Tyler Matthews has had a red hot start to the 2016 season and looks poised to be a contender in Eastern North Carolina all season long.
Matthews started the season off with a win at Southern National Motorsports Park on April 9th and then backed that up with a runner-up finish at East Carolina Motor Speedway last Saturday night. The win at Southern National was only the second of Matthews’ career.
“It’s not fun finishing second but somebody’s got to do it,” Matthews, 19, from Richlands, North Carolina said after Saturday’s race at East Carolina. “You’ve got the be the first loser sometimes. Coming of a win at Southern National last week, I think we’ve really got some momentum building. It should be a good season … We’ve got a few more things to work, it’s a brand new car, but I think we’ll get it figured out.”
Last season, a victory at East Carolina Motor Speedway and 14 top-five finishes during the season helped propel Matthews to a 15th place finish in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) North Carolina state points. Off to an even better start, having improved a lot as a driver, Matthews could be poised to contend for the NWAAS North Carolina state championship this season.
“We’ll see how this season goes. If we get good car counts, anything can happen.”
2015 was Matthews’ rookie season racing Late Model Stock Cars. In 2014, he raced Limited Late Models at Southern National Motorsports Park before the division was merged with Late Model Stock Cars at both Southern National and East Carolina.
Matthews plans to compete at East Carolina again on Saturday, April 23rd.
