HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Drake Troutman rolled into the revival of Appalachian Mountain Speedweek fully convinced he has the goods to win the miniseries championship.

The 18-year-old from Hyndman, Pa., has taken his talents across the country this year, progressing at such a rate competing on the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series or Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series isn't far-fetched in the coming seasons. Through three miniseries races, Troutman’s showing how much he’s bulked up in stature as a driver in recent months as the only driver to lead laps in two features. 

What’s lacked for Troutman, however, are the finishes. And if it weren’t for Friday’s flat right-rear tire with three laps left at Clinton County Speedway — an 80-point swing from where he was running in fourth to where he finished in 23rd — he’d theoretically be third in the standings, 43 points behind Tyler Emory, rather than seventh and trailing by 123 points.

Because Troutman is chasing hardware and the stepping stones most viable to advancing his fledging career, he’ll likely abort his miniseries run following Tuesday’s fourth-round event at Path Valley Speedway in Spring Run, Pa. for another miniseries: the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, which opens Wednesday at Peoria (Ill.) Speedway.

“We were just talking … as good of a deal as this is, I’d love to stick around the rest of the week,” Troutman said. “I have to kind of think a little bit business wise where I can go race five days for $10,000-to-win point fund (on the Summer Nationals). … This deal here, I probably won’t finish top-three in points even if we run good every night. We’ll probably head west, and a lot of people probably won’t agree with it.”

Troutman has led 35 of 105 miniseries laps through three races. On Friday at Clinton County, he started from the pole and paced the opening 10 laps before eventual winner Jason Covert took over. Troutman then occupied the fourth position until an apparent piece of debris cut his tire down with three laps to go.

“The tire really started going away halfway through the race,” Troutman said. "Had a really good car all night, just probably needed a little different tire. That’s part of the game though.”

On Saturday at Hagerstown, Troutman led laps five through 29 and was positioned for the $4,000 payday before a caution changed that with six laps to go. Troutman, racing the new National Late Model Tire on all four corners as uniformly implemented across the national tours, couldn’t outlast Satterlee and Kyle Hardy.

Both Satterlee and Hardy leveraged the miniseries open tire rule — Hardy using four different compounds with an American Racer on the left-rear — which may have given him an edge over Troutman deeper in the race. 

“These open tires compared to our new tires from Hoosier … the old stuff is a lot better,” Troutman said. “Like, the open tires are a lot better. So, like, we’re going out here with all these new tires, and that’s all we’ve been running on. It’s just been kind of a struggle here because the open stuff is just a lot better of a tire altogether.

“It’s definitely not helping us, but at the same time, you have Satterlee, who is the best in the country here, you know what I mean? Like it doesn’t matter if Lucas Oil comes here or not. To be able to race with him really all week, it’s definitely pretty cool. He’s tough here. If we are going to lose to anyone, it’s not too much to hang your head about.”

He pointed to being overtaken on a restart with six laps remaining as evidence that Hoosiers NLMTs don't fire as well starts and restarts compared to Hoosier’s previous open tires, still legal as tours transition the rules.

“You still have a lot of tread, but it’s not like they really come in,” Troutman said. “They don’t even get hot. They just never go in there and plant. They never go in and start sticking. … Where like 1300s, 1325s, 1425s, those are kind of the tires here. You could roll in there and get planted and get the drive up off (the corner). That’s all part of the gig. I think they said within the next couple of weeks, we’ll be on 2s and 3s and 4s, which I don’t know why we didn’t do that back in April, but it’s whatever. It’s definitely a little frustrating, but it is what it is.

“We aren’t bad. If we had any open tires leftover — shoulda, coulda, woulda — I feel like we could have ran a lot better (Sunday) and (Saturday). But that’s all part of the gig.”

Troutman’s stocked plenty of NLMTs because he’s getting ready to run 25 of the 28 Summer Nationals races this next month, a type of schedule the teenager has long dreamed of. He'll skip three Summer Nationals races to compete in June 22-24’s Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. 

And yes, he’ll be racing Summer Nationals events sandwiched around the Firecracker 100 on June 21 at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway and June 25 at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway, making the nine-hour drive from Davenport, Iowa, to Sarver, Pa., on June 22 and then another nine-hour drive back to the Midwest on June 25 for Lincoln.

“I’ve been wanting to do this Hell Tour deal for the last few years now,” Troutman said. “This year I feel like is probably the best year we can do it the right way. We’re going to roll out there and hopefully make enough money we can afford to get back home without pushing the hauler back home. Hopefully it’s a good month and a half to two months out there.”

If Troutman can accrue a near flawless points night and receive some help Tuesday at Path Valley, there is a slim chance he could stick around for the miniseries. 

“It wouldn’t be out of reason,” Troutman said. “But those guys there (toward the top of the standings) … (Tyler) Emory’s been tough. Satterlee is one of the best in the business. It’d be cool to come race this deal. Really hoping they bring it back. I’m hoping they do it again next year. It’s all part of the game. We’ll put our heads down and get to work on Tuesday.”

Troutman did captured the modified portion of Sunday’s event at Hagerstown for his 14th overall victory. Three of those are in the Late Model — April 1 at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, April 7 at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway and June 3 at Latrobe (Pa.) Speedway.

Troutman also has a pair of podiums away from Pennsylvania this year: third behind Brandon Sheppard and Tanner English with the MARS Championship Series at Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Ill., on April 30 and another third in one of the Alabama Gang 100 semifeatures at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. 

Seeing racetracks for the first time a ways from home won’t startle Troutman, whose Longhorn Chassis is locked and loaded for the trying but potentially monumental summer.

“Honestly we’ve been rolling out the same everywhere,” Troutman said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re on a 5/8-mile track or a fifth-mile track. It’s the same setup. This Longhorn, as I’ve said, has been phenomenal. Definitely feel like we have a good piece right now. Just need to put a few pieces to the puzzle together here to finish it off.”