KINGSPORT, TN. -- Randle Perry Photos – Hunter Morgan, 15, finished third in the first of two 40-lap late model mains at Kingsport Speedway’s opening 2025 race, and then ended his evening with a win in the second race. Morgan, a now five-time race winner in late models going into his second full-time season of competition, said his win in the second race almost wasn’t. 
 
“We finished third in the first race, and then they inverted the field for race two,” he explained. “I started seventh. Somebody got dumped right on the start, and then on the restart, someone toward the front of the field checked up, causing everyone else to do the same. When the car right in front of me checked up, I got into him and lost my left front fender.  It fell off the car onto the track and brought out a yellow. We still hadn’t completed a lap.” 
Finally, on the third restart, the field did get a lap in. 
 
“We did, but just one,” Morgan continued. “I gained three spots in that lap, and then we had another yellow.  Once we got going, I got by the other number 5 car for third and was racing with the two leaders. I took second, and then on lap 15, my teammate had an issue that brought out another caution.  We restarted in the lead with the No. 88 car beating my back bumper off.  That went on for several laps until I was finally able to start pulling away from him.   We had another yellow with six laps to go, which I was disappointed to see.” 
 
 As the old saying goes, that’s when the trouble began. 
 
“It took four attempts to finally get a good restart,” the driver said.  “On the first attempt, the No. 88 was running us down the track on the back straightaway coming to the green. On the second attempt he jumped the start.  On the third attempt, I had to jump the start to prevent us both from wrecking. Finally, on the fourth attempt, we got a good start, and for five of the remaining six laps, I had him beating my bumper. He got me sideways coming to the white flag.  He got under me, and then, going into turn one on the last lap, I crossed him over and got back under him.  We raced down the back straightaway, and then in turn there, we made contact which got my car tight, and I pushed up into him.  I was able to gather my car up and grab the win.” 
 
Morgan was clear in saying that he did not intentionally wreck the No. 88. “Absolutely not. When we made contact in turn three, my car got tight on the bottom, and I pushed up into him. I did not try to wreck him. I want to win the right way. I work on my car every day in the shop. I am trying to learn and get better as a driver, and I am not out to spin or wreck anyone to win. I know how much time and money it takes to fix race cars. He was beating my bumper the entire race, and we both raced each other very hard on the last lap. I was fortunate to win, and I cannot thank my family, my team, and my sponsors enough for their support. We weren’t planning to even race that race, but we decided to go and get some laps in the car before we head to Lonesome Pine Raceway on April 5^th and then to Newport for their opener.”