at his home track.
“It feels great, it’s been a while”, Plybon said afterwards. “We’ve had some rough going this last year, wrecked a couple of race cars, but we’re gonna turn it around and hopefully keep this momentum going, and win some more races this year.”
Plybon set the fastest lap in practice, which served as his qualifying lap, with rain threatening the event later in the day.
With the top eight drawing for position at the front of the field, Dave Garber drew the pole with Jess Havens, Nick Gibson, Phipps, and O’Neil following. Plybon would line up sixth.
On the initial green, Garber would grab the lead, with Havens on his tail. Plybon would work the second groove, dispatching one car after another. On lap five, Plybon would wrestle the lead from Garber, never looking back through multiple caution flags and restarts. The battle for second behind Plybon would keep the crowd entertained, however.
Garber and Havens would exchange the position multiple times, before Havens dropped out on lap 66.
Several of the big movers in the event included 2024 NWSLMS champion Kasey Kleyn and former SLS champion Jason O’Neil. Kleyn would start the event in the 15th position, in his father Mitch’s Pro Late Model. Before 25 laps were complete, Kleyn was up to fourth, where he would ride patiently for the first one-third of the race.
By lap 100, Plybon led Garber, Kleyn, Terry Halverson, and Nick Gibson.
After the Competition Caution on lap 112, Kleyn began to turn up the heat on Garber, getting under the veteran racer on lap 116, completing the pass two laps later. The field would spread out, but the battle for sixth would rage on over the last dozen laps, as Bryce Bezanson and Danica Dart would race side by side, exchanging the position multiple times.
As the checkered flew, Plybon would grab the $5,000 win with Kleyn, Garber, Halverson, and Gibson earning top five results.
After the race, Plybon talked about the strategy that landed the Spokane, WA racer in Winner’s Circle.
“We wanted to control the race because we didn’t know what was going to go on with the weather”, Plybon explained. “So, we wanted to be up there, just in case we had to get up there. The car was really good tonight and I’m glad it ended this way.”
Kleyn charged from 15th to finish second, not even knowing if he was going to race this weekend, as he explained.
“My dad was planning on running with the Pro Late (Model), and I was just coming down to help him and spot for him. I was kind of Crew Chief on the car.”
The car owner asked Kleyn if he was going to race it. “I told him the only way I would race it was if the car finished in the top three in the Pro Lates. I was just saying it, not expecting it to finish in the top three. Low and behold he finished second.”
The NWSLMS will now go on a two-month break before heading to Evergreen Speedway in Monroe for the 13th Annual “Summer Showdown” on July 18th and 19th. The prestigious event will be sanctioned by the series for the first time in history and will pay $30,000 to the winner with $2,200 to start. It will mark the midpoint of the 2025 season series.
BELL OUTDUELS LOGANO FOR NASCAR ALL-STAR WIN
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (May 18, 2025) — Fireworks lit up the sky, and smoke billowed from the tires of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as Christopher Bell celebrated his first victory in the NASCAR All- Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
On Sunday night, Bell climbed from his car to a standing ovation. Scratch that—virtually everyone in the packed grandstands already had been standing for the final 28 lap green-flag run, as Bell battled Joey Logano side-by-side and finally cleared last year’s winner for the lead on Lap 241 of 250.
At that point, Bell had better right-side tires than Logano, who had stayed out under the promoter’s caution signaled by unofficial flagman Michael Waltrip on Lap 215.
Bell pitted for two tires under the yellow, restarted sixth on Lap 223 behind five cars that stayed out and quickly advanced to second with a pass of Ross Chastain on Lap 227.
From that point, it was game-on for Bell, who pursued Logano relentlessly. On Lap 241, Bell pulled even with Logano, drifted out toward the wall, taking Logano with him and completed the decisive pass. His winning margin was 0.744 seconds.
