Third time’s a charm, at least that’s what Myatt Snider is hoping.
Heading into this weekend riding a gargantuan wave of momentum, he hopes to land himself in Victory Lane with $25,000, the historic grandfather clock, and his name added to the prestigious late model race win-list.
“It would mean a lot. It’s a historic track where plenty of people have won a lot of late model prestige, and who can say no to a grandfather clock and 25 grand to boot? It’s awesome,” said Snider, the current CARS Tour championship leader. “And it would mean even more because it will definitely put my name out there in a big way saying ‘this guy who has only been racing late models for a couple of years now just won the race for the first time,’ so I’m thinking that it would be a really great honor for us to win. “
Momentum. This word has been the key to Snider’s season thus far, no thanks to the incredible drives he has had in the inaugural CARS Tour season. He gives the CARS Tour a lot of credit for his maturity in the past year.
“I think we are riding a ton of momentum going in because we’re still leading [the CARS Tour championship]. We’ve bridged the gap we had with Deac so now second place has to worry about more than just me going into the finale, so it has instilled some confidence in me going into this race that I feel really, really good about it. But yeah, we’ve just been quick in general all year, so I’ve been feeling really good about this year. It’s probably been one of my most successful years in late models, so I’m feeling very confident about this race.”
Speaking of the 10-to-go caution, it no longer exists. The removal of this competition caution has received exponential praise from many drivers, crew members, media, and spectators. However, Snider sees the good and, believe it or not, the bad in this historic move.
“Good for the reason that it will not tear up probably about twenty or thirty cars in one sitting. Bad because if somebody somehow has a breakaway race, it could allow them to sort of run away with the whole thing, but for the most part I think it is a really great move,” claimed Snider, a victim of last year’s competition caution. “I think they had a great idea of putting the caution at around 50 to go rather than 10 go to because it’ll give drivers a little more time to be a little more patient with what they do. So I think that it’s a great move and it’ll work out great in the race.”
If you have watched Snider over the last couple of seasons, you should be able to take away one significant feature about his driving style from this season compared to those in the past: his patience as a driver has grown. He will be the first to admit it, too.
“Well, let me put it to you this way. The first ever race I ran at Martinsville, I did not qualify how I thought we should have, and so I got very impatient with how I ran the race. I was taking it three-wide on restarts, you know, on lap 20 of all things. Eventually, I got myself penalized for jumping the restart. So yeah, I learned patience in that aspect. I’ve kind of learned patience trying to push it too hard at the wrong times. And then about 20 or 10 to go before the 10-lap-to- go caution, I was trying to push to get past somebody because I had gotten past somebody on the restart, so I was a little hyped up and I ended up getting past them, but putting myself on the wrong line. Patience will definitely play a large role in every single aspect. The person that can be the most patient, conserve their tires, and conserve their equipment will definitely probably be a contender in the end.”
He claims that patience is one key item heading into a race such as the Valley Star Credit Union 300, but what he says makes the race the most difficult is it’s level of unpredictability.
“Well, the final restarts are always a challenge, I think for everybody, because you don’t know who is thinking what and who is going to go where. For instance, last year, I had no idea that Dillon Bassett was going to miss a shift or do something on a restart that made him fall back past everybody. I especially had no idea that, I can’t remember who it was, somebody took it 4-wide going into the corner, which is just a really bad idea. So there is an element of unpredictability to it. That is the biggest challenge,” Snider explained.
“One of the biggest factors that will play into doing well in the race is just patience and conservation. That is one thing I have actually been very good at in the past two races in Martinsville is conservation of my equipment. While I haven’t been as patient as I should be, I’ve always been able to conserve stuff. I was very good on the brakes, very good on the tires, which has always helped towards the end, so it’s a balancing act, I guess you could say.”
Regardless of Snider’s successful season in the CARS Tour, the honor of winning this race would be exceptional for him. He really believes that he has enough momentum from this season to push forward and make his way to victory lane this weekend. He comes into this race with a high level of confidence as well; moreover, he credits his confidence to his learning curve from the past two years at this track and what he considers his, without a doubt, most successful season in late models.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good chance. I think actually a lot better than last year because running the CARS Tour has really kind of shown me the limits in just about every single aspect of driving a late model, so it’s helped me to figure out what I can and can’t do to make the car better. It’s showed up,” said Snider, who set the second fastest time during test day, a half a tenth behind Timothy Peters. “I feel pretty confident rather because I’ve seen what happens in two races at this point, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of how the race goes. Now it’s going to be a little different this year with the whole no more caution at 10-to-go. It could shuffle things up a little bit, but I have a really good feeling about it.”
Confidence, momentum, conservation, and patience are all vital words he uses heading into this weekend.
