They are often relegated to the final feature of the night at many speedways, and the tracks rarely agree on what they should be called. But most everywhere there is racing, there is a stock car division.

One thing is certain: The king of the stocks is Joe Kelley of Mount Pleasant. Whether he competes in the pure stock class at Lernerville Speedway or the street stock division at Latrobe Speedway, Kelley usually is on top at the end of the season.

In fact, as points-racing ends tomorrow night at Lernerville, Kelley is trying to join Lou Blaney and Lou Gentile as the only drivers in the track's history to win six championships in the same division. Kelley leads Rob Shook by 15 points and Greg Beach by 20 points. A driver can earn as many as 40 points on a race night, 10 for winning a heat race and 30 for winning a feature.

"It's not over until it's over," said Kelley, who has won 12 track championships in his career, including five in a row at Challenger Raceway from 1996-2000. "I've won a lot of championships. It is prestigious to be up with only two other guys. It just goes to show the hard work we put in to it. I'm proud of that, but it's nerve-racking."

After 15 years of racing and most likely a third title at Latrobe, as well, Kelley might abdicate his throne after the season.

"I think this is the last year I'm running for any type of championship," said Kelley, a welder when he's not racing. "It's more relaxing when you go to a track and there are no points involved. It's more like work when you run for a championship. It's taking the fun out of it."

Kelley, 44, has seen the stock division grow in popularity in recent years, mainly because of much-improved competitive racing.

"It didn't used to be like that, but it is now," he said. "It's usually not a runaway at Lerner-ville. It's pretty close. There's been a lot of races that are side-by-side for lap after lap after lap. When the checkered flag falls, there are three or four guys that could win on the last lap. Not always, but more often than the other divisions.

"The cars are looking nicer, the people are taking better care of them, driving better. The rules are what make the competition so tough. They police the rules so well at Lernerville that you can't get away with anything."

Of course, Kelley knows better than to party before the checkered flag falls tomorrow night. For as many titles as he has won, Kelley has also narrowly lost track titles at Lernerville and Latrobe.

"There's no celebration planned," he said. "We're just going to go there and do our thing."

In other divisions at Lerner-ville, Ed Lynch Jr. already has clinched his third sprint car championship at the Sarver oval, and John Flinner has an almost insurmountable lead in the late model class. Dave Murdick, who is aiming for his first big-block modified track title, has a 22-point lead over Jim Weller Jr.

Points tight at Motordrome
Only four more Friday nights remain to decide track champions at Motordrome Speedway, where Neil Brown and Rick Miller are tied atop the standings in the NASCAR late model division, with Garry Wiltrout only 24 points behind. Brown and Miller each have six feature victories, 14 top-five finishes and have identical Competition Performance Index ratings in the NASCAR Northeast Division rankings. Brown is rated second in the Northeast Region behind Doug Hoffman, who competes at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, SchuykillCounty.

Lugnuts
Cranberry native Travis Geisler, who finished 22nd Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, will no doubt go through a learning experience this weekend in the NASCAR Busch Series Food City 250. The event tomorrow night will mark Geisler's first race on the high-banked, half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway oval, where wheel-to-wheel racing usually tests drivers' tempers on every lap.

Limited late models take center stage Saturday at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway when they compete in the Jook George Memorial Fall Classic.

The super late models will compete Saturday at Jenners-town Speedway in two 35-lap features as the track continues to make certain its drivers have enough starts to qualify for points by the NASCAR-imposed Sept. 19 deadline.

Mercer Raceway Park wraps up points-racing Saturday with a Zambelli Fireworks presentation.

Pittsburgh Raceway Park is featuring Subcompact Madness Friday night and a regular show with all classes Saturday night.

Roaring Knob will feature all six of its divisions Saturday. Its King of the Knob 50-lap feature for super late models is Sept. 11.

Latrobe Speedway is off this week for the Westmoreland County Fair.