Austin Howes announced he’s ending his hunt for the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year title with the MARS Late Model Championship after he suffered engine issues following the series’ Memorial Day weekend tripleheader.
Howes made the announcement in a post to Facebook, “Sadly our rookie run with the MARS Racing Series this year is over. As MARS shared…..’After a hot start to the season, Howes hit a slow skid over Memorial Day weekend with his best finish being 15th.’”
As for the reason why, he explained, “We came home after last weekend thinking our motor was tired and found some issues. Our new one should be done any day now, hopefully in time to race w/ MLRA next weekend so close to home.”
“We’re sad to miss out this weekend, but our program has made lots of changes since getting home from FL Speedweeks, so time to reset + refresh is much needed before kicking
off Summer Nationals in just 11 days,” he concluded.
Howes is currently 10th in the MARS Late Model Championship standings. He’s 186 points behind current points leader Ryan Unzicker. In 7 features, he had 1 Top 5 and 4 Top 10s. His best finish was fifth at Coles County Speedway. He had solid top 10s to start the season with a 9th at the Brownstown Bullring and an 8th at Peoria. He got another 8th at Quincy Raceways. However, during the tripleheader weekend he finished 15th at Davenport and then recorded two DNFs at Fairbury and Spoon River finishing 19th and 21st.
In the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year battle he is in fourth in a very stacked field of nine cars that also includes Dylan Thornton, Caden McWhorter, Jordan Bauer, Myles Moos, Mitch McGrath, Jeffrey Ledford, Mike Mataragas, and Chevy Boyer.
Following the tripleheader weekend:
- Dylan Thornton currently leads with 376 points.
- Caden McWhorter is second, 60 points back.
- Jordan Bauer is third, 74 points back.
- Howes sits fourth, 80 points back.
- Myles Moos is fifth, 107 points behind.
The Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year pays out $2,500 to 1st place, $2,000 to 2nd, $1,500 to 3rd, and $1,000 to 4th.
The MARS Late Model Championship will compete in Kentucky and Illinois this weekend to close out the month of May. First up is the 32nd Annual USA World 50 at Paducah International Raceway tonight, May 29th. They’ll then tow to Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Illinois for the Red Hill Rumble on Saturday, May 30th.
While Howes won’t be making the trip south, he did indicate he plans to compete with the Midwest Latemodel Racing Association (MLRA). They have a tripleheader next weekend from June 5-7. First, they’ll race at Davenport Speedway on June 5th, then head to 34 Raceway on Saturday night, and close out the weekend at Quincy Raceways on Sunday.
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