The SMART Modified Tour handed down penalties following an incident during the Carteret Clash on August 30th at North Carolina’s Carteret County Speedway between drivers Joey Coulter IV and Jonny Kievman (Jonny Kay). 

Kievman has been suspended for three races and placed on probation until November 30th (covering the remainder of the 2025 SMART season) for entering the race track during red-flag conditions and damaging another competitor’s car during that period. 

Coulter’s Rum Runner Racing Team was also penalized.  Crew Chief Harold Holly has been fined $750. Holly and team members have been placed on probation for the remainder of the SMART Modified Tour season. 

The rulings stem from an incident that not only brought the crowd to their feet at the Swansboro, N.C. track, but it also went viral on the internet. After contact between Coulter and Kay, Kay jogged from his wrecked racecar in turn three and entered the track on the front straightaway. He approached Coulter’s no. 02 Modified and proceeded to strike the windshield of Coulter’s racecar several times with his HANS (head and neck restraint) device. He also made contact with the air cleaner on the hood of the racecar. Coulter fired up his car in an attempt to leave the scene but quickly stopped in order to not make the situation worse. 

“I don't like getting that mad. I don't,” said Kay on Wednesday morning. “I wasn't looking for 600,000 views on social media. I'm a pretty quiet guy and I don't even do social media. It's not my thing. So that wasn't something that I wanted to happen. I'm certainly not that kind of a Bowman Gray showman type of a dude.

“I want to show off passing somebody for the lead and taking the checkers and then if you want to talk about me that's great. Definitely not how that went. It seemed to me at that point I did not have a choice I really didn't have a choice what to do there I've been just disrespected the night before. I’ve been kind of disrespected a couple other times this year that I kept my pie-hole about and now I got my ass handed to me in this situation. Unfortunately the spotter didn’t indicate anything different. So from my perspective, that was just somebody that just took a cheap shot and stuffed me and he wasn't going to even get put to the rear. That's the beef that I have with the series as much as I appreciate and love Chris, and all the people on that Tour. But that ruling was wrong.” 

💥 Some contact and some emotions at @carteretcoswy with the @SMARTMods_ #SMARTMods pic.twitter.com/ggpXHXDizy

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) August 31, 2025

On Saturday night, Kay gave a passionate interview after walking off the track after the incident to FloRacing where he stated that Coulter was “a no-driving piece of sh–t. He dive bombed me and (expletive) backed me in the fence. I had position and he did nothing other than over drive the corner and clip me in the left rear and stuff me in the fence. He didn’t have position. He didn't have anything other than he has two racecars and a pile of money to put them back together. He may have to.”

Coulter responded immediately after the race saying that he had indeed had the position on Kay before the contact that sent the no. 48 into the wall. 

“I was there,” said Coulter. “I guess he didn’t know I was there and didn’t think I was there and threw a temper tantrum. I don’t have time for him. I race better than that and race around people better than that. I don’t have time for people that do that. My guys don't deserve that kind of crap. That’s a 100-thousand dollar racecar and if you don’t have one of our shirts on you don’t touch it.”  

FloRacing spoke to Joey Coulter IV on Wednesday and he said that his team has reviewed the situation but will appeal the penalties handed to his team.  

“We are going to appeal it,” said Coulter, who was working with his team on finishing up an official statement. “We know the rules. Our main point is that the only reason that my team reacted the way they did was because the SMART Tour officials didn't react. And that's the third time that another driver has made it to my window net under a red flag without a single official stopping it. I understand that there's a rule that you don't go onto the racetrack without permission. I think that's a fantastic rule. The team (entering the track) was in a direct response to there not being a response from the SMART Tour officials. I am proud of my team and think they deserve all the accolades in how they deescalated the situation. 

“We have an organization and that's how we operate Rum Runner Racing. We have a very tight knit group of people and the way that we operate is not by accident. I think that it's fantastic the way our team handled it. They completely and totally just deescalated the situation. At the same time, they got everybody to safety. And that's to me, that is the main thing.” 

SMART addressed the issues at Carteret in their official statement on Wednesday. 

