Some of the best Modified drivers in the Northeast will converge on New York’s Riverhead Raceway this Saturday afternoon for the sixth edition of the Islip 300.

Honoring the history of the now-defunct Islip Speedway in nearby Islip, New York, the 300-lap event for Modifieds requires determination and patience for those hoping to collect the $7,000 first-place prize.

RELATED: Watch Saturday’s Islip 300 live on FloRacing

While only in its sixth running, the Islip 300 has quickly become a marquee event for Modified competitors, and it annually draws one of the strongest entry fields of the season for the popular track located on Long Island that features NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series racing during the summer months.

In addition to the headlining Modified class, Crate Modifieds and Legend Cars will also be on the docket Saturday afternoon, with more than 100 cars in total expected to take part in the event. The event also serves as the finale of the track’s Crown Jewel Series, which will award the Ted Christopher Cup at the conclusion of Saturday’s Modified main event.

Below is everything you need to know about the 2022 Islip 300 at Riverhead Raceway.

What TV channel is the Islip 300 at Riverhead Raceway on?

All of the on-track action for the Islip 300 at Riverhead Raceway can be viewed live on FloRacing, the official streaming home for all NASCAR Roots properties.

The racing action will not be shown on a television network.

Below is the complete schedule for FloRacing’s coverage of the Islip 300.

Complete schedule for the Islip 300

This year’s Islip 300 is scheduled to take place Saturday, Nov. 12.

Four divisions of race cars will take part in Saturday’s event at Riverhead, including Modifieds, Crate Modifieds and Legend Cars. The event will be headlined by a 300-lap event for the Modified class.

Below is the complete race-day schedule at Riverhead Raceway.

Official format for the Islip 300

The starting field for the Islip 300 will be set by a combination of qualifying and, potentially, a consolation race depending upon how many Modifieds are entered. The top 23 drivers in qualifying will lock into the 25-car field, with one driver locking into the race via the consolation race.

The final starting position will be awarded to the highest driver in Riverhead Raceway weekly points who is not yet qualified for the race.

The Islip 300 will not feature stage breaks, but instead the caution flag will wave anytime 75 consecutive green flag laps are completed. Caution laps will count until Lap 275, with the final 25 laps to be run under green flag conditions only.

Islip 300 entry list

The entry list for Saturday’s Islip 300 features some of the top Modified stars from the Northeast.

Headlining the list of pre-entries is J.B. Fortin, the defending winner of the Islip 300. He’s one of three Islip 300 winners on the entry list, with 2018 race winner and 2022 Riverhead Modified champion Kyle Soper and inaugural event winner Dillon Steuer also entered.

Tommy Baldwin Racing, the team that recently claimed the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour owners’ championship, will be in the field with Jimmy Blewett scheduled to pilot the team’s No. 7 entry.

Keith Rocco, who won the 2010 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship, will join the field for the Islip 300 alongside Mike Christopher Jr., who won his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event earlier this year at Jennerstown Speedway.

Other notable entries include Matt Hirschman, Craig Lutz, Chuck Hossfeld, Anthony Nocella, Kyle Bonsignore, Timmy Solomito and Dave Sapienza.

Islip 300 history, winners

Created by late Riverhead Raceway owner Eddie Partridge in 2007, the Islip 300 has quickly become a signature Modified event for competitors in the Northeast.

The race also shares the name of a NASCAR Cup Series event that took place at New York’s Islip Speedway in the 1960s and early 1970s. The event honors the history of Islip Speedway, which closed in 1984, with race winners typically posing with an Islip Speedway Feature Winner board in Victory Lane.

The inaugural event produced a surprise winner, with then 15-year-old Dillon Steuer scoring a shocking victory in the 300-lap event.

Ryan Preece, a winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, is the lone multi-time winner of the Islip 300. He won the 2018 running of the event and collected his second Islip 300 win in 2020.

Kyle Soper, who recently claimed his fourth Modified track championship at Riverhead in the last five years, won the Islip 300 in 2019 and J.B. Fortin bagged the top prize in 2021.

Below is the complete list of winners of the Islip 300.

Race weekends are about more than just racing for Dylan Zampa.

Before every event, the 18-year-old participates in various fundraisers and charity events, whether it’s going to visit and drop off snacks for patients at the Ronald McDonald House near his home track of All American Speedway or helping raise money for food banks, Zampa uses his racing for more than just wins on the track.

Zampa got into the charity work while competing this summer in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program, which was established by the family of late NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki to “help worthy drivers along the way in reaching their dream.”

