"Clayhill Motorsports Park"
June 22, 2026 --- This past Saturday evening, the 45 Truck Salvage race team rolled into Clayhill at Atwood, TN for their weekly show. The track had a good showing of thirteen Street Stock cars with no shortage of talent. In the off week, Herndon pulled his open engine and installed a crate engine in efforts to overcome the handicap that the series imposes on the open engine campaigners. T.J. Herndon rode his newly installed crate engine to finish P-1 in the first heat and Dale Nelson finished P-2 in the second heat. In the feature event, Herndon started on the pole with hot shoe, Lucas Lee starting outside pole. As the race got underway, Herndon assumed the point before the first corner with he and Lee exhibiting why they are known as two of the best drivers to hail from this area. In turns three and four of the first lap, Lee accidentally got into the back of the #1 car of Herndon turning him in front of the entire field.
Fortunately, no one made contact with Herndon’s ride and he once again assumed the pole for a complete restart. Once again, the Atwood Outlaw took command of the point and began laying down the fastest laps of the field. The #12 of Lee put up a good fight for the first couple of laps before his lap times began to fall off with him eventually retiring midway through the race. Herndon continued to dominate throughout the race never relinquishing the lead from green to checkered. As the checkers fell across the field, the Atwood Outlaw put another notch on his gun followed to the stripe by Wyatt Hill, Michael Lee, Joe Hamm, Andrew Adams, J.T. Cathey, Ryan Latch, Dustin Hays, Tony Conatser with Aaron Edwards rounding out the top ten. Unfortunately, Dale Nelson relinquished his P-3 position on lap six while being forced to retire due to all of his belts being thrown off. For the latest news and results associated with this event log onto www.clayhillmotorsportspark.com or check out the MyRacePass app. for the latest information associated with this event.
"Stock Car Stampede"
June 8, 2026 --- This past Saturday, T.J. Herndon traveled to the Talladega Short Track in Talladega, AL for their Stock Car Stampede. With a field of 46 drivers showing up for the Southern Dirt Street Stock Series $5,000 to win, one day event, the format would be two groups of hot lap qualifying locking in six cars from each group with the remainder of the field being supplied through two B-mains. Herndon, campaigning the only open engine in the house, managed to qualify P-8 in group 1 with P-5 thru P-9 all recording 16.0 second laps with the five cars separated by just six one thousandths of a second. In the first fifteen lap B-main, Herndon started outside pole and finished P-2 to lock into the big show with a P-15 starting position.
In the 40-lap main event, Herndon pretty much maintained his position throughout the race with he and Johnny Stokes running door to door much of the night. At the conclusion of the event, the Atwood Outlaw managed to advance one spot for a P-14 finish at the stripe. As the checkers flew over the field it would be Bridge City Texas’s Corey Neil, Jr. taking the honors and the $5,000 check. Following Neil to the stripe would be Spencer Hughes, Tyler Nicely, Andrew Stone, Carl Kilgore IV, Keenan Vandygriff, Logan Hickerson, Logan Bright, Caiden Jackson with Jeff Parsons rounding out the top ten. For the latest news and results associated with this event log onto www.talladegashorttrack.com or check out the MyRacePass app. There is also an archived stream of this event available on CrateRacinUSA.tv.
"Clayhill Motorsports Park"
"4th Annual Jerry Gilkey Memorial"
May 4, 2026 --- This past weekend, the 45 Truck Salvage Race Team traveled to Paducah International Raceway for their $10,000 to win Jerry Gilkey Memorial event. With a stellar field of sixty-nine entries representing thirteen states, Dale Nelson managed to qualify 24th in group one with T.J. Herndon qualifying 8th in group two. In the six heat races with the top three locking into the main event, Nelson finished P-7 in the third heat with Herndon taking the win in the fifth heat.
Saturday’s portion of the program kicked off with three B-features which would transfer the top two finishers to the main event. In the second B-feature, Nelson would advance five spots to finish P-2 and lock the #N1 into the main event although a dirt clod had kicked up into the engine compartment and threw his power steering belt off late in the race. After the completion of the third B-Feature, a pill draw for the dash determined the starting grid for the six heat winners to set the line-up for the first three rows in the main event. In the 6-lap poll dash, Herndon managed to parlay his P-5 starting spot into a P-2 finish allowing him to start the 40-lap big show from outside the front row.
As the big show got underway, Herndon managed to complete one lap before a dirt clod found it’s way into his engine compartment and threw both his power steering and water pump belts off resulting in him being the first entry of the night to retire pit side. Dale Nelson ended up carrying the weight for the team by advancing from his P-23 starting position to finish P-6. As the checkered flew on lap 40, it would be all Lucas Lee for the win. Following Lee to the stripe would be Graydon Hall, Wyatt Hill, Zac Harris, Chandler Neighbors, Dale Nelson, Hayden Chavers, Ethan Wilson, Mickey Trosclair with Jamey Boland rounding out the top ten. For the latest news and results associated with this event log onto www.paducahracing.com, the MyRacePass app, or check out the archived live footage on CrateRacin’USA.TV.
