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Newton, NC (April 7, 2024) – Carson Loftin entered the Hickory Hundred on Saturday night (April 13) as the only multi-time winner of the season for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic. The 16 year-old driver ended the night by collecting his fourth Bankers Life SMARTY trophy of 2024, this time at the famed Hickory Motor Speedway.
“I have no words,” Loftin said in Pace-O-Matic Victory Lane. “We were 18th in practice, we were really shaking our heads there, but Tony helped us figure out what was going on with the motor. Justin Link and all these guys, they put this thing in Victory Lane. This is for all of them. This thing (car) was a rocket ship tonight and I was the one who got to drive it.”
After chasing the rear bumper of Pace-O-Matic Pole Award winner Matt Hirschman for several laps, Loftin got to the inside of Hirschman in turn three with 33 laps to go and took command of the race.
“I wanted to get by Hirschman there since track position would be so big when we took the tire (during the pitstop),” said the driver of the L&R Transmissions / Le Bleu Bottled Water / QMF Metal Fabrication number 23.
Burt Myers put up a fierce battle for the lead in the closing stages of the race, and got to the inside of Loftin in turns three and four coming to the white flag, but the 3-time and defending SMART champion was no match for Loftin.
“Burt raced me clean there at the end,” Loftin continued. “I’m sure it was a good show. We were racing door-to-door coming to the white. I just can’t thank him enough for keeping it classy and racing me clean there.”
While Myers was able to collect his third top-five finish of the year, the Walnut Cove, North Carolina’s driver’s first win since August of 2023 will have to wait until another day.
“I was trying to pace myself early,” Myers said. “I thought the guys were running a little bit too hard. There’s a fine line there about how much track position you think you can give up. And I said ‘if we can be top four when we pit,’ we were fifth. I think we had the car, we drove through the field. I was there man, I was under the 23 and I got the right-front down on me.”
After redrawing the number one starting spot, Hirschman paced the field early in the race, picked up the Bell Helmets Stage One win and the Bankers Life Halfway Leader Award before being passed by Loftin and settling for a third-place finish. Hirschman is also the Jostend Lap Leader of the Race after pacing the field for 6 circuits.
An official finish for the Hickory Hundred presented by Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet, will be announced early in the week.
After a six-week break, the tour will roar back to life at Franklin County Speedway in Callaway, Virginia with the Kenny Minter Classic on Friday, May 24. The night’s racing program will include 110 laps for the SMART Modifieds, as well as the Carolina Crate Modified Series, USAC Eastern Midgets and Legend Cars.
As a whole, SMART fans will be treated to 15 races at 13 different facilities in the tri-state region of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The season commences at the famed North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday, October 19.
All races can also be seen on FloRacing, the official streaming broadcast partner of the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic.
To see the entire schedule for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic, as well as all the latest news and information, please visit the series website at www.smartmodtour.com, and be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: SMART Modified Tour| Twitter: @SMARTMods_ | IG: @smartmods_).
By Spence Smithback – X: @shorttracklife_
