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BYADAM FENWICK WWW.ARCARACING.COM MAY 10, 2024
Photo: Adam Glanzman/ARCA Racing
Competing in two ARCA Menards Series East races was not on Hunter Wright’s bingo card for 2024.
A regular competitor at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in the Pro Late Model division, the native of Lebanon, Tennessee was working on securing sponsorship to fund his pursuit of the track championship at the historic, 0.596-mile oval when an opportunity to compete on the ARCA platform all but fell in his lap.
“I got a call from a (sponsor) who I’d been trying to do some business with for our racing,” Wright explained. “(The sponsor) was also trying to do some business with Mark Noble’s team; he owns a local ARCA team probably about 20 or 30 minutes from my parents’ house.
“Long story short, they kind of put a deal together and called me to drive it. So, I’m just the fortunate guy who gets to show up and hold the steering wheel. It’s definitely a cool deal with a lot of local business to help make it happen.”
RELATED: Check out the full entry list for the Music City 150
That sponsor, the Wilson County Visitors Bureau, partnered with MAN Motorsports and Wright for the Pensacola 150 at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway earlier this year and Saturday’s Music City 150 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
The team also picked up additional sponsorship from local businesses Cedar City RV, Quality Glass Company and Pest Doctor to help make it happen.
The opportunity, while unexpected, was one Wright simply could not refuse.
“I’m really excited. It’s a cool opportunity,” Wright said. “Getting to run at home makes it even better. Really excited to do it. I’m very grateful for the opportunity from Mark and the Wilson County Visitors Bureau.”
Wright has been racing at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for his entire adult life and much of his childhood. He started by racing quarter midgets at the track’s quarter-mile oval when he was approximately 7 years old.
He later moved up to Legend cars before getting the opportunity to race a Pro Late Model for team owner Wayne Day, the same man he continues to drive for today.
In addition to racing at Nashville, Wright has become a regular face at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, where he recently captured the Pro Late Model division championship.
Wright considers Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway’s Pro Late Model division to be among the toughest weekly racing divisions anywhere in the United States. As a regular in that division, Wright will have more experience at Nashville than any other driver in the field for Saturday’s East Series Music City 150.
“I think the competition at the local Nashville races rivals a lot of the competition at a lot of traveling series races,” said Wright, who won his first Pro Late Model feature at Nashville in 2022. “There are a lot of fast guys who are local and only race at Nashville, so they don’t travel a whole lot.
“You get a lot of out-of-town guys that are extremely competitive coming in town to run. Usually it’s a little bit more of a struggle to show up and win or run in the top-three then it is everywhere else they go. It’s a very competitive field.”
Wright won’t just be focused on Saturday’s East Series event. There is also a 100-lap Pro Late Model feature on the schedule prior to the Music City 150, and Wright plans to drive Day’s Pro Late Model in that event, as well.
Switching from one car to the other on race day will be something Wright has never experienced before. He’s hopeful to make that transition quickly because he’s already familiar with the nuances of Nashville.
RELATED: Watch the Music City 150 live on FloRacing
“At the end of the day it’s the same race track, but the way you’ve got to do things is a lot different,” Wright said. “The way you get the car through the corner and the way you pick the throttle up is a whole lot different with the way the rear end is setup than with the late model.
“That’s going to be the toughest part of going back and forth from car to car, having pick up points and where you are getting on and off the brakes and on the throttle and off the throttle and how much steering input you’re using is a whole lot different. Hopefully it’ll be a gap we’ll be able to overcome without too much trouble.”
Wright finished inside the top five in his first East Series event at Five Flags a few months ago. He says he and the MAN Motorsports team have worked hard to improve the car ahead of the Music City 150 with the goal of again racing for a top-five finish.
“I’m glad that we did Pensacola, number one to give me a little bit of seat time in the car because I’ve never driven anything that heavy on that small of a tire,” Wright said. “Definitely a little bit of a different feel on that little of a radial tire. It was a lot of fun down there, and I’m looking forward to this weekend.
“We’ve done a lot of work on the ARCA car since Pensacola. Hopefully we can have that a little better, and hopefully my experience at the race track pays off.”
