Race Recap: 03/04 - Hickory Motor Speedway

The first race weekend of the 2023 season has come and passed! I am really happy with the results we were able to produce over the weekend from Thursday’s test session to the feature on Saturday night. After our last race of the 2022 season, I am most happy with bringing the car home in one piece without a scratch to be found.

We started race day with an early practice session from 10am-12 noon where we made small adjustments throughout playing with suspension and trying to keep the nose of the race car down. After a quick lunch we ran official practice where we showed good pace and started to get a better idea of what the other cars were bringing to the table.

We had only one lap to cut the fastest lap we could in qualifying and with the adjustments from practice we secured 3rd for the starting grid: second row inside, which I was really pleased with. An outside spot would have meant a challenge passing and getting to the front row.

The races before our feature were littered with cautions and a few pretty big wrecks so it was a long and cold wait until it was our turn to go racing in the Limited Late Model feature, scheduled to run 35 green flag laps.

Once we finally took the green I got a great jump, but had to left off the throttle and slow my momentum as the leader in front of me didn’t get a good enough start. The car to my outside took full advantage of this and pulled off an early overtake putting me in 4th. I would have liked to compete a bit more for the podium spot, but the car started to run tight through the middle of the corners.

Luckily, I held 4th for the remainder of the race, which went without a single caution. All in all, I am just happy to bring the car home safely. We definitely have some set up work to do before the next race on March 11th, but we are off to a competitive start!

See you at the track!