Haws’ Hot Streak Continues with Third CARS Tour Win
15-Year-Old Battles Back for Tri-County Motor Speedway Triumph
YOUNGSVILLE, N.C.– For the third time in five races in the inaugural CARS Late Model Stock tour, Brayton Haws stood tall in victory lane Friday night at Tri-County Motor Speedway. The 15-year-old put an exclamation point on the series’ first half of its inaugural season with an impressive performance that further extended his point lead.
“Our goal coming into this series was championship, experience and wins,” Haws said following his win at the North Carolina bullring. “So far we are proving we are really tough competition on the track for wins and the championship. I think we have a great shot at winning this championship and I’d really love to be the one to say I was the first champion of this series.”
The day got off to a positive, albeit soggy, start for Haws and the No. 41 Rheem/ Mechanical HVAC Services Ford team. Haws believed that his car was fast enough to win the pole in qualifying, but he didn’t get the chance to prove that when qualifying was rained out thanks to a brief shower. Haws still started up front by virtue of being the points leader.
The track position helped the young driver continue to learn the tight confines of Tri-County Motor Speedway in his first race there. Haws also became a student of the intricacies of restarts as late yellow-flag periods played a major role in the finish.
“Throughout the first 50 laps I was running the inside, but then when Deac McCaskill and Myatt Snider got by me I moved to the outside and felt really comfortable up there,” Haws said. “The high groove I felt like on restarts I could get the biggest runs off the corners and I could just pull them down the straightaways. I did mess up one restart when I took the inside and that’s when Deac and Myatt got past me, but we learned from that and stuck to the outside and came out with a win.”
Haws did have one scary moment to contend with late in the race when McCaskill and Snider got together racing for the lead in turn three. Haws was able to scoot by to take back the lead and eventually the race win.
“I kind of thought something was going to happen because they were racing really hard going into turns one and two. I was running the low line going into three and Myatt got a little loose there in the middle groove. He slid up into Deac and they took each other out.”
While the contact resulted in Haws taking his third win of the season, he was quick to point out that he would’ve rather earned it by battling with Snider and McCaskill to the checkered flag.
“That’s not the way I’d like to win the races,” he said. “I’d like to compete with everyone. But I did have really good racing with Jamey Caudill, so thank you to him for racing me clean. It was a really intense race tonight.”
Now that the 10-race season is in its second half, the attention now turns towards the championship for Haws and his Hawk McCall Racing team. The next step towards that goal will come on July 11 at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia.
For more information on Brayton Haws, visit his website at www.braytonhaws.com or follow him on Twitter at @BraytonHaws.
Sources: 51 Sports/Brayton Haws PR