Chris Ferguson continued to show speed in his Stinger Chassis, but as has been the case for much of this year he suffered a mechanical issue that caused him to exit the race early.

Ferguson looked to improve on his 9th place finish on Friday night and early in the night it looked like that was going to be the case. He qualified 11th in Group A an improvement from 15th the night prior. Not only did he qualify better, but he had a very good heat race where he went from 6th to 3rd to lock himself into the feature with a 9th place starting position. It was vastly different from Friday night where he had to race his way in by winning a B-Main.

His 3rd place finish in Heat 1 gave him a 9th place starting position for the 60-lap feature. However, due to some early issues for Hudson O’Neal before the race even started, he was able to move up another position and start in 8th. He advanced another position past Michael Page after he was involved in a lap 1 wreck. On the initial restart after that lap 1 wreck, Ferguson worked his way underneath Kyle Bronson to advance to the sixth position.

Unfortunately, about 15 laps into the race, Ferguson exited the race.

Following the race, Ferguson shared an update providing an explanation for what happened, “Update from last night, DNF. We started 9th, got to 6th and had a really fast car again in the feature. Lap 14 I felt something in the driveline giving out so I pulled in without bringing out a caution. We’re not exactly sure what but we are dissecting it now.”

“I hit the wall in qualifying and a couple times last week at WVMS so it could have been anything,” he added. “One thing I know is that we have a fast race car.”

As Ferguson observes, he has had a fast car and when he does finish, the results speak for themselves. He drove to 9th at Smoky Mountain on Friday after starting in 17th and having to race his way in through the B-Main. He notched two top 10s the previous week with a 6th and 10th at West Virginia Motor Speedway.

At Eldora, he was one of the best finishing 5th in the FloRacing Night in America Series race in one of the toughest fields of the year. He then followed that up with an 8th place finish in his Dirt Late Model Dream preliminary on Thursday night and then a 9th place finish in the Dream on Saturday night.

He was also very good at Lucas Oil Speedway during the Show-Me 100 weekend, where he finished 3rd and 2nd in the preliminary nights and then a 9th place in the 100-lap feature.

It is unclear where Ferguson will be back in action next. It’s unlikely he will be with the World of Outlaws any time soon given they are on their two-week trip north. It is possible he might make an appearance on the Hunt the Front Dirt Series and head to Cochran Motor Speedway and then Senoia for the series’ double header next weekend. It’s also possible he follows the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series as it makes the trip to Pennsylvania for the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway. Ferguson has a history of competing at the track with his last appearance in 2022 where he finished 11th. His best finish was an 8th place in 2019 with the Outlaws.

NEXT: Dale McDowell Scores Popular Victory in Mountain Moonshine Classic At Smoky Mountain