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Chrissy Wallace Debuts in a Big Way; Wins Pole Award and Both Twin 40 “Bonus” SCSCS Races to Conclude 2025 at Tri-County

Hudson, North Carolina (November 3, 2025) – From the time in early September when it was announced that an agreement was made to add a post-season Super Cup Stock Car Series event at Tri-County Speedway, the intrigue steadily grew as to the wildcards that might be in play before teams focus on 2026.  Many of those started to get answered right from the get-go on Saturday afternoon.

A family from Renick, West Virginia synonymous with the history of the series made their presence known immediately in their first return to the racetrack since 2023.  Two-time champion Harvey Harrison paced initial practice with a guest appearance in the No. 35 Ashton Racing Ford followed by his son Brian Harrison as quickest in final practice after discovering an obstruction that was causing issues with the brake line on the No. 15 Harrison’s Welding / Harrison’s Motorsports Chevrolet.

Then in qualifying it was SCSCS first-timer Chrissy Wallace earning the quickest time of 16.545 seconds, four-tenths off the track record set by Jason Kitzmiller during the most recent visit to the Hudson, North Carolina facility in 2022 despite the chillier autumn temperatures in the air and a fresh repave for the 4/10-mile oval since the last time.

A redraw of the fastest four put Brian Harrison and another newcomer, Austin Vaughn from Burnsville, Mississippi, on the front row.  The initial start being called off turned out to be the only yellow flag condition of the entire distance of twin 40-lap main events.  On the ensuing green, Brian Harrison broke out into the early lead but following closely from the third starting position was Wallace.  By lap two, the Concord, North Carolina driver took the top spot.

While Wallace lengthened her lead, battles took place throughout the entire balance of the field.  One of those competitors advancing on multiple occasions was Ben Ebeling, who resides in nearby Hickory, North Carolina and is a past winner at Tri-County in local divisions around a decade back.  The No. 44 Good Frames, LLC / Ashton Racing Ford did not take a qualifying lap as they worked to correct a crossover line on the left front brake caliper that had a small crack and was leaking fluid.  With that fixed for the green flag, Ebeling was battling for second prior to halfway with Brian Harrison, Vaughn, and a third debut SCSCS driver Mitchell Stapleton.

Even in the second half of the field there were no spots on the track to secure easily.  At one point Jeff Zillweger from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, making his first SCSCS start since 2023 as well in the No. 18 Jeff Zillweger Landscaping / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Chevrolet, and Conover, North Carolina’s Dylan Godinez in a new ride to him for this race with the No. 57 Velocita-USA / Ashton Racing Chevrolet waged a constant side by side fight for position as Wallace approached.  The leader threaded between them coming out of turn four in order to maintain the advantage she built on the track.

Brooks, Georgia’s Toby Blanton in his second career start in the No. 31 3iatlasracing@gmail.com / TheJetDaddy.com / FlyBright Pilot Academy / RNR Tire Express / OSI247.com / Jones Motorsports Ford and Parkersburg, West Virginia’s Eric Barber in the No. 2 WeAreJ6.com / Eric Barber Enterprises Chevrolet were also amidst those contests for their best finishes possible.

After navigating through, the third-generation racer was able to cruise to the victory in her first SCSCS start, becoming the first woman since Megan Reitenour, who won three times including once at Tri-County during the inaugural 2008 season, to win a series race.  Wallace went on to point out another moment racing all the competitors throughout the field and how fun it was to drive on the renewed track surface that she last competed several years back.

“It feels great to finally be back in and winning this,” the No. 23 Hall’s Heating and Air Conditioning / MW Pressure Washing / Shannon’s Bail Bonds / D2 Motorsports Chevrolet driver indicated between races.  “Thanks to Super Cup for having us.  Started third, got the pole, but it was actually pretty awesome watching Eric Barber and (Blanton) and (Zillweger).  They put on a heck of a show right there in front of everybody and I kind of got a little scared to get up there and try to mix it up with them.  I didn’t want to put my nose into an area that I shouldn’t, but thankfully they all raced really clean.  I never in my life racing here have seen them run three wide in (turns) one and two and actually save it.  Nobody spun out, nobody hit each other, so they did a great job.”

Ebeling successfully fended off final challenges for the runner-up position but ran out of time to get any closer than within four seconds at the checkered flag.

“By the time we got to second, first place was gone,” the 2021 SCSCS champion said.  “They were half a straightaway in front of us.  Tried there a little bit when she got caught up in lapped traffic, but it just wasn’t enough to get us a chance and then going green to checker with no cautions, we never had an opportunity to get caught back up and see what we could do with her in that first race.  That’s just what we had, and it got to a point where it’s, okay, let’s just save it and see what we’ve got for the second race.”

Rounding out the top five were Stapleton from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Vaughn in the No. 66 Sellstate Choice Realty / Larry Wilcox Racing Chevrolet, and father Harvey Harrison passing son Brian late in the going.

Knowing that Ebeling would be starting toward the front with her and aware of the positive reputation that the winningest driver in the series has when it comes to his driving style and speed of his equipment, Wallace admitted that she might be racing for second in the final main event of the year.  Nevertheless, the second race, much like the first, would not be a decided outcome until all was said and done.

