Reutimann charges 22nd-sixth, Parsons notches another podium
Only a small handful of the 339 cars at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Saturday night were piloted by the same person. Austin Holcombe was one of those drivers doing double duty, and he made the most of his two chances, winning the Hoosier Racing Tire Pro Modified Feature flag-to-flag.
Holcombe drove his Summit Racing Equipment UMP Modified to a ninth-place finish early in the evening, then took his Pro Modified to the track later on and won, scoring his first career Drydene World Short Track Championship victory – one worth $1,500.
“It’s amazing,” Holcombe, of Elm City, NC, said. “It’s an awesome feeling to win at Charlotte. I’ve always wanted to win here, and I’m just glad I could knock this one off the bucket list.”
Once he secured the lead, Holcombe went virtually unchallenged and led every lap. He’s been to every edition of World Short Track since its inception in 2016, and while he was previously never victorious at Charlotte, he’s never shy about his love for the venue.
“I’ve won at just about every racetrack I’ve wanted to on the east coast,” Holcombe said. “This one has been a pain in the butt, but I love coming here. It’s an amazing place, but I just couldn’t ever seem to figure it out. I’m glad we got it figured out and we’re in Victory Lane.”
To pull off his success, Holcombe had a great crew behind him all weekend. Or two.
“I kinda had two separate groups of guys – one working on the UMP car, and one working on the Crate car,” Holcombe said. “Huge thanks to my mom and dad for supporting me to do this. We’ve still got everyday jobs back at home, so we just come to play when we can.”
Chris Dolack Photo
Eric Bentley crossed the line in second, while three-time and defending division winner Jeff Parsons completed the podium in third. Sixth-place finisher David Reutimann was forced to make the show through a Last Chance Showdown and took the final transfer spot in LCS #2. This put him 22nd on the starting grid, where his charge to the front started on Lap 1.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 8A-Austin Holcombe[1]; 2. 11-Eric Bentley[6]; 3. 44-Jeff Parsons[4]; 4. K22-Kenny Peeples[2]; 5. 00-Preston Blalock[13]; 6. 7-David Reutimann[22]; 7. 70-Steve Axtell Jr[3]; 8. 20S-Trey Stamper[12]; 9. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[7]; 10. 23-Buck Stevens[9]; 11. 2T-Ty Norder[21]; 12. 60X-Dean Noseworthy[17]; 13. 52-Chris Stowe[25]; 14. 17-Case Daniels[11]; 15. 28-Michael Beasley[16]; 16. 15-Morgan Widener[5]; 17. 121-Chase Cardwell[15]; 18. 69-Harley Stanley[20]; 19. 7D-JR Davis[26]; 20. 3-Dennis Brewer[10]; 21. 1-Richard Shupe Jr[18]; 22. 92-Martin Larry[24]; 23. 16-Daniel Allen[14]; 24. 19-Ryan Morgan[8]; 25. 312-Greg Brown[23]; 26. 39-Russell Baker[19]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (6 Laps): 1. 39-Russell Baker[4]; 2. 2T-Ty Norder[6]; 3. 312-Greg Brown[1]; 4. 23A-Austin Self[2]; 5. 56-Justin Blevins[5]; 6. 72-Patrick Field[12]; 7. 83-Kevin Vanhorn[7]; 8. 71-Dennis Kirk[13]; 9. 52-Chris Stowe[3]; 10. 99-Michael Woodcock[11]; 11. 8P-Jason Powers[9]; 12. 50-Ronnie Covey[8]; 13. 20-Austin Hedrick[10]; 14. (DNS) 78-Michael Harrell; 15. (DNS) B5-Brian Strickland
Last Chance Showdown 2 (6 Laps): 1. 69-Harley Stanley[2]; 2. 7-David Reutimann[5]; 3. 92-Martin Larry[13]; 4. 73-Chris Nickerson[15]; 5. 59-Grayson Wells[1]; 6. 5-Ethan Wilson[8]; 7. 18S-Ray Suman[4]; 8. 32K-Tyler Kussman[11]; 9. 23K-Kenny Kallam[9]; 10. 00R-Jerry Reich[12]; 11. 7D-JR Davis[7]; 12. 00B-JP Blalock[6]; 13. 13-Quentin Haley[3]; 14. (DNS) 25-Mike Davidson; 15. (DNS) 14-Jeff Robinson
