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NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series

Vicente Salas, Kade Brown Split Hickory Week 3 Twins

The race also featured an exceptional show of emotion and sportsmanship.

In just his second overall race day in a Late Model Stock Car, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series contender Vicente Salas broke through for his first Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series win on Saturday night in the second half of a Twin 40 at Hickory Motor Speedway.

The victory followed a runner-up to Kade Brown in the first half of the Twin 40s and came in a car prepared by Carroll Speedshop. Salas entered the Opening Night Twin 40s on March 4 but missed the second Twin 40s of the season due to damages sustained in the opener. As a result, his first Late Model win effectively comes in just his fourth start on just his second race weekend, with only a Pro Late Model start with Donnie Wilson Motorsports as the only comparable equivalent.

But the win didn’t seem like it was meant to be as Michael Bumgarner was just feet away from taking his own maiden victory when the caution light came on for a Bryson Ruff spin in Turn 1.

This set up a green-white-checkered finish with Salas hanging on the outside of Bumgarner for a lap before crossing over out of Turn 2 to complete the pass under the bottom.

“I cannot believe we are standing here,” Salas said in victory lane.

Again, this is just his third Late Model Stock start and fourth Late Model appearance of any kind.

“I cannot thank Carroll Speedshop and all of our partners enough,” Salas said. “Justin thrashed on this car and we came here on Thursday to shake it down. It was amazing in the race and all the glory to God.”

His disbelief was equally shared by a visibly saddened Bumgarner, who like Salas, was making just his third start of the season after getting crashed out of opening night.

“Really heartbroken really,” Bumgarner said. “We thrased on this car the past two weeks and it breaks my heart to lose one like that. I really can’t thank my guys for all their work. It really hurts, but to lose one like that, man it hurts. We’re going to get us one and win some races.”

He said that with tears welling up in his eyes and sobs for pauses in his speech. It was enough to encourage Salas to walk over across the start-finish line and give Bumgarner, 19, a hug and some kind words.

It was a show of both sportsmanship and how much the win mattered to both young men.

The win by Brown in the first half came from the pole and was of the wire-to-wire variety in the Matt Piercy Racing entry.

“This means so much, especially given how the last few races has gone,” said Brown in Victory Lane, “but we got exactly what we needed … winning and leading every lap from the pole.”

The second race featured an eight-car invert from the results of the first race. It featured numerous crashes from inside the top-five. The first was a first lap dual spin featuring defending track champion Landon Huffman and Charlie Watson in Turn 1. The second saw Ashton Higgins retaliate to being pinched in Turn 1 and 2 by sending Bryson Ruff into the Turn 3 wall.

Driving for VanDyke Racing Development, Tyler Matthews extended his Hickory points lead by virtue of a seventh and third place finish, and issued both praise and scorn to the winners of the night.

“It was some hard racing tonight,” Matthews said. “The car wasn’t really where we wanted it to be so we rode around and saved tires in that first race to see if we could make a smart adjustment. Those two up front, that was some good racing to watch from third, but it’s the same story from the first two weeks — (Kade Brown) is really fast up front in the first race, and then can’t pass anyone in the second race so he just runs all over you.

“We’ll see if we can straighten that out in the next few weeks and maybe double up in one of these twins too.”

Of note, this was the first week this season that the Late Model Stock division did not meet the 16 driver minimum threshold needed for drivers to receive NASCAR Weekly Series regional, state and national championship points. Doug Barnes swept opening night in a possible pursuit of the national championship but opted to race at Southern National Motorsports Park on Sunday following a controversial ruling by track management earlier in the month.

Twin 40 No. 1

  1. Kade Brown
  2. Vicente Salas
  3. Charlie Watson
  4. Bryson Ruff
  5. Landon Huffman
  6. Annabeth Barnes-Crum
  7. Tyler Matthews
  8. Michael Bumgarner
  9. Skyler Chaney
  10. Clark Houston
  11. Bryce Applegate
  12. Samantha Rohrbaugh
  13. Toni Breidinger
  14. Ashton Higgins
  15. Doug Barefoot

Twin 40 No. 2

  1. Vicente Salas
  2. Michael Bumgarner
  3. Tyler Matthews
  4. Kade Brown
  5. Annabeth Barnes-Crum
  6. Charlie Watson
  7. Skyler Chaney
  8. Bryce Applegate
  9. Landon Huffman
  10. Bryson Ruff
  11. Ashton Higgins
  12. Samantha Rohrbaugh
  13. Toni Breidinger
  14. Clark Houston
  15. Doug Barefoot

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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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