The Hickory Motor Speedway 2023 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series would close out their regular season Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd with the running of the 2nd Annual Championship Night presented by the Catawba County United Way.

The Renegades would lead off the evening’s festivities with their 20 lap feature. Brian Larkin in the #6 would set fast time in qualifying and start from the pole position with Steve Smart in the #16 to his outside. Justin Austin in the #1 and Skylar Hudson in the #25 would make up row two for the start. Larkin would pull to the early lead as Austin would challenge Smart for second. Austin would make the pass for second with Smart close in tow. The #72 of Zach Mullins would start last on the night after a driveshaft problem in qualifying, but would move up to fourth by lap 8. Larkin, Austin, Smart, Mullins, and Hudson would be the top five at the halfway point. Larkin would build a sizable lead with a caution free event in the race, however Austin would close the gap over the closing laps. Larkin would hang on to take the win. Austin would finish 2nd with Mullins driving up to 3rd. Smart would finish 4th and Hudson would come home in 5th. As a result of his 4th place finish Steve Smart would grab the 2023 Hickory Motor Speedway Renegade Track Championship.

Next up would see the Paramount Auto Group Limited Late Models settle two championships with 50 laps in Round 10 of the Paramount Kia ‘BIG 10’ Racing Challenge. Thomas Annunziata in the #15 would top time trials and take the top spot with Chase Janes in the #47 starting to his outside. Row two would see Bryson Ruff in the #24 and Casey Pierce in the #18 side by side for the start. The initial start would see a bottleneck on the high lane at the green flag and the yellow would quickly fly. Possible points battle implications from the initial dustup would be apparent as the second place runner in points, Graham Hollar in the #25, would pull to the pits for repairs. The complete restart would see Annunziata pull to the lead with Janes giving chase. The caution would fly on lap 2 for a spin by Christopher Martin Jr in the #12. Annunziata and Janes would bring the field back to the green flag. Janes would bobble on the restart and lose several positions as Annunziata would lead with Ruff close in tow. Ruff would look to challenge Annunziata for the top spot with Pierce wanting to make his bid for the top spot as well. Lap 14 would see Ruff move to the lead and Pierce move to second. Annunziata would find the high line, but drop several spots, back to sixth on the track. Pierce would move around Ruff for the top spot on lap 17. Ruff would pull to the pits on lap 22 with damage to his hood, but return a lap later after the team made quick repairs. The halfway point would see Pierce, Janes, Connor McGregor in the #30, Brad Perez in the #6, and Hollar as the top five. The caution would fly again on lap 41 for a spin by Annunziata coming off of turn two. The restart would see Pierce and Janes bring the field back to the green flag. Pierce would pull to the top spot with Janes close behind. Hollar would battle with Perez and McGregor for a podium spot finish. Pierce would drive on to take the win. Janes would finish 2nd with Hollar taking 3rd. Perez would grab 4th and McGregor would come home in 5th.

With his 2nd place finish, Janes would take the 2023 Hickory Motor Speedway Paramount Auto Group Limited Late Model Track Championship as well as the Paramount Kia ‘BIG 10’ Racing Challenge Championship.

The Heritage Finance Street Stocks would thunder to life next for their 30 lap event. Cody DeMarmels in the #12 would set fast time in qualifying and start from the pole position with Johnny Reynolds in the #55 to his outside. Trey Buff in the #48 and Marshall Sutton in the #64 would make up row two for the start. Johnny Reynolds would move to the lead on lap 2 with DeMarmels stalking him close behind. DeMarmels would challenge for the top spot and finally make the pass around Johnny Reynolds on lap 9. The halfway point would see DeMarmels, Johnny Reynolds, Sutton, Buff, and Kyle Boice in the #73 as the top five. Sutton would close the gap on second place Johnny Reynolds and challenge him for the position. DeMarmels would drive on to take the win. Johnny Reynolds would finish 2nd and Sutton would take 3rd. John Reynolds in the #55R would grab 4th while Buff would come home in 5th.
Sutton, with his 3rd place finish, would take the 2023 Hickory Motor Speedway Heritage Finance Street Stock Track Championship.

The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Models would hit the famed 3/8 mile oval next to see who would put their name on the historic wall of champions. Kade Brown in the #23 would top time trials and take the top spot with Landon S Huffman in the #28 starting to his outside. Row two would see Clark Houston in the #6 and Michael Bumgarner in the #97 side by side for the start. Brown would rocket to the lead with Houston moving up to second to pressure Brown. Huffman would sit third with Bumgarner in fourth close behind. Lap 24 would see Huffman start to make his move toward the front, moving around Houston for second. Huffman would start to reel in the leader Brown, cutting his lead to a couple of car lengths. Lap 30 would see the caution fly as the #27 of Matt Gould would go up in smoke and roll to a stop in turn two with oil streaming out from under the car. The restart would see Brown and Huffman bring the field back to the green flag. As the field would drive into turn one contact between Bumgarner and Brown would make things interesting, but everyone would maintain control with Brown maintainig the lead and Bumgarner moving to second. Huffman would decide he wanted the second position and would take it back from Bumgarner on the next lap. Brown, Huffman, Bumgarner,  Akinori Ogata in the #14, and Houston would be the top five at the halfway point. Houston would move around Ogata to take fourth. Brown would drive on to take the win. Huffman would take 2nd while Bumgarner would finish 3rd. Houston would grab 4th and Ogata would come home in 5th.