"Clayhill Street Stock Spring Nationals"
Herndon would roll to the green in the feature from the outside pole with his teammate right behind him starting P-4. As the feature got underway, Herndon slid back to P-3 where he would bounce back and forth between P-3 and P-2 on the restarts until mid-race. Herndon took over P-2 on lap eighteen where he would remain the remainder of the race. With an extremely rough race track, Nelson hung a hole on lap 24 causing his car to bicycle. Nelson made the decision to forfeit his P-5 position and pulled to the infield to prevent car damage. As the checkered flew on lap 30, it would be all Lucas Lee for the win. The Atwood Outlaw finished P-2 trailing Lee by 2.5 tenths of a second. Following Herndon to the stripe would be Matt Salyers, Michael Lee, Ashley Newman, Jason Dukes, Ryan Latch, Dakota Berry, Dale Nelson with Wyatt Hill rounding out the top ten. For the latest news and results associated with this event log onto www.clayhillmotorsportspark.com or check the MyRacePass app.
"Clayhill Motorsports Park"
As the feature event got underway, the pole sitter Wyatt Hill assumed the point with the Atwood Outlaw breathing down his neck. Although the track was one lane dominant on the bottom, Herndon’s car was faster rotating the bottom than the #3 car of Hill. Herndon gained position and made a pass for the lead on lap four only to be negated by a caution flag. With the #1 car showing his hand, after the restart Hill slowed down on entry and made sure to hug the tires leaving Herndon no option to pass other making a move to the outside. On lap seven, Herndon made a move to the high side and lost a good bit of ground to the leader. Herndon immediately ran the leader back down but was forced to ride in line for the remainder of the event. As the checkered flag concluded the event, The 45 Truck Salvage Race Team finished the opening night with both entries finishing in the top three. The #3 of Wyatt Hill went on to take the win followed by T.J. Herndon, Dale Nelson, Graydon Hall, Dakota Berry, Zac Harris, Joe Hamm, Andrew Adams, Ryan Latch with Jason Dukes rounding out the top ten. For the latest news and results associated with this event log onto www.clayhillmotorsportspark.com or check the MyRacePass app.
"Arkansas Spring Nationals"
March 30, 2026 --- This past weekend, the 45 Truck Salvage Race Team traveled to Batesville Motor Speedway in Batesville, Arkansas for their annual IMCA Arkansas Spring Nationals / Wimp Reed Memorial. After getting rained out for the Friday night portion of the event, Herndon drew the lowest pill in the draw to start P-1 in the first heat on Saturday. Unfortunately, management decided that they would utilize passing points for the first time in producing the line-up for the feature event. In the qualifying heats Herndon would go on to win heat 1 with Nelson finishing P-3 in the 3rd heat of the evening.
After passing points were applied, Herndon would roll to the green in the feature occupying P-4 with Nelson starting P-8. Both cars had a good showing for the first night out in the IMCA stockcars for the year. As the checkers flew over the completion of the contest, the winner would be the #11 of Peyton Taylor. Following Taylor to the stripe would be Patrick Linn, T.J. Herndon, Neil Kemp, Dale Nelson, Randy Weaver, Scooter Scruggs, Tony Anglin, Tommy New with Steven Brewster rounding out the top ten. For the latest news and results associated with this event log onto www.batesvillemotorspeedway.com or check the MyRacePass app. If you want to watch the lap by lap live action, the event was also streamed on IMCA.tv.
"Battle of the States"
March 16, 2026 --- This past weekend, the 45 Truck Salvage Race Team kicked off the 2026 season by traveling to Whynot Motorsports Park in Meridian, MS. to compete in the Battle of the States at the “House of Hook”. With 21 drivers on hand for the event, T.J. Herndon struggled in qualifying and timed-in P-14 overall, which placed him in the P-5 starting position in the second heat race. After finishing P-5 in the heat, Herndon would be slated to start the feature occupying the P-14 starting position.
As the feature race got underway, Herndon immediately started making moves toward the front. At one point, the #1 car had surged to the P-4 position by mid-race. Unfortunately, on a late race restart, Herndon was pinched down into an infield tire which broke the idler arm on the #1 machine resulting in a handicapped P-9 finish. As the checkers flew over the completion of the contest, the winner would be the #82 of Trey Bright. Following Bright to the stripe would be Shay Knight, Logan Bright, Chase Pennington, Landen Jackson, Mickey Trosclair, Nic Brooks, Bubba Vandygriff, T.J. Herndon with Bobby Gregory rounding out the top ten. For the latest news and results associated with this event log onto whynotmotorsportspark.com or check the MyRacePass app. The event was also streamed on CrateRacinUSA.tv.
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