LUCAMA, NC – Brian Obiedzenski made a late race pass to score the victory in the second of two Late Model races at Southern National Motorsports Park on Sunday afternoon.
Obiedzenski, 34, from Franklinton, North Carolina, surged late in the race and closed in on leader Rusty Daniels in the final laps. With two laps to go, Obiedzenski passed Daniels to take the lead and the win – his first career Late Model Stock Car victory.
After the race, an emotional Brian Obiedzenski talked about what winning, against a stacked field of Late Model Stock Car veterans including Bradley McCaskill and Philip Morris, meant to him.
“Getting the win with a field like this is super special to me,” Obiedzenski told Race22.com after the race. “We just had a baby boy. My wife, my daughter and my son weren’t here today. She’s only missed three races since we were 16 years old. We’re in our 30s now. It was definitely an emotional moment. You saw me crying there, that was happy tears. It’s been a good year for us. We won the championship here last year. Decided to take the plunge into Late Model Stock and here we are sitting in victory lane.”
Obiedzenski woke up on Sunday morning with a feeling that this would be his day, despite being the underdog against a field of heavy hitters and Southern National veterans.
“When we walked in the gate today,” Obiedzenski said. “We don’t have a big team but, man, we try hard. We’ve got a lot of volunteers. Captain Ron Dupont, he’s been with me for a number of years. We don’t give up. Someone sent us a picture of underdog the other day and we posted that and we were going by the whole underdog term today with the way the teams shook out today with what came to town.”
Obiedzenski won the championship in the Charger division last year at Southern National Motorsports Park and finished third in Limited Late Model standings. Prior to running in Chargers, Obiedzenski had raced in Mini-Stocks, predominantly at Ace Speedway where he scored numerous wins.
Sunday’s win was a culmination of hard work and passion for the veteran racer.
“That was a lot of fun,” Obiedzenski explained. “You dream of racing like that and that’s like bottom of the ninth when you’re a kid thinking of that 3-2 count. That was my 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth there with two laps to go. Nothing was in my mind except my family and the sponsors that support me and putting this thing in victory lane like it needed to be. I guess I did my job and so did everyone else because that’s where we’re at.
“I feel like every time we come out, we take good notes, we work hard, we use our time wisely here, we don’t have a huge budget to come out and test. It’s not a lot of money to test, but we try to keep the money in what we are doing. Luck was on our side, our setup was right, we worked hard. That’s what you’re supposed to do as a race team and today, it connected.”
Rusty Daniels ended up finishing second while Boo Boo Dalton, Bradley McCaskill and Ronald Renfrow rounded out the top-five. McCaskill scored the win in the first 40 lap race over Dalton, Philip Morris, Tim Allensworth and Obiedzenski.
Joshua Van Winkle and Michael O’Brien each scored Charger wins. Ryan Matthews won in Legends competition one day after picking up a victory at Carteret County Speedway. Joseph Pittman won in Mini-Stocks, while Chris Hales was victorious in U-CARs and Andrew Warner scored the victory in Any Car competition.
Southern National Motorsports Park will be back in action on Saturday, June 29th.
Results
Late Model – Race 1
- Bradley McCaskill
- Boo Boo Dalton
- Philip Morris
- Tim Allensworth
- Brian Obiedzenski
- Rusty Daniels
- Stacy Puryear
- Kenneth Mercer
- Ronald Renfrow
- Bobby Morris
- Jeff Oakley
- Tyler Matthews
- Wayne Goss
- Aaron Donnelly
- Chris Chapman
- Gerald Benton
- Peyton Sellers
- Alex Fleming
Late Model – Race 2
- Brian Obiedzenski
- Rusty Daniels
- Boo Boo Dalton
- Bradley McCaskill
- Ronald Renfrow
- Peyton Sellers
- Wayne Goss
- Philip Morris
- Tyler Matthews
- Jeff Oakley
- Kenneth Mercer
- Stacy Puryear
- Aaron Donnelly
- Tim Allensworth
- Gerald Benton
- Chris Chapman
- Bobby Morris
- Alex Fleming
