"We got the monkey off our back,” said Rogers.

Fans had to wait an extra day for the 2025 Advanced Auto Parts Weekly Series at Dominion

Raceway and the first race of the Truckin Thunder America Racer Late Models.

The newly rebranded America Racer Late Models are the new Division 1 racing class and were

the feature event of “Sunday Funday” at Dominion this past weekend on a day that also saw

UCAR, Dominion Stock, and 4-cylinder Any Car action.

Last season, the Virginia Racer Late Models ran as the Division III class, and it saw Chase

Johnson not only win the track championship, but a Division III Southeast Region Championship as well. It was a class that had five different winners and consistently had the 16 car field needed for maximum NASCAR points. Looking to feature its youngsters, healthy car count, and lower cost racing, Dominion moved the class to Division I and renamed them the America Racers.

A year ago, Dan Rogers, a former Dominion Stocks track champion, went winless in his first

year in the Racers. Despite that, he finished 4th in the points and had nine top-5 finishes. It

marked a year of consistency they could build on heading into the new season.

The Powhatan, Virginia native, qualified on the pole, showcasing his overall speed. Starting a

few rows back because of the invert, Rogers had to watch Peyton Lee lead the start of the

75-lap feature. An early caution for a stalled JD Eversole brought a restart, and a watchful eye

from Rogers helped him develop a strategy to get to the front.

While picking a restart location with the choose cone, Rogers saw Connor Weddell and Mike

Ganoe pick the outside, which is traditionally the harder lane to manage. Weddell was able to

battle for the lead with Lee while Ganoe was able to swoop in front of Rogers. Lee made

door-to-door contact with Weddell battling for the lead, and the #8 was out of the groove and got passed by Ganoe and Rogers.

Rogers would be stuck behind the tough-to-pass Ganoe for 25 laps until another caution came

out on lap 50 for Fred Daniels, another young driver new to the division this year at Dominion who moved up from karting.

It was the subsequent choose cone decision that set the stage for Rogers and his #33 team.

Choosing the outside, Rogers was on the front row alongside Lee. When they took the green

flag, Rogers saw an opening to get down, so he did and settled into second.

“We had the first restart and Mike Ganoe was on the outside and I was able to see him get

down before the second place car with no problem, so me and my spotter decided next time we

were gonna try it. When he said turn left, I turned left and we were able to get second,” said

Rogers

Clearly the faster car, Rogers got inside position on Lee coming out of turn 4 and made a pass

for the lead. Lee would try to cross him over, but was unsuccessful.

“[When] we were able to pass Lee we were able to check out,” said Rogers.

Two more cautions came out: one for Barry Moore and another after a violent collision between a spinning Mike Ganoe and Richard Storm. Rogers was able to survive both restarts and he held off a hard-charging Chase Johnson in the closing laps to earn his first America Racer win.

“The first win today is just awesome. We got the monkey off our back,” said Rogers. “[We had]

Some bad luck last year; we were in contention to win, but never could get it. So we used last

year as practice and worked real hard over the winter. We came back and got our first W and

we are just ecstatic about it.”

Rogers was not the only first time winner, as Mason Pifer got his first DR win in the 4-cylinder

Any Car race.

Mike Lowe led 25 of 35 laps in the Dominion Stocks race, while Mike Chapman won in a Roman

numeral-clad UCar. Chapman led the entire race, but it came down to some defensive driving

and a last lap drag race to the finish between him and Michael Frayser putting on a show.

“Frayser’s not gonna let me bully him like that again without wrecking me,” said Chapman. “He’s

my buddy, so I gotta thank him for not wrecking me,”

Save. The. Date. Saturday April 19th, The Dominion Triple Memorial 200 LMSC Race presented by Advance Auto Parts, racing in remembrance of Roy Hendrick, Dickie Boswell, and Blake Morris🏁 7k to win, 1k to start, with Dominion stock 6/8cyl ANYCAR Twin Legends Bandos! The FUN and the ACTION happens here! Gates open at 5pm, Green Flag drops at 7pm but you don't have to wait until 5pm to enjoy practice from the climate controlled 118 Bar and Grill! Adults $18 online $20 At the gate day of, Students (15years old and below) $7 at the gate, Kids (5years old and younger) $1 at the gate.