“The SMART Modified Tour has a responsibility to its competitors, its fans, and the series, to uphold the highest standards of conduct and safety,” stated Chris Williams, Series Director for SMART. “The safety of our fans, competitors, and officials is paramount. Entering an active raceway or disregarding established rules creates unacceptable risks and we take them seriously. The SMART Modified Tour remains committed to providing a safe and competitive environment where the focus is on racing, respect, and responsibility. Though the situation evolved quickly, Coulter’s crew did enter the racing surface, yet did a commendable job to maintain composure during the ordeal.” 

Speaking to Kay after Wednesday’s penalty announcements, he still feels convicted that he was wronged by Coulter as far as the contact that started the controversy, but does see it to be a little less egregious. 

“Some of my opinions have been adjusted some. Some of them have been reinforced,” admitted Kay.  “Unfortunately, it came down to a communication problem between the spotter and driver. And I got no information on that particular straightaway to indicate that I had any reason to be prepared for contact.  He didn’t have the position. He was there, at the lunge, yes, but down the straightaway I would say that if you look at the video closely, he maybe had his front bumper bar, maybe was alongside my bumper bar. Maybe he had a foot looking at it closely. He did not get there. You can watch the speed of the cars and especially if you watch the video that has the 45 (Max Handley) in it. You can watch the entry speed of the 45 and my 48 be an identical and consistent distance between the cars. You can watch the 02 car gain maybe a tire length or two somewhere in that vicinity. That is not position. Especially at lap 11. That's a place to back out because no good is going to come from that situation other than you're going to wreck the guy outside and possibly yourself too. 

“Yes, he technically did have somewhat of an inside position on me. Yes. Did he have one that I could see? No. Would my spotter have been better off to have (told me)? Maybe. I retract some of what I said after re-seeing seeing the video of it. It's a little less egregious. Still wrong and still lap 11 and still I feel Joey had the opportunity to save me in that situation. I think you do what he did to a guy you dislike. When you know it's close and you know you have a choice and you go ‘screw it’ and jam it in there and go ‘hey, whatever happens happens.’ That's what that felt like to me. Even watching the video.

“He had an inch, you know, or a foot down straight away and that is not the spot at Carteret. He had that option to choose to either push that position on lap 11 or to say  I'm gonna blast him next corner to let him know that I was there. He should say, know what? That's your two strikes, buddy. I'm going to make sure you understand I'm there. That’s Modified etiquette that people understand. Teddy Christopher, two taps and on the third one you are gone. Right? Fair enough. I didn't get that grace. I didn't even get one tap. He claims that he had a count on me previously. Watching the video, I don't see where that is. I see where he looked, but I don't see that he was anywhere under my car at all.” 

Kay said feels like he was run-over the night before during the first leg of the double-header SMART Beach Trip when the Mod Squad ran a 99-lapper at Jacksonville, North Carolina’s Coastal Plains Raceway. During the Friday affair, contact between Max Handley’s no. 45 and Kay’s no. 48 resulted in the Kay’s yellow racer facing backwards. 

“At Carteret I was better than the 45 car in front of me. He (Handley) is the car that wrecked me the night before at Coastal Plains. Even so, I did not retaliate. I told Chris Williams, before the race, that I was going to. I said, if I see the 45, he is going to feel my wrath. But (during the race) I already knew that my car was better than his. And I was like, you know what? I don't have to do anything here. I'm going to stay on his ass. I'm going to keep on his bumper a little in the corners. He's going to miss a corner and in two or three laps I am gone. I don’t race people dirty.”  

Kay was surprised with the contact from Coulter and says he is not aware of any previous incidents between the two Florida drivers. He does feel strongly that he isn’t getting respect from certain drivers in the field. 

“I don’t think I have had a bone to pick with Joey. There isn't, that I'm aware of, any feud and I don't think either one of us have damaged each other's cars or cost each other positions. Maybe it is something that he knows that I don't remember, but I don't think we have any beef that I'm aware of. So if I hadn't been Jonny K and he had a foot on me getting in the corner and I was Burt Myers, or Luke Baldwin, or if I had been Danny Bohn, and he was there, I don't think he does it the same. And I've actually been told that by some pretty experienced spotters and some pretty knowledgeable and longtime racers that have been around the series. That there are a group of drivers in that series that have more respect for some of the field than the other. They don't want the repercussions of some of the people. They don't want to deal with that. Some of the other people, they maybe don't care so much.