“North Wilkesboro, how about that one?” Bell shouted after climbing from his car with the smoke still lingering from his celebratory burnout. “That right there is absolutely incredible. North Wilkesboro, best short track on the schedule.”
The victory was the first for a Toyota driver since JGR’s Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in 2017.
Logano, who led 199 of 200 laps in last year’s All-Star Race victory at the historic 0.625-mile short track, led a race-high 139 laps on Sunday to 28 for Bell. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford held a comfortable lead when the yellow flag for the promoter’s caution—a new wrinkle introduced by Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith—slowed the action, forced a pit stop choice and bunched the field.
“I’m pissed off right now,” Logano said. “Just dang it, we had the fastest car. The Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was so fast. You get to… I’m trying to choose my words correctly on the caution situation. Obviously, I got bit by it, so I am the one frustrated, obviously….”
NW MOTORSPORTS REPORT WINNER’S CIRCLE SPOTLIGHT
Winner KC Garber. Dishaw Photography photos
Stateline Speedway, May 17 - Points leader, Spokane’s KC Garber, won the 35 lap Park Model Homes main event May 17 at Stateline Speedway finishing ahead of Brandon Smith also from Spokane and Spokane Valley’s Brandon Polhamus.
Brody Whitbeck won the 35 lap main event, May 17 at Stateline Speedway in the Evergreen State Towing Legends class. Whitbeck, from Umatilla, Ore., finished ahead of Deer Park’s Cole Dasenbrock and Owen Zahnow out of Spirit Lake, Idaho.
Do you have a winning racer you would like to put in the NW Motorsports Spotlight? Email those with event information to nwmotorsportsreport@gmail.com by Friday each week.
STEWART, BECKMAN, HERRERA COLLECT ROUTE 66 WINS
From NHRA Media
JOLIET, Ill. (May 18, 2025) – Racing legend Tony Stewart moved into the NHRA Top Fuel points lead for the first time with his second win in three races at Route 66 Raceway, defeating Justin Ashley in the final round of the 25th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK.
Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the sixth of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Stewart went 3.777-seconds at 329.10 mph in his 12,000 horsepower Rinnai dragster to hold off Ashley and earn his second Top Fuel win, just more than a month after he won for the first time in his Top Fuel career in Las Vegas. It’s the fourth straight final round for Stewart and his standout team, as he also moved three points ahead of Shawn Langdon, who fell in the second round, to take the Top Fuel points lead for the first time ever.
Stewart, who made a career-best run of 3.679 in qualifying, defeated Terry Totten, Shawn Reed and Steve Torrence to reach the championship round. Ashley left first with a stout .042, but Stewart was right there with a .048, quickly running him down and cruising to another impressive victory in what is shaping up to be a special season for the former NASCAR and IndyCar champion.
“You’ve got to believe we’re real now at this point,” Stewart said. “I wouldn’t have said it before today.”
Funny Car’s Jack Beckman needed his own impressive performance on the starting line and he delivered, winning on a holeshot in the final round against John Force Racing teammate and reigning world champion Austin Prock with a run of 3.935 at 325.77 in his 12,000-horsepower PEAK Chevrolet SS.
Prock went a quicker 3.933 at 329.02 and had his own solid reaction time, but Beckman went .049, which made the difference at the finish line as he earned his second victory this season and 37th in his professional career.
The veteran and former world champion got past Dave Richards, Chad Green and Cruz Pedregon to set up the all- JFR final round.
“Every win is great and I have a lot of trophies from places like Indy and my home track in Pomona but winning here in Chicago, a track that was off the tour for a while is as good as it gets,” said Beckman, who was making his first appearance in Chicago since 2019.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gaige Herrera still hasn’t tasted defeat at Route 66 Raceway, knocking off rival Matt Smith in the finals with a run of 6.777 at 198.90 on his RevZilla/ Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki. It’s the third straight Chicago victory for the back-to-back world champion and Herrera was stellar when it counted in the championship round against Smith.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action May 30-June 1 with the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.