“They want the drivers to go out there and change someone’s life, and that’s kind of what I’ve been doing the last couple years,” Zampa said of the charity work.
“That’s actually one of the best parts about race weekends. You get to hear before the races who won the fundraiser or go the Ronald McDonald house where I get to go in and drop off all the snacks, and all the kids see the snacks and go crazy.

“That’s always probably my favorite part of the race weekends is seeing people’s faces light up.”

RELATED: 2022 NASCAR Weekly Series track champions

Went down to my local food bank today and helped them with putting food boxes together for the elder homes here in Napa. Always love coming to my neighborhood food bank to give where I can.#KDDP | #Racing4Alan pic.twitter.com/rXSedehi2s

— Dylan Zampa (@zampa_dylan) October 26, 2022

The charity work has come a bit easier for Zampa since he gained such a big following at All American, a third-mile NASCAR-sanctioned paved oval in Roseville, California. In the track’s late model division this season, Zampa won 11 of 13 races, had six fast times and broke a track record for victories.

His success has given him even more of a following, which has helped with his charitable fundraising efforts.

“Ever since I started using Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and all that stuff, I feel like my follower count has definitely gone up, obviously, and that makes it more known when I go to tracks and I do fundraisers,” Zampa said. “It’s like, ‘Oh I follow him. He does something every weekend, we need to donate.’ So definitely having fans that go to every single race makes a big difference also. They’re always buying tickets and trying to win the big money, so it makes it a lot easier having really big fans and supporters every single weekend.”

This season was Zampa’s first championship at All American, coming in his first full season racing at the track.

Last year he was only able to get in about seven races at All American, but he still came away with a handful of wins and finished fifth in points.

This year, he won the track championship by 62 points.

“It’s just something about that track with me. And what my dad can do with the setup is just crazy,” Zampa said. “Even though the competition is really stout, we seemed to have it figured out every weekend, which made it a lot nicer for me.

“There was some pretty good competition this year… it was a good season all around. The team worked very hard all season, and we never gave up.”

Zampa credited his success to his team and their work all summer. The entire Zampa family is involved with the race team. His dad, Joey, is Zampa’s crew chief, and his mom is there with the team every week. They also have family friends who work on the car.

“It wouldn’t be possible without my mom or my dad,” he said. “They worked their tails off every day, even Saturday and Sunday when were mostly racing every week. I just couldn’t do it without my parents and everyone that’s on my crew. Our crew members are family friends. No one gets paid; they all just do it out of love, so that makes it a lot better at the race track.”

Improving on the racetrack has been a life-long effort for Zampa, who first started practicing in the car when he was 4. His great grandfather tried racing but didn’t like being behind the wheel himself. He instead built cars and was a crew chief, which eventually got Joey into the sport.

Joey raced quarter-midgets, legends and super late models until his two sons were old enough to start driving.

“He gave up his racing career to let us do what we want to do,” Dylan Zampa said of his dad.

Zampa’s older brother raced for a time but has now stepped out of the car to pursue playing rugby in college.

“I’m kind of the only one racing right now, so it kind of feels good to keep the racing legacy going,” Zampa said. “I’ll probably keep it going forever.”

Working as a team on the car is the biggest racing lesson Zampa learned from his dad.

“It takes a team effort. It’s not just about one driver,” he said. “One driver isn’t going to make you win. It’s about teamwork, how you execute the weekend, how the driver executes in the race. It’s just everything that makes a race team; that’s what makes a race-winning team.

“When you’re racing 20-something races, sometimes one of them can get on your nerves… But most of the time it’s great because they know exactly what you need. If it’s really hot out, someone already knows if I need a water or if my dad needs help. Everyone knows exactly what to do. When we go to the racetrack, my dad doesn’t need to give orders or that type of stuff. Everyone knows exactly what to do. That makes it’s a lot nicer that we’re not running around looking like maniacs. We look like a nice race team, and we have our stuff together, so that makes it 10 times easier having people you know.”

“ANNOUNCEMENT TIME”
IT’S OFFICIAL…..I will be going super late model racing next year. I will be piloting this brand new CRF for Randy Hedrick with Sierra Speed Technology. Stay tuned for more updates as we close out 2022 and prep for 2023!🏁#KDDP | #Racin4Alan pic.twitter.com/ujpwHWRG0y

— Dylan Zampa (@zampa_dylan) October 28, 2022

Next season, Zampa will race full-time on the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series in the Pro-Late Model division, where he’ll race all up and down the West Coast. He’ll join a team as their first full-time driver, making 2023 even more exciting.

As he continues the family legacy of racing, it’s a sport Zampa said he wants to be involved in “forever.”

