Zachary Tinkle came to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, located in Nashville, Tennessee, this past weekend hoping to end his 2020 season on a high note. Tinkle was one of 44 teams entered in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance 100 lap event as part of the famed All American 400 Weekend.
After a rainy Thursday evening when parking the hauler, the team was greeted with sunshine but cooler weather on Friday. Zachary and the team had two hours of open practice to dial the car in, Zachary was looking to improve upon his last visit to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in July for the Masters of the Pros event. Zachary gained more confidence with each session and was ready to battle some of the best Pro Late Model drivers in the country.
Zachary had a one-hour practice session on Saturday were he really picked up speed, climbing to 11th in overall time, of the 43 cars that hit the track on Saturday for final practice. The team then prepared to qualify with only the top 24 in time locked in to the 100-lap feature on Sunday.
Zachary qualified a disappointing 35th, placing him in 20 lap All American Showdown event Saturday night. Zachary had earned a CRA point provisional and was locked into the 100-lap event on Sunday. He started the Showdown and only ran six laps after the team had made some changes to the car.
The 100 lap JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event was up first on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Zachary started the event in the 29th starting position pacing himself at the beginning of the event to have a car and tires at the end of the race. Unfortunately, on a lap 50 restart a mechanical failure in a car ahead of Zachary caused a huge pile up involving several cars including Zachary’s. Having no where to go Zachary hit the inside pit road barrier causing extensive damage to the left front of his racecar ending his day. Fortunately, Zachary was fine, but his race and 2020 racing season were finished early.
“So, we had our last race of the 2020 season, and it was definitely a ‘2020’ kind of race in this season of ups and downs,” remarked Zachary. “We started 29th and I had worked my way up to 16th when we got caught up in a wreck that was unavoidable. The car is in bad shape, but I am good. I appreciate CRA and the safety team for keeping us all safe. Thank you to my team for always working hard and never giving up; thank you to every person that jumped in and helped us out without being asked and expecting nothing in return; thank you to my family for their support and letting me live my dream; thank you to my sponsors; thank you to track owners and promoters for still figuring out how to keep racing alive in this crazy year. Most of all, thank you to all you fans for your die hard support of racing. This may not have been the year we envisioned when it started, but it has been a year where we’ve been enlightened to what’s tremendously important and how lucky and blessed, we really are.”
The team will now begin preparations for the 2021 race season.
About Zachary Tinkle:
Zachary Tinkle was the 2019 Vore’s Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman Champion and 2019 Anderson Speedway McGunegill Engines Late Model Series Champion and Rookie of the Year. He also won the 2019 Vore’s Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman Triple Crown Championship. In his 2018 rookie season in the same series, Tinkle was named PGG Sportsman of the Year and voted Most Popular Driver; finishing 5th in the championship. In 2020, Tinkle competed full-time in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance, finishing seventh in the series Chase for the Championship.