Vaughn, driving for a team that was at Tri-County during the beginnings of the series in 2007 and 2008, redrew the pole with Ebeling starting alongside.  From the outside, Ebeling made it to the lead in turn one and led the first lap.  Quickly approaching though was Wallace once more from the fourth starting position, in which she moved to second and then went under Ebeling for the top spot the next time by.

While Wallace pulled away much like the first race, the car to watch was the No. 42 Pennzoil / Stapleton Auto Works Chevrolet.  Stapleton initially slipped to fifth from his third starting position, but methodically worked his way by Vaughn, Brian Harrison, and then reeled in on Ebeling.  In order to get by the 28-time series winner, Stapleton would have to utilize the outside line to successfully complete a pass and would do so after a few laps nearly door to door.

Yet again, the margin between first and second would be too much as the laps wound down and Wallace swept the night.  A major part of the D2 Motorsports team that is new to the series, a five-time NASCAR Cup Series winner, assisted in advising and coaching leading up to and throughout race day.

“To be able to win the way that we did in the second race with a clean sweep, it means a lot,” Wallace mentioned.  “Truthfully, if it wasn’t for Jeremy (Mayfield) truly helping me and then getting my steering right, teaching me the proper way to help me get better through the corners, I don’t think it would have been possible.”

“The Super Cup series and Tri-County put on one heck of a phenomenal night.  That’s why I thought the second race we would wind up finishing second.  I didn’t expect our night to go the way it did whatsoever.  (Ebeling’s) a great competitor but I think everybody in this series in both races ran their hearts out.  Everybody ran competitive, no cautions, and that says a lot for the series.  When you have that many cars, even if they are a lap down, they’re battling to the end and once again that says a lot about the Super Cup series.  Hopefully people will pay attention to that and next year we can get some more cars out here and have a bigger field and be able to come back here.”

Family additionally played into making it a special moment.  Her father Mike Wallace, winner of numerous races at tracks across the country in multiple NASCAR series and ARCA, was on hand from qualifying through each of the victory lane festivities.

“A lot of people don’t realize my mom passed away last year, January 22, 2024, from stage 4 ovarian cancer and she’s the reason why I got back into racing,” Wallace explained.  “The year before she passed, I told her, because of you I’ll get back into it.  To be able to have dad here, it says a lot.”

Stapleton’s first SCSCS weekend accomplishments also was in part for the help received from Mayfield, taking the car to his North Carolina shop on Thursday evening for assistance with setup and scaling.

“I learned a lot,” the driver notable for his Stapleton42 YouTube channel that often goes in-depth and behind-the-scenes documenting much of stock car racing history began to recap about the second race.  “At the beginning, I kind of got hung up behind (Vaughn) a little bit and wasn’t really sure where to go and I didn’t know what the track was going to do because there was oil on it from the last (local feature) race so I didn’t want to throw it up there because I didn’t know if I was going to hit a banana peel or not.  By the time things got settled out, I was back in fourth or fifth and had to start coming up.  I was keeping in mind that Mayfield had me put some tape on the steering wheel, teaching me about slip angles and all that stuff.  He said if it’s not doing what you want it to do, don’t turn the wheel more and just move the car somewhere else, so that’s what I was doing.”

“It’s almost like he was a former professional or something,” Stapleton added jokingly.  “He really knows what he is doing.”

With only approximately 10 previous starts in a stock car, Stapleton also described what he had to do in order to get around an experienced competitor such as Ebeling.

“I kept looking around for what was working and sometimes it was high and sometimes it was low.  I did a little bit of both, but I guess when it came down to it, passing people worked better up high.  These guys are people of real integrity.  They gave me a lane, it was clean.  I had a lot of fun racing with (Ebeling) both races.  I’ve never run side by side with a car for that long before.”

Ebeling ended the night in third, a couple spots short of where he wanted to be in front of family and friends.

“Much better starting position in the second race but just didn’t have the same kind of ability to point and go like those other two cars did.  We did the best we could, came home third, and nothing is torn up.”

Following Wallace, Stapleton, and Ebeling to the line were Brian Harrison and Vaughn with his second consecutive top five in his first SCSCS weekend.

The overall outcomes from Tri-County Speedway and the number of new and returning competitors combined with series regulars, some of which were or were not able to make it for the post-season event, brings a great amount of momentum heading into next year.  That includes the two-time winner on Saturday night Chrissy Wallace.

“We talked about it after the first race and we felt the way that certain other things went for us this year that coming and joining a group like this, people who are so welcoming, and on the same page, and sticks to the rules for everyone, it’s a great organization to be involved in and we’re looking forward to it for April or May.”

Many details regarding the 2026 schedule will be found on the Super Cup Stock Car Series official website supercupstockcarseries.com as commitments are agreed upon along with more content during the months of winter available on Facebook (search Super Cup Stock Car Series), Twitter (@SCSCSRacing), Instagram (SCSCS_Racing), and https://www.youtube.com/SCSCSRacing.

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