Kay strongly believes that something more could be done, by series officials, to penalize contact that results in a spin during the races. 

“So I got wrecked once Friday night. The part of it was that we did get dumped in the middle stages of that race in a situation that should never have happened. Thankfully, we just spun but it cost us a number of positions that we had to try to make up. Clearly the guy dive bombed. Apparently the decision was that it was a racing deal and I end up in the rear and the guy that created the contact got no penalty out of deal. So now Saturday night, I get, from my perspective in the race car, with the information that I had at the moment, I got dive bombed. I got dumped and stuffed in the fence and I junked my race car. I was not told anything different through the radios immediately upon landing that, you know, wow, he dive bombed you or I called him inside or anything like that. And I recognize the fact that he was not already at the back of the field after they had already circulated once or twice. So it was apparent to me that the 02 wasn't going to get penalized for this either.

 “I'm from Hialeah (Speedway) and I don't take it and I'm not going to. So I'm not taking it next time. I'm not taking it. I've shut up now for a while. I've taken stuff that I wouldn't normally have put up with trying to be trying to fit in and be part of this new group and a new series and not wanting to make enemies of people even in certain circumstances where I felt like I was disrespected. 

“I travel from Florida to compete in all of these races, test for these races, and I'm doing it so I can win or I can get in the position to be up front. And some people have noticed and some people haven't. I am getting way better. Our team is getting way better. We're qualifying in the top 10. We were running eighth when we got killed. So I was better than the guys in front of me when we got killed. I don’t drive that way."

Kay’s team is still assessing the damage on their PSR Chassis but says it’s definitely a rear clip and more. He says that the car might be a complete loss. 

“I'm going to be 65 at the end of the year and I'm not spending 60 grand on a new Modified. I'm not doing that, especially in a situation where I'm not sure I can trust that and my best interests are going to be looked after. I do a lot of racing. Modified racing is my favorite. It's the hardest. I've put 10 years into trying to get a feature win in a Modified. I've won Super Late Model races, Pro Late Model races, and road races at Sebring in that time frame. It's not like I don't do anything else and I don't win at it. I do. 

“I want a Smarty trophy as much as I want to take my next breath. I want that bad. I'm not there to participate. I am not there to be run over. The credo at Hialeah is that if you get the wrong end of the stick you get out and you settle it. I’m not saying that's how I'm going to do it in SMART but I don't forget that that's how you gain respect. I've raced with Late Model greats like Dick Anderson and Jimmy Cope, I've run with all the big southeast Super Late Model guys and I really never had a problem with any of them after I made it clear to them that I wasn't going to allow that to happen."

Kay revealed to FloRacing that he plans on having a conversation with Coulter about the incident. 

“He's not very talkative, but we've known each other, in passing, for a long time. We've raced around each other occasionally. I think he's pretty aggressive and in some respects so am I. But, we've not done anything to each other that warranted that we had to go straighten it. I just want him to hear my perspective and I hope that maybe I can impress upon him why I was so pissed.

Kay’s jog through the infield, and rage-filled swinging of his HANS device to strike Coulter’s car left many talking. Even the SMART announcer Bob Dillner was impressed that Kay, while out of breath, was able to make that trek at his age, take out his frustrations on a car and be able to give an interview.

 “I'll be 65 at the end of the year. I work really really hard to be able to get in a physical car like a Modified and perform. I woke up this morning and did 65 push ups and 40-squats.” 

Kay told FloRacing that he will be appealing the ruling announced Tuesday by the SMART Modified Tour. 

“So there's some things that we can’t talk about because there is a process going on with SMART and I truly want to respect that. I love racing on the SMART Tour and I think that the people running the series have the best interest of racing. The wreck itself is turning into a big deal for me financially, I may have lost a race car, completely, over it, but that is a little bit secondary in some respects. There are some issues that I feel are not in the best interest of some of the racers and not in the best interest even of the series where we get in a situation where there's not accountability for actions.

The SMART Modified Tour season continues on Saturday September 10th with the third running of the Robert Jeffreys Memorial at Sophia, North Carolina’s Caraway Speedway. All SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic races are broadcast live on FloRacing.