Longs, SC driver Matt Cox prevailed in a race-long battle with Ryan Millington to win the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stocks feature Saturday afternoon at Florence Motor Speedway.
Cox sped to his second pole position of the season with a speed of 81.232 miles per hour to lead the 18-car field to the green flag. Cox got the advantage on the start over outside pole sitter, Zack Miracle, but the car on the move was Millington as he made his way to the front from the sixth starting position. The only caution of the race waved on lap 25 when David Roberts appeared to have an engine problem and stalled on the track in turn four.
On the restart, Cox and Millington traded several door slams before Millington was able to take the lead. But, just as it had earlier this month, Millington’s machine began to struggle late in the race, allowing Cox to make several attempts to take the lead. Cox made an aggressive move to take the lead entering turn one with 12 laps to go and was able to bypass Millington for the top spot. Cox led the rest of the way for the win over Ryan Glenski, Millington, Janson Marchbanks, and Jamie Weatherford. Rounding out the top 10 were Austin Somero, Averitt Lucas, Chris Throckmorton, Casey Kelley, and RA Brown.
Polesitter Davey Hatchell survived a dust-up on the first lap to score a dominant win in the Charger division. Hatchell and Brian Owens got together on the front stretch at the completion of lap one and both barely avoided crashing. Following Hatchell and Owens at the finish were Archie Adams, Jr., Talon Gallimore, and Carter Langley.
The SuperTrucks raced for 40 laps with Lucas Williams taking the lead from Jody Measamer on lap three and holding on the rest of the way for his first win since 2019 at Myrtle Beach. The only caution of the race occurred on lap six when James Krakeel went for a spin on the backstretch. Following Williams at the finish were Neal Grant, Strom Altman, Measamer, and Adam McCumbee.
Kevin Jackson prevailed in a side-by-side battle with AJ Sanders in the late going to claim his first Mini Stock win of the season. Rounding out the top five were Brandon Clements, BJ Thrasher, and Matt Briggs
The next race at Florence Motor Speedway will be on Saturday afternoon, March 20th featuring the SMART Tour Open Wheel Modifieds, plus the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stocks, Chargers, SuperTrucks, and Mini Stocks. Be sure to “Like” Florence Motor Speedway on Facebook, follow @FlorenceMSpdwy on Twitter to keep up on all that’s going on in 2021, visit fmspeedway.com. or watch all the action live each week on fmspeedway.tv.
