Michael Hardin has quietly emerged as a dark horse at Dominion Raceway, leading laps and knocking on the door of his first win of 2019.
Hardin, 31, from Indian Head, Maryland, has been a longtime fixture in the racing family at Dominion Raceway – dating back to his days racing at Old Dominion Speedway where he won the championship in 2007. Hardin, who has two wins at the Dominion Raceway complex which opened in 2016, is hoping to pick up his first win of the 2019 season in Saturday night’s 100-lap Late Model Stock Car feature race.
He will have to beat some tough competition, which includes Philip Morris and Dominion Raceway’s big three, among others.
“The plan is to win,” Hardin told Race22.com. “We don’t go down there to run second. We had bad luck in the first race of the year and, ever since then, we felt like it’s catch up and we were out of the points. Now, we just race for wins and whatever happens with points happens.”
Hardin was running inside the top three and in contention for the win in the season opener, but mechanical problems sidelined him – relegating him to a 19th place finish. Since then, he has scored three top-five finishes and four wins.
“Before the motor went bad in that first race, I think we had just as good a shot as anybody,” Hardin said. “Last time out, I think we had some bad tires but we corrected them for the second race and nearly won that one. Led everything but the last 15 laps.”
Hardin won the last race ever held at Old Dominion Speedway, the historic 3/8-mile track that stood in Manassas, Virginia for over 50 years prior to its demolition and the opening of Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, Virginia. Now, he has become a dark horse at Dominion and could be poised to breakthrough and score his first win of the season any race.
“I like to be that guy that flies under the radar, but everyone knows I’m still there,” Hardin explained. “I would like to think we’ll win. That first night, I was up there battling with Philip Morris and Jeff Oakley and, honestly, I never even pushed it. I feel like we’ve been fast enough. I think the wins will come, I’m just keeping my patience.”
While Hardin is winless on the season, he is having plenty of fun.
Hardin resides in Indian Head, Maryland, which is located on the western side of the state’s southern region near the Potomac River. When Old Dominion Speedway closed down, Hardin was often driving over four hours for the opportunity to race – leaving Southern Maryland at 4am on race days and getting home well over 24 hours later.
“I didn’t have a local track when Old Dominion closed, but I kept racing. We all have full-time jobs, so we would leave Saturday morning at 4am just to get there when the gates opened. We couldn’t afford to stay at a hotel, so we got home at 7am, unloaded the car, and took a nap. When Dominion opened back up, why not drive an hour and 20 minutes as opposed to three or four hours?”
This weekend, Hardin’s plan is to return to Charles County with a trophy, and a meaningful one as he races against some of Late Model Stock Car racing’s heavyweights. Race22.com will have coverage of Saturday night’s races at Dominion Raceway.