“I don’t really know what it is, but it’s just something that feels right to me,” Zampa said of racing. “If I don’t race, I kind of feel like all those years that I spent practicing and perfecting what I do kind of went to waste. I feel like just being in a race car is kind of what defines me.

“That’s how I introduce myself to people: ‘I’m Dylan Zampa, and I race race cars.’ If I said all that without racing race cars, I feel like I wouldn’t be who I am.”

It’s about a month later than originally planned, but Hickory Motor Speedway will wrap up the 2022 racing season with the 25th annual running of the Fall Brawl this Saturday, Nov. 12.

Since opening in 1951 as a half-mile dirt track, Hickory Motor Speedway has served as a hub of short track racing in North Carolina. Some of racing’s greatest stars have competed at the track, which is now a 0.363-mile asphalt oval. They include legendary names like Junior Johnson, Jack Ingram, Harry Gant, Tommy Houston and Ralph Earnhardt, all of whom have won track championships at Hickory.

RELATED: Watch the Fall Brawl on FloRacing

While times have changed, the popularity and short track culture at Hickory Motor Speedway have not. Now run by promoter Kevin Piercy, the track known as “the Birthplace of NASCAR Stars” continues to host NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series events from March through October.

The Fall Brawl is typically held in October and serves as the non-point season finale for the headlining Late Model Stock Car division. The 2022 edition, which will be the 25th running of the race, was postponed to Nov. 12 to guarantee tire availability.

Below is everything you need to know about the 2022 Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway.

What TV channel is the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway on?

All of the on-track action for the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway can be viewed live on FloRacing, the official streaming home for all NASCAR Roots properties.

The racing action will not be shown on a television network.

Below is the complete schedule for FloRacing’s coverage of the Fall Brawl.

Complete schedule for the Fall Brawl

This year’s Fall Brawl is scheduled to take place Saturday, Nov. 12.

Four divisions of race cars will take part in Saturday’s event at Hickory, including the Late Model Stock Car, Pro Late Model, Limited Late Model and Street Stock divisions. The event will be headlined by the 200-lap Late Model Stock Car main event.

Below is the complete race-day schedule at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Fall Brawl 2022 entry list

A full field of 31 cars are entered for the 25th running of the Fall Brawl, with two previous event winners among those entered.

They include defending race winner Mason Diaz, who is returning to defend his Fall Brawl crown. Also entered is Coleman Pressley, the spotter for 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who won the Fall Brawl in 2009 and hasn’t raced a Late Model Stock Car in several years.

Other notable entries include Annabeth Barnes Crum, Katie Hettinger and Isabella Robusto, a trio of female competitors that all visited Victory Lane at Hickory this year in Late Model Stock Car competition.

Ryan Millington, a two-time track champion at Hickory, is entered in pursuit of his first Fall Brawl triumph. Gracie Trotter and Gus Dean, winners on the ARCA platform, are also entered for Saturday’s event.

Additional entries come from Florence Motor Speedway champion Kade Brown and 2022 Hickory race winners Connor Zilisch, Connor Hall, Mitch Walker, Matthew Gould and Charlie Watson.

Official format for the Fall Brawl

Saturday’s 200-lap Fall Brawl Late Model Stock Car main event will be divided into two 100-lap stages.

There will be a 10 minute break between the two 100-lap stages. Competitors will be allowed to change two tires from the impound area during the break. Caution laps will be counted, but the last 20 laps must be run under the green flag.

The lucky dog rule will be in effect for this event. Any car involved in a caution will not be eligible for the lucky dog award.

Fall Brawl history, winners

Hickory Motor Speedway has hosted an annual major event every fall for decades, but the event known as the Fall Brawl wasn’t created until 1998.

The inaugural event was won by a man best known as a NASCAR Cup Series championship winning crew chief, Rodney Childers. However, long before he was a successful crew chief for Stewart-Haas Racing and Kevin Harvick, Childers was a skilled Late Model competitor in the Southeast.

Childers was first of many recognizable names to win the Fall Brawl. Josh Berry, the 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National champion and five-time NASCAR Xfinity Series race winner, is the only multi-time Fall Brawl winner. He’s won the event a whopping four times.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin made a name for himself by winning the Fall Brawl in 2003, three years before his first full NASCAR Cup Series season. Ben Rhodes, the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, conquered the Fall Brawl in 2013.

Other recognizable names to win the Fall Brawl include Anthony Alfredo, Dennis Setzer, Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Matt McCall, Pietro Fittipaldi and Coleman Pressley. Mason Diaz is the defending Fall Brawl race winner in the Late Model Stock Car class.

Below is the complete list of winners of the Fall Brawl.