Davis Displays Ability to Adjust With Top-10 Finishes in SLM and Modified
Georgia Driver Finishes Eighth in SSS at Five Flags, Fourth at Bowman Gray
Spencer Davis has had a busy schedule during the 2014 racing season. The Dawsonville, Georgia driver has competed in two, or even three, races during a race weekend on a number of occasions this season. This past weekend, Davis not only competed in three different races but he did so in two different styles of race cars – a full-fendered Super Late Model and a
Tour-Type Modified.
At the end of the weekend, Davis displayed his ability
to adjust to two completely different racecars at two
different race tracks by recording an eighth-place
finish in the Southern Super Series event at Five Flags
Speedway (FL) and a fourth-place finish in the first of
two Bowman Gray Stadium (NC) Modified features.
On Friday night, Davis returned to his roots of Super
Late Model racing by entering his first Southern Super
Series event of the 2014 season. With a new crew chief, Randy Armstrong, calling the shots, Davis showed that he was a contender after qualifying second and leading the first 73 laps of the event before the halfway break.
Following the halfway break, Davis’ No. 129 developed a very loose condition forcing him to slowly fade before crossing under the checkered flag with a solid top-10 finish in his return to full-fendered racing.
“We didn’t get the win, but we came back to Super Late Model racing and proved that we were contenders right out of the gate,” Davis said of his run at Five Flags Speedway. “We qualified second, just a tick off of the pole, and led the first 73 laps of the race. We couldn’t pick it up quite enough to keep Daniel (Hemric) behind us, but we learned a lot for when we go back for the Snowball Derby.
“Our whole goal from lap one was to see how hard we could run the car and see how it would do and how it would react. It did what we thought it would and got loose.”
After the race in Pensacola, Florida on Friday, Davis headed north to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for one final tune up before the highly-anticipated NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour event at the track on Saturday, August 2.
As a result of his busy travel schedule, Davis wasn’t able to practice the car during the morning practice but fellow Modified competitor Jason Myers shook down the No. 79 Coors Light 21 Means 21 Pontiac until he arrived. Davis would end up starting the first of two Modified features from the third spot and battled within the top-three, getting as high as second, for the majority of the event before finishing fourth.
“We were up in second the whole time, but it’s Bowman Gray,” said Davis. “I got moved out of the way because I was a little bit too loose. It definitely is a confident builder knowing that we’ve figured out some more stuff that will help us out this upcoming weekend.”
This weekend’s NWSMT event at Bowman Gray has been one of the major events circled on the Hillbilly Racing Team calendar during the 2014 season and Davis is excited about his chances during this upcoming weekend’s event at “The Madhouse.”
“Realistically, I think no less than a win,” Davis said of his expectations for the weekend. “We’ve been preparing for this race all year. We’ve focused on this race a little bit more than any other race and I think we have the handling of the track down. We’re going to try to go lead laps and get the win.
“It’d be pretty cool for my first Modified win to come at Bowman Gray with the history and all. It’d also be great to get the Hillbilly’s their first win at ‘The Madhouse’”
The green flag for the StrutMasters.com 199 is scheduled to wave at approx. 8:40pm ET on Saturday night.
For more information on Spencer Davis, follow him on Twitter at @SpencerDavis_29.
