{"id":92595,"date":"2024-04-30T16:18:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T16:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/shawn-murder-nova-ellington-scores-first-ever-no-prep-kings-win-at-virginia-motorsports-park-scott-taylor-secures-second-chance-bracket-victory\/"},"modified":"2024-04-30T16:18:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T16:18:25","slug":"shawn-murder-nova-ellington-scores-first-ever-no-prep-kings-win-at-virginia-motorsports-park-scott-taylor-secures-second-chance-bracket-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/shawn-murder-nova-ellington-scores-first-ever-no-prep-kings-win-at-virginia-motorsports-park-scott-taylor-secures-second-chance-bracket-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Shawn \u2018Murder Nova\u2019 Ellington Scores First-Ever \u2018No Prep Kings\u2019 Win at Virginia Motorsports Park, Scott Taylor Secures Second Chance Bracket Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u2019s No Prep Kings<\/em> event at Virginia Motorsports Park once again made history, as Shawn Ellington \u2013 better known as Murder Nova \u2013 finally secured his first-ever Invitational win. It was a long overdue victory for one of the original Street Outlaws<\/em> cast members, with the NPK series now in its seventh season.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The $30,000 win was an emotional one for Ellington, who admitted afterward that his feelings got the best of him once he got out of the car and saw his wife, Erin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Upshift360 photo<\/p>\n

\u201cI told everybody that 100% whenever I got my first win I would cry, and we did it at the other end,\u201d said Ellington in his post-race interview. \u201cErin came up to me, she\u2019s bawling, and it just happened. It is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellington\u2019s weekend began with some luck on Friday night, as his first-round opponent, Joe \u201cDominator\u201d Woods, was unable to make the call. Ellington used the bye run to advance into the winner\u2019s bracket for Saturday\u2019s main event.<\/p>\n

Victories over Kallee Mills and \u201cDaddy Dave\u201d Comstock set up an epic semifinal matchup between Ellington and the NPK season six Individual points champion Kye Kelley. Kelley had been absolutely dominant in Virginia, winning the past three Invitational events at the track. That streak came to an end as Ellington won a great side-by-side race.<\/p>\n

In the finals, Ellington defeated Justin Swanstrom, who got close to the wall about mid-track and had to lift. Ellington, meanwhile, laid down another blistering pass, a common theme for him throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely came into this season prepared,\u201d Ellington said. \u201cThe car\u2019s been on rails and it\u2019s working really good right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nUpshift360 photo<\/div>\n

After only competing in a total of two events during the first three seasons of NPK, Ellington joined the show full-time in season four. But success was hard to find in those first couple of years. However, with an improved focus heading into season six and the tuning trio of Steve Petty, Brandon Stroud, and Daniel Parker, Murder Nova saw a vast improvement in performance \u2013 which has carried over into this season. According to \u201cStat Guy\u201d Chris LeCloux, going back to the beginning of last year, Ellington\u2019s .645 winning percentage is fourth best in that time span, trailing only Ryan Martin (.746), Kye Kelley (.675), and Nate Sayler (.647).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have worked hard the last two seasons,\u201d said Ellington. \u201cWe did get our teeth kicked in [in previous seasons] and at some point you get tired of banging your head against the wall. We said last season we\u2019re going to give it everything that we have, and it paid off even though the wins didn\u2019t come. But hopefully they start coming now.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scott Taylor Wins Second Chance Bracket<\/h3>\n

Another driver searching for that elusive first NPK Invitational win had to settle for a $10,000 prize on Saturday, as fan-favorite Scott Taylor defeated Paige Coughlin in the finals of the Second Chance bracket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started off the weekend a little rough in the first round when we took an L from Ryan Martin,\u201d Taylor posted on social media. \u201cBut we once again regrouped\u2026in the loser\u2019s bracket and thankfully picked up a win in the finals. Happy to race with this awesome group of guys and gals. I\u2019m still digging for that big W.\u201d<\/p>\n

No Prep Kings<\/em> now heads to Empire Dragway in Leicester, New York, on May 3-4 for its third race of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on April 30, 2024. <\/p>\n

The post Shawn \u2018Murder Nova\u2019 Ellington Scores First-Ever \u2018No Prep Kings\u2019 Win at Virginia Motorsports Park, Scott Taylor Secures Second Chance Bracket Victory<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u2019s No Prep Kings event at Virginia Motorsports Park once again made history, as Shawn Ellington \u2013 better known as Murder Nova \u2013 finally secured his first-ever Invitational win. It was a long overdue victory for one of the original Street Outlaws cast members, with the NPK series now in its seventh season.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The $30,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}