Reigning NASCAR Weekly Series national champion Connor Hall opened the 2024 season the way he frequently experienced 2023.
In victory lane with his family owned No. 77.
Hall will return to the CARS Tour this season, starting next weekend at Southern National Motorsports Park, but with Nelson Motorsports in the No. 22. This was a just for fun Saturday to get his senses sharp in advance of a Late Model Stock Car.
He responded by leading wire-to-wire over Landon Shane Huffman in the first of a pair of Twin 40s on opening night at Hickory Motor Speedway.
“It feels good to win,” Hall said. “I wish we had a full field tonight but it’s nice to start the season on the rigth foot. Credit to the Chad Bryant Racing guys because we started today breaking a flywheel in practice and everyone jumped in to get it swapped out. Looking to kick off the season with a bang to see what happens.”
Huffman sent it in deep in the final corner but couldn’t make it stick and Hall was too far gone anyway.
“I just needed to be tightened up a little bit,” Huffman said. “We were too loose. I can’t thank my Pinnacle Racing Group guys enough. Mark and Jerry Babb. I just ran too hard at the beginning. I need to save my stuff better. I shouldn’t have done what I did on the last lap. We should be better tonight though.”
The battle was for third all night, a spirited duel between Skylar Cheney, Michael Bumgarner and Thomas Beane, all three exchanging positions and paint throughout the opening feature. Bumgarner ultimately earned the final spot on the podium ahead of Bumgarner and Chaney.
“Our car wasn’t where we wanted it to be,” Bumgarner said. “It was a little snug. I just tried to manage to save our tires to get the best finish we could. We work on it for tonight.”
Toni Bredinger failed to make it to the finish with a mechanical failure that may impede her status for the nightcap.
Hall drew an invert of nine, meaning that nearly entire field that finished the race will effectively be flipped for the second Twin 40.
Hickory Opening Night Twin 40 No. 1
Hickory Motor Speedway
March 2 2024
- Connor Hall
- Landon Shane Huffman
- Michael Bumgarner
- Skylar Chaney
- Thomas Beane
- Annabeth Barnes-Crum
- Clark Houston
- Dexter Canipe III
- Laney Buice
- Akinori Ogata
- Ryan Glenski
- Toni Breidinger