With his 10th win on the season, Kade Brown would cap off a great season and win the 2023 Hickory Motor Speedway NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Track Championship.

Rounding out the night’s action would be the Black Beat Transmission Super Trucks for their 35 lap feature. Charlie Watson in the #17 would set fast time in qualifying and start from the pole position with Charlie Neill in the #21 to his outside. Ashley Huffman in the #7 and Ricky Dennie in the #6 would make up row two for the start. Neill would use the high line to pull to the early lead as Dennie would challenge Watson for second. Watson would nose ahead for second while Dennie would feel pressure from Huffman for third. The halfway point would see Neill, Watson, Dennie, Huffman, and Sheflon Clay in the #15 as the top five. Joey Shuryan in the #30 would press Clay for the fifth position. Neill would prove too strong on the night and take the victory. Watson would finish 2nd with Huffman grabbing 3rd. Dennie would take 4th and Shuryan would come home in 5th.

With his 3rd place finish, Ashley Huffman would win the 2023 Hickory Motor Speedway Black Bear Transmission Super Truck Track Championship.

While the regular season NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series would come to an end, Hickory Motor Speedway will have plenty of action yet to come.  In two weeks, Saturday September 30th, the fan favorite Tour of Destruction rolls into town with their metal crunching mayhem. In three weeks, Friday October 6th & Saturday October 7th, the Prohibition Hot Rod & Moonshine Festival comes to America’s Most Famous Short Track. Saturday October 21st the Southeast Super Trucks come to town. Saturday October 28th will be Trunk or Treat presented by State Farm. Saturday November 11th will see the Calico Coatings Fall Brawl with 200 laps of Late Model racing. Saturday November 25th will be the Christmas Kaboom, Christmas show and fireworks.

Official Hickory Motor Speedway Results 9/16/23

Late Model Race:
1 #23 – Kade Brown **2023 Late Model Champion**
2 #28 – Landon S. Huffman
3 #97 – Michael Bumgarner
4 #6 – Clark Houston
5 #14 – Akinori Ogata
6 #9 – Daniel Armstrong
7 #27 – Matthew Gould
8 #15 – Tyler Matthews – DNS
9 #36 – Chase Janes – DNS

Paramount Auto Group Limited Late Model “Big 10” Race #10:
1 #18 – Casey Pierce
2 #47 – Chase Janes **2023 Paramount Auto Group Ltd & Big 10 Champion**
3 #25 – Graham Hollar
4 #6 – Brad Perez
5 #30 – Jordan McGregor
6 #71 – Daniel Wilk
7 #28 – Bub Haney
8 #50 – CJ McLaughlin
9 #97 – Billy Jack Lester
10 #15 – Thomas Annunziata
11 #37 – Chris Phipps
12 #U2 – Gregory Estell
13 #99 – Billy Snodgrass
14 #9 – Cody Combs
15 #12 – Christopher Martin Jr.
16 #22 – Chase Thaxton
17 #24 – Bryson Ruff
18 #16 – Clint Fields

Heritage Finance Company Street Stocks:
1 #12 – Cody DeMarmels
2 #55 – Johnny Reynolds
3 #64 – Marshall Sutton **2023 Heritage Finance Street Stock Champion**
4 #55 – John Reynolds
5 #48 – Trey Buff
6 #73 – Kyle Boice
7 #71 – Kyle DiVanna
8 #56 – John Guker
9 #13 – Greg Wise

Black Bear Transmission Super Trucks:
1 #21 – Charlie Neill
2 #7 – Ashley Huffman **2023 Black Bear Transmission Super Truck Champion**
3 #6 – Ricky Dennie
4 #30 – Joey Shuryan
5 #15 – Sheflon Clay
6 #51 – Mark Goin
7 #91 – Jay Norville
8 #37 – David Johnson
9 #17 – Charlie Watson DQ

Renegades:
1 #6 – Brian Larkin
2 #1 – Justin Austin
3 #72 – Zachary Mullins
4 #16 – Steve Smart **2023 Renegade Champion**
5 #25 – Skylar Hudson
6 #55 – Jordan Cook
7 #14 – Tim Childers
8 #4 – Gage Austin
9 #81 – Matthew Chambers