TRAVIS PENNINGTON SWEEPS FALL NATIONALS SUPER LATE MODEL ACTION AT DEEP SOUTH SPEEDWAY

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 Travis Pennington rolled into Deep South Speedway for the three-day Fall Nationals and had never before laid eyes on the high-banked track. When the three-day weekend concluded, the Winston, Ga., driver was quite familiar with the 4/10-mile oval and he was $6,500 richer for his efforts.  The son of Hall of Fame competitor and former NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Jack Pennington earned $4,000 with a victory in a 40-lapper that closed out the special event at the high-banked oval. Pennington started next to fast qualifier David Breazeale and got the early jump. He then drove away from the field until 14th-starting Clint Smith showed up to challenge after using the high side to reach the leaders. Smith vaulted into second place and twice chased down the race leader from as far back as eight car lengths. He pulled almost dead even with Pennington between turns one and two near the lap-30 mark, nearly passing the young driver before falling back at the opposite end of the high-banked oval. In addition to sweeping the super late model events for the weekend, the teenage Pennington left town with the new track qualifying record at a mark of 16.068 seconds in his Rocket Chassis super late model powered by a Clements Racing Engine.

“The crew signaled to me, so I knew somebody had to be getting close to me,” Pennington said.

Smith later started to run Pennington down yet again, but a caution waved on lap 35 for a stalled car on the front stretch, putting an end to the Senoia, Ga. driver’s repeated charges toward the front of the field. Smith wasn’t able to make as strong a bid on the restart despite the race’s double-file restart, and finished four car lengths behind Pennington.

“I almost passed him the first time and was getting ready to try it again when that last yellow came out,” Smith said.

Trailing the top duo of Pennington and Smith across the stripe in the field were David Breazeale, Mike Boland and Bub McCool as the top-five finishers.