Rug Ratz Racing- Slick Nick

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Hey! I’m Tabatha Pugh — Your Local Realtor! 🏡✨

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When I’m not helping people buy and sell homes, you’ll usually find me being a proud mom and spending my weekends between go-kart tracks 🏁 and cheer competitions 📣.

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I’m so excited to connect with you, share more of our local community, and be your go-to resource for all things real estate & Plant City.

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Heading to GA and SC to race at some tracks for the first time 🏁

Back in 2024 when we went from competitors to supporters and now teammates on JLM Motorsports.
Case Hockman Racing INC

8/22/26 Auburndale Speedway
📸 Between Laps by MJ

🏁 RACE DAY RECAP – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY 8/22/26 🏁

Well… this race day definitely didn’t go quite as planned.

We had a rain delay after the first practice 🌧️🌧️
It was HOT and muggy 🥵🔥☀️

We started the night with qualifying and only got 3 laps in before our transponder fell off the car, meaning only those first three laps counted. Thankfully, Slick Nick got it done early, and those laps were still good enough to put us P2 out of 10 cars! 💪🔥

Next up was the heat race. Nick took the green and was wrecked on the backstretch right away. He was able to make the restart and got a few laps in, but unfortunately the Panhard bar was broken, forcing him to pull it in. Our JLM Motorsports team went straight to work getting the car fixed for the feature, and mission accomplished! 💪🔧

That put us starting P8 for the feature.
We knew we had a FAST car, but starting 8th meant Nick was going to have to work his way through the field. And that’s exactly what he started doing. He was moving forward and at times holding a great outside line because the speed was definitely there. 🔥

Unfortunately, there’s a difference between a little bumping and rubbing that comes with racing and just flat-out plowing someone. To be completely honest, the racing got nasty, tempers reached their limit, and our night ultimately ended with a DQ after returning what was received.

Are we mad about it? NOPE.

Sometimes you can only take so much before you’ve had enough. We had a conversation with our driver afterward and reminded him that certain people and situations simply aren’t worth reacting to. At the same time, every driver has a limit, and ours reached his in that moment.

But that is exactly where we leave it—in that moment and on that night. We don’t carry it over to the next race. It’s done, it’s over, and we move on. 🏁

Should he have returned what was given to him? Maybe not. There are consequences that come with reacting, and tonight that consequence was a 🏴 DQ. We can accept that. What we don’t understand is why only one driver was held accountable when he was returning what had already been given to him.

We aren’t making excuses for Nick’s reaction. We just believe in being completely honest with our followers—the good, the bad, and everything in between. Racing isn’t always rainbows, sunshine, trophies, and checkered flags. Emotions are real, frustrations happen, limits get reached, and sometimes lessons are learned the hard way.

Before everything happened, Slick Nick had worked his way from P8 to P4, and THAT is what we’re taking away from tonight. The speed was there. The car was there. Our driver was moving forward. 🔥

We’ll take the lesson from tonight, turn the page, and come back ready for the next one. One rough night doesn’t define a driver or a race team.

A huge THANK YOU to Jesse Martinez and the entire JLM Motorsports team for all the hard work. After spending the summer racing in Charlotte, they came home and had to put in even more hours, including putting a front clip on the carand making sure everything was ready to go for race day. That kind of work doesn’t happen without a lot of time, dedication, and late hours behind the scenes.

Thank you to every single person who came out to help and put their hands on this car. We appreciate each of you for battling the heat all day, putting in the work, making repairs, and doing whatever needed to be done to keep us racing. It truly takes a team, and we’re thankful for ours! ❤️🏁

It’s done. It’s over. We learned from it. Now, on to the next. 🏁💛

Slick Nick Newsome #31�Rug Ratz Racing
JLM Motorsports
The Aguilar Family
Tabatha Pugh - The Local Team - Your Local Realtor
Empty Pocket Motorsports

Practice day!! Racing tomorrow 🏁🏁

Congratulations Tyler on the win 🏆 🏁
Had a blast being part of the pit crew 💪