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CARS Late Model Stock Tour

Katie Hettinger looking forward to competing at North Wilkesboro

15-year-old driver comes in off impressive Motor Mile performance

Andy Marquis | STS

NORTH WILKESBORO, NC – Katie Hettinger turned a lot of heads with her runner-up finish in Saturday night’s CARS Pro Late Model Tour race at Motor Mile Speedway, and now she has the opportunity to shine under the lights at North Wilkesboro on Wednesday.

Hettinger, 15, from Dryden, Michigan, was added to the field for Wednesday’s Window World 125 CARS Tour race when Trevor Ward withdrew.  She has so far made the most of the opportunity, qualifying 13th out of 30 cars during qualifying in the early morning hours.

“I’m very thankful for this opportunity,” Hettinger told Short Track SCENE.  “I can’t thank Keeley [Dubensky] and the CARS Tour enough for letting me run.  I’m really excited, this is a great experience so I hope we do good.”

Hettinger’s primary goal is to gain experience in Wednesday night’s race at the historic .625-mile track in the Brushy Mountains.

“This is just experience,” Hettinger continued.  “A top-10 would be really awesome, but I just want to save my stuff and come home with a clean car.”

Hettinger has five wins at Hickory Motor Speedway, more than any other woman at the historic North Carolina track.  On Saturday night, she finished second to William Sawalich in the Pro Late Model portion of a CARS Tour doubleheader at Motor Mile Speedway – and was knocking on the door of victory lane before mechanical problems stalled her progress as she was poised to take the lead.  She followed that up with a 12th place finish in the Late Model Stock Car portion of the race.

It was that run on Saturday that put the short track world on notice of her presence.

“It was really cool because I think we really had that won,” Hettinger remarked.  “There was just mechanical failure, but I’m really glad other people were able to see that.  We still don’t really know what happened yet, but we think it’s something with the ignition box because it’s an old box.  The rain on Friday and everything, we think that had something to do with it.”

The experience Hettinger gains on Wednesday will be valuable against CARS Tour regulars such as Connor Hall, Bobby McCarty, Carson Kvapil, as well as drivers like the 2016 Martinsville Late Model race winner Mike Looney and two-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

30 cars will compete in the Window World 125.  The CARS Tour is accompanied by a Limited Late Model race and a Street Stock feature.  Last night, Chris Chapman edged out Adam Murray to win in a Limited Late Model feature while Bobbie Tumbleston, III won in Street Stock.

Wednesday’s feature racing program gets underway at 7:30pm and can be seen live on Racing America and XR+.

Katie Hettinger on track during practice at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Andy Marquis/Short Track SCENE photo)

Marquis comes from St. Charles, Maryland and has a widespread background in journalism, having covered politics in Washington and Maryland as well as nearly every form of auto racing, including NASCAR, IndyCar, AMA Motocross and IHRA Drag Racing. Now living near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, Marquis covers Late Model Stock Cars and Super Late Models in the Carolinas and Virginia.

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