Myatt Snider is returning to South Boston Speedway this weekend for the first time since last July. The rising young racing star is extremely optimistic about his chances of winning Saturday night’s 150-lap NASCAR Whelen All American Series feature.
“We’re heading back to South Boston looking to get a win on that track,” said the popular 20-year-old charger who is a sophomore at Belmont Abbey College. “We’ve won races at Caraway and at Kenly (Southern National Motorsports Park). It would really be cool to add South Boston to that list this weekend.
“Saturday’s race will also be a great opportunity to get better prepared for Denny’s big race there on April 23,” Snider said of the prestigious annual invitation-only Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown. “We’re not running for NASCAR national points or any track points titles this season, so winning races is what it’s all about. Winning this weekend at South Boston would be huge, but winning Denny’s Showdown would be a major accomplishment.
“We’re also coming back to South Boston looking for a little vindication this weekend,” said Snider, son of noted NBC-TV broadcaster Marty Snider. “We love racing on that track, but we certainly didn’t have the greatest of luck there last season. We were plagued with problems – got crashed, blew an engine & had more than our share of tire issues there last season.”
In his nine points races in 2014 NASCAR Whelen Series competition at South Boston, Snider had two top-five finishes and four top-10s. His average start was 10.0 and average finish was 11.9 on the demanding 4/10ths-mile oval. The numerous problems Snider encountered left him with a lap completion average of 86.5% (completed 809 of 935 possible laps).
“Our strongest showing there last season was in Denny’s race and it will always be so special to me,” said Snider, who started 30th and finished a strong seventh in the 200-lap all-star battle. “We started way back in the field and passed more cars than anybody in working our way up through the pack.
“We were strong and solid all race long,” Snider recalled. “It was so cool because I was working at Joe Gibbs Racing. Not only was I racing the best late model guys out there, I was also competing against all the JGR Cup drivers. It was such a great opportunity and I will never forget being able to hold off Denny there at the end (for seventh) like we did.”
Snider is coming off a great performance during his first outing for the 2015 racing season and is hoping to build momentum as the year unfolds. In the inaugural race weekend for the new CARS Tour, he showed the strength and consistency necessary for championship potential.
“It was my first race ever to run the coil binding and bump stops and I was so pleased with how things turned out,” Snider said of the X-1R Performance Products 300 at Southern National Motorsports Park. “Jeff (Caudill, crew chief) and the guys gave me one of the strongest cars I’ve driven and they deserve a lot of credit. I think I learned some pretty monumental things in that race…things that will help from now on.
“We qualified sixth and ran in the top six during the entire 150 laps,” said Snider, who was the points’ runner up at SNMP last season. “We paced ourselves for much of the race and saved our best for the end. After the final restart with five to go, we got around Tommy (Lemons) and were sitting in the catbird seat for the finish. If Todd (Gilliland, winner) and Deac (McCaskill, runner-up) would have gotten into it, we were ready to pounce on the opportunity. It turned out they didn’t, but to finish third and have a shot to win like that was something we were proud of.
“Since we are committed to running all 10 CARS Tour races and going for their points championship, it was a great way to kick off the season,” said Snider. “What’s so cool about running with those guys is that it will give me experience on seven different race tracks this season. Next up on their schedule is Orange County (Speedway in Rougemont, N.C.) on the 18th.
“But right now, our total focus is on this Saturday night back racing at South Boston,” Snider added. “It’s a great short track with a lot of racing history. It’d be a huge accomplishment to get a victory there and nobody will be trying any harder than my No. 2 NASCAR America Chevy Team to get the win.”
Saturday’s schedule at South Boston sees registration and pit gates opening at 9:00 a.m. Practice for all divisions is set from 10:30 a.m. till 11:30 a.m. The mandatory drivers’ meeting will be held at 11:45 a.m., just before the grandstands gates open at 12:00 noon. Qualifying begins at 12:30 p.m. with the first green flag falling at 2:00 p.m. Adult general admission tickets are $10 and children ages 7-12 are admitted for $5. For additional information, please call the “SoBo Hotline” at 1-877-440-1540.
TRPR
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