Davis Wins at Five Flags, Turns Heads at Bowman Gray
SD Scores Pro Late Model Win in Pensacola
While one part of Spencer Davis' season came to an end Saturday night, another part of his 2014 campaign hit a high mark.
The 15-year-old driver from Dawsonville, Georgia
finished an impressive seventh in the NASCAR
Whelen All-American Series Modified season finale
at North Carolina's Bowman Gray Stadium in the
Hillbilly Racing No. 79. Just 24 hours before his
Modified run at "The Madhouse," Davis was in
victory lane at Five Flags Speedway with his
No. 129 Pro Late Model in one of the two features
Friday night at the Pensacola, Florida half-mile.
All told, in a wild stretch of 200 laps at two different
tracks in two states in the span of 24 hours, Davis'
weekend with plenty of memories of a head-turning weekend.
"This was a good end to a fun weekend," said Davis after finishing seventh in his Modified Saturday night. "We had the car to beat at Five Flags and worked our way towards the front (at Bowman Gray).
What began as a chance to fine-tune a setup for his Late Model at Five Flags for the big Snowball Derby weekend in December turned into a win and a second-place finish in the two Pro Late Model features Friday night.
"We were fastest in practice on our mock run, a half-second quicker," said Davis. "Everyone mocked up the second round and we were doing race runs. I messed up just a little bit and barely missed the pole. I've never been good at qualifying in a Pro (Late Model) car there.
"We started second and stayed there with five to go and got the win, which was cool because we finally got the first win with Randy Armstrong as my crew chief."
Davis put on an even more impressive performance in the second race, even though it ended up one spot short of a second victory.
"In the second race, they make you start last and we came from all the way at the rear and ended up a strong second. We've been good at the track that I was not a huge fan of racing at in the past. Now it's like it's become one of my better tracks. That's definitely good for the Derby."
After a long, overnight trip from Pensacola to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Davis had his fair share of trials and tribulations in the 150-lap Modified division season finale at Bowman Gray. Mechanical issues, a disappointing qualifying effort and a rain delay late in the race all tried to keep Davis and the Hillbilly team down, but they persevered for a seventh-place finish.
"We went out in first practice and had a steering rack that was broken from the last race here. We came in the next time and the alternator broke a hole through an oil line, so we had to fix that. We had no practice and qualified 15th. We fell to the back and riding around 19th. The car was just real tight. Then the car just started coming to me. It got better, which the car usually does here, but we're just usually further up than we were tonight. We moved up and got to ninth when the rain came. We had the green white checkered and ended up seventh."
The seventh-place finish locked up 11th in points for Davis at Bowman Gray.
Next up for Davis is a Modified Labor Day weekend doubleheader. He'll be behind the wheel of his No. 79 21 Means 21 Modified in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour event at Langley Speedway in Virginia Saturday, then again on Labor Day Monday in the KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series event at North Carolina's Ace Speedway.
