Chris Ferguson
What could a Dirt Late Model driver who has already scored a big win this season in the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals at the Bristol Motor Speedway possibly want?
The answer to that question is to earn another big win, of course.
Chris Ferguson will have three opportunities this weekend to earn a win with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series when that national tour comes to the Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, South Carolina on Thursday night for a $10,000-to-win feature race then to the Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tennessee on Friday and Saturday for $12,000-to-win and $20,000-to-win events respectively.
In recent years, the Mt. Holly, North Carolina native has ventured further away from his home base to race at new locales. As a result, Ferguson has had to do a bit of relearning in order to be competitive at previously unknown venues. And those adjustments have been successful as evidenced by a $12,000 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned win at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri in 2020. He also posted a third-place result in one of this year’s Dirt Late Model Dreams held at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
What has branching out done for this Team Zero Race Cars driver?
“In my opinion, I think I adapt to tracks a lot better,” Ferguson declared in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “Two years ago I really started doing it and we were learning how to not have bad habits coming into races. We were able to go to Port Royal last year having never seen the place then run in the top-5 both nights with the Lucas guys. I think branching out gets you more comfortable with being on a track where you’ve never been and it gets you more prepared to make decisions and not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. I think it just makes you a better driver in general.”
Several years ago, when a national tour would venture into the Carolinas, Georgia or Tennessee, Ferguson would be considered a threat to win because he had so many laps on tracks such as Cherokee and Smoky Mountain. Now, because the No. 22 driver has ventured further away from home, Ferguson has to be considered a threat to win this weekend not only because he has experience on the two tracks in question but also because he has learned lessons from his travels.
“When I was more of a regional guy, you knew you had to step up when you raced against those guys(national touring drivers) because those guys don’t make mistakes,” Ferguson noted. “So when you start racing with them regularly, I think in my mind it makes me be sharp all the time and make less mistakes in general. You can’t leave nothing on the table with those guys. You might go run a Clash race or an Ultimate race or a Southern Nationals race or a Southern All Stars race and you might miss it a little bit in qualifying and still be able to qualify in the top-5 or top-10. But when you go race with those guys, if you miss it in qualifying or you have one bad heat race, it can ruin your night. I think it makes you sharper. There’s a little more pressure but I think the pressure makes you a better driver.”
Having run numerous laps on both Cherokee Speedway and Smoky Mountain Speedway, Ferguson is uniquely qualified to describe how to best get around each.
“In my opinion, Cherokee is more of an elbows up all night long whether it’s dirty, or sometimes it locks down along the bottom, but when it doesn’t you’ve got to be up on the wheel like the March race with the World of Outlaws,” Ferguson explained. “You have to be up on the wheel at Smoky Mountain too but there’s a little more finesse to it because Smoky Mountain will sometimes have a cushion or a lip but it will be black-slick all the way up to it where Cherokee never gets that way.”
Chris Ferguson in his No. 22 Team Zero Race Car
While the two tracks may look somewhat similar, there are differences.
“Cherokee kind of gets dirty and it doesn’t really clean off like Smoky Mountain,” the 31-year-old driver pointed out. “There’s a lot shorter straightaways at Cherokee even though it doesn’t look like it on video. When you’re at Cherokee, you’re bending the car a lot more on entry. You’re more crooked so to speak where at Smoky Mountain you have to drive a little straighter. It’s two tracks that have some similarities but there’s also a lot of differences.”
Even with the differences, Ferguson believes both tracks suit his style.
“That’s kind of what I grew up on, more or less,” he said of the hard charging approach needed at Cherokee. “I’ve had to learn, and everybody knows this being from this area. But when you go off and travel you have to learn how to drive straighter, you have to learn how to back your corners up, and just drive the race car a lot different. You go to a Port Royal, or a Florence, or even Eldora when it gets slick, you have to completely change your driving style.”
And there are similarities as well.
“Those two tracks, Cherokee and Smoky Mountain, even when it gets slick you still have to be up on the wheel,” Ferguson stated. “I’ve seen it a million times at Smoky Mountain where it’ll get slick and have that little bit of grip a foot away from the wall in three and four and you’ll see the guys that have that experience qualify good there even though they may go out late. They just know how to carry speed into the corner and that’s why guys like Casey Roberts or Jonathan Davenport are good at both places.”
Ferguson looks forward to experiencing the highly charged atmosphere almost certain to be a part of these three nights of Lucas Oil racing.
“When we go to Cherokee for this race, they have the Blue-Gray at the end of the year, they have the World of Outlaws, but typically this July weekend, and the same thing at Smoky Mountain,” Ferguson insisted. “This is the big to-do for both tracks. It’s the big to-do and the one everybody wants to win and you do feel the atmosphere. When you go to a place that’s standing room only, like both places will be, it definitely stands out because we may go to Cherokee four or five other times, and the same thing with Smoky Mountain, and it’s just not the same atmosphere as it is when you’ve got those big races with the world’s best.”
One other aspect certain to draw attention to this racing weekend is the fact that NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson is expected to be on hand in the No. 6 K&L Rumley Enterprises Longhorn Chassis car. Ferguson says that Dirt Late Model regulars do in fact take notice of the 2021 Coca-Cola 600 winner’s presence.
At the same time, Ferguson also enjoys the challenge of competing against the likes of Scott Bloomquist, Jonathan Davenport, and Jimmy Owens.
“It’s definitely on the radar. One thing that kind of stood out to me, winning at Bristol or racing against him(Larson) at Port Royal, it definitely stands out. In my opinion, it’s no different than lining up next to J.D. or Scott or Jimmy. But I do acknowledge that, when we won Bristol, there were a lot of people who said that Kyle Larson ran second. That’s not quite something you see with Bloomquist or Davenport, but as a driver, when I line up beside the 6 car it’s no different than lining up beside the 0 or someone else that’s one of these world class drivers.”
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