Controversies and squabbles are a very normal occurrence in racing, especially when drivers are fiercely competing with their pride on the line. But it is the duty of the promoters and officials to keep the drivers in line, ensuring that things don’t go overboard. However, NASCAR veteran, Dale Earnhardt Jr and his partner Kevin Harvick couldn’t anticipate such a mess when they acquired the CARS Tour Series earlier this year.

While the Tri-County was the site for one of the most exciting races in late-model racing last August, the penultimate race of the Series became synonymous with uncalled violence and chaos, prompting the promotion to levy multiple penalties on its drivers.

Reflecting on the penalty spree and the Tri-county debacle, CARS Tour Executive Director, Kip Childress opened up, sharing how the authorities are keeping its drivers in check.

Kip Childress issues a stern warning as things get out of hand in Dale Earnhardt Jr & Harvick’s CARS Tour

Racing much like any other sport is bound to have heated rivalries that could get out of hand. In recent times, there’s been a lot going on in the racing world, especially in Late-Model circles with drivers and teams taking matters into their own hands, and retaliating violently. Last month’s CARS Tour Late-Model event in Tri-County was the perfect storm that got multiple drivers stiff penalties from the sanctioning body.

Drivers Katie Hettinger, Ashton Higgins, and Gavan Boschele were all decked with penalties for unnecessary actions that shamed the sport. Recently, CARS Tour executive Kip Childress got down on the Racing Writer’s podcast where the veteran shared his thoughts with Kelly Crandall.

Reflecting on the Tri-County fiasco and the disciplinary actions that followed, Childress who worked extensively in the K&N Pro-late model Series said, “There can’t be any room for these types of activities at our level of racing or any level for that matter.” He then issued a stern warning to the drivers to be wary of their actions on the field. 

He said, “The one thing we stressed really hard is the penalty notice that we put out for that particular event, is that we really worked hard to try to make sure our penalties were very consistent with how we’ve ruled on actions like that leading up to that day. The one thing, me and Joey [Aycock] talked about, the one thing we want to make sure everyone realizes is we will not be very consistent moving forward if people want to continue to fight in the pits or anywhere in the property for that matter. If they are our members, if they are part of any race teams or if there is retaliation being taken care of on the racetrack or happening on the race track, then the consistency is going to go away because we are going to start ramping the penalties up.”

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Childress bites his tongue as Tri-County ugly spat embarrasses the Director

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It was chaos a few weeks back in Tri-County when drivers got in each other’s faces with utter disregard. The race got a bad reputation because of the ugly spill of violence. In a nutshell, the Blue Ridge 250 pro-late model race had multiple tangles and a physical altercation that even involved drivers and their teams, going for a fist throw-down.

Hettinger, driver of the #81, received a one-race suspension for intentionally wrecking Caden Kvapil. Whereas Ashton Higgins who raced across the track received probation for the remainder of the season alongside a fine of $500 for the unauthorized crossing of the racing surface to confront another competitor. The fine must be paid before returning to the series. Boschele of the #25 also got probation for rough driving.

During the conversation, Childress mentioned how the nasty stint got him back on his word. “I’ve been bragging, I knew it would come back to bite me. I’ve been bragging to everyone that, you know, our drivers in both divisions that we have had really been racing well. They run incredibly close to one another, leaning on each other, nudging each other, racing each other hard but not crossing that line to racing each other over-aggressively and they decided that, you know, our recent race at Tri-county that they would make up for all of that,” said the Director in pity. 

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