Among the tracks Mike Hopkins has won at during his career include Richmond Raceway, Seekonk Speedway and Jennerstown Speedway.
The Hermon, Maine native added a CARS PLM Tour win at Southern National to that list of accomplishments on Saturday afternoon. He took the lead from Justin Crider on Lap 43 of the 100-lap feature before surviving a chaotic finish to park his car in victory lane.
“This place is phenomenal,” Hopkins said. “It’s fun, it’s racy and there’s a good class of cars. [Michael Diaz] does a phenomenal job along with the CARS Tour. This is only my third CARS Tour race, but winning never gets old, especially when you race part-time like myself.”
Hopkins’ goal for the Puryear Tank Lines 225 was to be smart, as he admitted to losing several races during his career by being too aggressive early on.
Even after effectively conserving his tires and pulling away from the field, a rash of late-race cautions forced Hopkins to fend off drivers like Gavan Boschele and Katie Hettinger for the win. He withstood every challenge that came his way and commended the young competitors for racing his cleanly during the restarts.
Hopkins does not know how many more PLM Tour races he will run in 2023 as he competes for several different sanctioning bodies, but he believes his performance at Southern National on Saturday is a sign that he will be competitive on a consistent basis.
“[My confidence] is pretty high,” Hopkins said. “We want to win [as many as we can], but we’re at least starting off with a bang.”
CARS Tour Puryear Tank Lines 100
Southern National Motorsports Park
March 11 2023
- 15 Mike Hopkins
- 19 Bryan Kruczek
- 49M Luke Morey
- 7C Justin Crider
- 81 Katie Hettinger
- 28 Isabella Robusto
- 9 Ashton Higgins
- 96 Caden Kvapil
- 15 Brett Suggs
- 77 Logan Jones
- 13 Austin MacDonald
- 43 Nick Loden
- 03 Kyle Campbell
- 6 George Phillips
- 24 Carter Langley – OUT
- 5B Gavan Boschele – OUT
- 8 Rusty Skewes -1
- 43H Joshua Horniman -1
- 44 Justin Whitaker -1
- 5 Zac Fowler -2
- 97 Dylan Garner -7
- 48 Jeff Batten – OUT
- 29 Logan Boyett – OUT
- 7 Tristan McKee – OUT
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