ROUGEMONT, NC :: Dalton Sargeant scored his first career Late Model Stock Car win at Orange County Speedway on Saturday night.

Sargeant’s victory came in the first of two Late Model features at Orange County.  He started on the pole and led wire-to-wire to score the first win of his career.  The victory was also the first Late Model Stock Car win for Lee Pulliam Performance to come without Pulliam behind the wheel of the car.

“It was very exciting for me,” Sargeant said.  “The whole atmosphere of being in Victory Lane, it was new to me. It was great and I really enjoyed it.  Working with Lee Pulliam Performance is great and those guys put in 100% effort with everything they do in setting up the car and giving us something we can win the race with.  It was great being in Victory Lane and seeing all the fans and enjoying everything that comes along with the win.”

Sargeant, who came in to the race fresh off a strong run in the illustrious Winchester 400, knew he had a strong car entering the race.

“You just look at Lee’s stats and know the car’s good and do the work yourself from there,” Sargeant stated.  “Everything went well.  We qualified on the pole.  Orange County is a tough place to pass so you get a good start and can open up a gap behind you and get away.”

Sargeant credit some newfound bravery for his weekend success.  He felt he learned a lot running at the fast and difficult Winchester Speedway in Indiana.

“It’s funny, qualifying wise, we struggled all year in Late Models.  After being at Winchester, it opened up everything to me and everything came slower and easier because it’s such a fast pace at Winchester especially when the tires fall off and you have to manage the car and what not and just not try to spin the tires and keep it straight.  It was difficult but helps in the long run because of how much easier everything else is going to be.  At Winchester, you start having to run a lower line as the race went on.  The banking played a tough role.  Physically, that race wears even the top drivers down.”

Sargeant had been running inside the top-five for much of the race until having to retire from the race within the final 100 laps.

Sargeant won’t run any more Late Model Stock Car races this season as he’s now turning his attention to the Snowball Derby in December where he will race for Richie Wauters.  He plans to be back with Lee Pulliam in 2015 if chooses to run Late Model Stock Cars again next season.