Late Model Stock Cars

Connor Zilisch, Tyler Matthews Win in Hickory Twin 40s

The Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars continues to produce new winners

by
Matt Weaver
April 2, 2023

Carroll Speedshop

Tyler Matthews of Kres VanDyke Racing Development and Connor Zilisch of Carroll Speedshop emerged victorious in the fourth pair of Twin 40s of the season at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

RACE ONE RECAP

While Matthews won the opener, he was all but content to finish second with two laps to go when leader Kade Brown fell off the pace, stalling on the backstretch to start a two-lap dash to the checkered flag. Matthews was able to fend off Vicente Salas and Akinori Ogata on what was effectively a natural green-white-checkered finish.

“We have a pretty good KVD hot rod,” Matthews said. “Looked like we were going to come out of that thing in second. We battled hard on some restarts with (Kade Brown) but these boys have worked hard; we need to be a little better into Turn 1, but a really valiant effort.

“We’ll see if we can bring it back from the invert.”

To his point, Matthews continued a season long theme of hard battles with Brown of Matt Piercy Racing. On the penultimate restart, they came together from the front row and it nearly stacked up the field behind them as Matthews had to save it.

For his part, Brown had led the entire 38 laps until issue.

This first race also continued the theme of awful misfortune for defending champion Landon Huffman who was involved in a lap six crash and battled his way back to 10th.

Matthews drew an invert of 10 for the second race.

RACE TWO RECAP

Annabeth Barnes-Crum felt like a potential victory got away from her in the closing laps.

She took the lead from Huffman on Lap 14, following a three-lap side-by-side battle and remained there until 10 laps to go when Zilisch was able to drive by the outside on the decisive restart.

For Zilisch, it marks a second consecutive week with Carroll Speedshop winning a race with Salas breaking through a week ago for his first career Late Model Stock triumph.

“There is no quit in this team,” Zilisch said. “It was kind of a struggle when we tested here this week. Justin and the team, they just never gave up on it. We started from seventh in this Speedshop Chevrolet and just kept working the top until we got around Annabeth.”

For her part, Barnes-Crum really wanted to get that last restart back.

“It hurts to be so close and come up second at the end,” she said. “Gave it my all. They gave me a really good car and so its disappointing. We’re chipping away at it, one week at a time. It was my race to lose and I lost it.”

And then, after a little more detail, Huffman caught figurative hands too.

“I know all of you came here to see Landon Huffman, so I hate he’s not here to talk to y’all,” she added.

Speaking of Huffman, it was also another frustrating race for the defending champion even if he finished fifth. He led early and then cut a tire, spinning but keeping it off the wall on Lap 21. He was able to replace the lost tire with a fresh one and drove it through the field to finish fifth.

Jeff Sparks completed the podium in the main event.

A pair of notable incidents: Working their way through the field after the invert, Ogata spun on Lap 10 due to contact from Matthews. Bumgarner spun with 10 laps to go due to contact from Brown, who liberally used his bumper coming up through the field after his mechanical issue in the first race. Even before the contact with Bumgarner, Brown had such severe hood damage that it was limiting his visibility.

The races started 21 cars respectively meaning that both were eligible for NASCAR regional, state and national points. The season continues next Saturday, April 8, with a 75-lap main event for the Late Model Stocks.

HICKORY TWIN 40 FEATURE 1