Kyle Dudley’s dream of winning a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car race came true on Saturday night at Caraway Speedway and that victory gave birth to championship hopes.
Dudley’s first ever NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I victory came in the second of two Late Model Stock Car races at Caraway Speedway which is located in Sophia, North Carolina. Dudley, who called his car “an absolute rocket”, started the race in second and passed Stacy Puryear to score the victory – a victory he has wanted his entire life.
“Oh man, it was unreal man,” Dudley said. “It’s just unbelievable. It’s something you dream about and we’ve been working hard at it the past few years. To finally pull it off, it hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s just really awesome.”
Dudley, who was a regular at Franklin County Speedway in years past where he won three championships, has been running the full season at Caraway. He’s finished inside the top-five much of the season and has been able to smell victory lane all season long. Now that he has won, he finds himself in position to win the track championship.
“Me and my team, it’s huge for us. It makes us feel more confident in ourselves and what we’re doing. It’s just awesome. Hopefully we can pull off a championship there. We’re leading the points up there. I hope we can do that, it would be nice.”
If he pulls off the championship at Caraway, it would be his first at a NASCAR sanctioned track. That championship would come with an invite to the year-end banquet at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dudley says he has thought about that ever since the championship picture began to tilt in his favor.
“Trust me, we’ve been thinking about it since the points deal came up. It’s something we’ve strived for forever. I think we have a good shot at it but we’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing. I just want to be there. It would be unreal. It would be big.”
Christian Eckes scored his first career Late Model Stock Car win in the first of the two races at Caraway.
