Prior to last year, Evan McReynolds never raced anything bigger than an outlaw kart. This year he’s earned his first two wins in a late model, both coming at Beckley Motor Speedway. Now McReynolds hopes to run up front again when the Dirt Rich TV American All-Star Series Presented by PPM Racing Products rolls into his home track. They’ll be competing over the course of two days, June 20-21, for the $15,000-to-win UBB Miners Memorial.
McReynolds hails from Coeburn, Virginia, the hometown of the 2006 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year, Danny O’Quinn Jr. O’Quinn and his son were racing karts and got McReynolds into that scene. McReynolds would frequent the ultra-competitive Millbridge Speedway, where many with connections to the NASCAR world compete at.
“Qualifying is very close,” McReynolds said of Millbridge. “You have to be all in at all times. Even the good drivers, some days they wouldn’t make the field. There’s a lot of there-wide racing, and it’s really tough.”
Another neighbor, Steve Martin, helped get McReynolds into dirt late models. He found the 604 late models to be competitive as well.
“You mess up a little in one corner, you lose a lot of time,” said McReynolds. “[You need to be] consistent ever lap.”
The week before his first win on May 17, McReynolds’ night at Volunteer Speedway ended early when a rod end from the J-bar got into the driveshaft and tore it apart. McReynolds and his team didn’t finish the car until late the night before of the win, applying some setup changes, too, to help find speed. The lack of sleep was worth it. Evan McReynolds won his first feature.
“It felt good to get that win, after all that hard work,” McReynolds said.
Evan McReynolds followed up with another win less than a month later on June 13. Now, he seeks to return to victory lane again at Beckley Motor Speedway. This time, he’ll have to fend off the best of the best that run the Dirt Rich TV American All-Star Series Presented by PPM Racing Products. They’ll be just as hungry as McReynolds is, too, with the two-day show on June 20-21 paying $15,000 to the victor.
Outside Groove Note of Transparency: Outside Groove is a sponsor of the American All-Star Series. The American All-Star Series paid for the production of this article. The content is not subject to the approval of the American All-Star Series.
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
