Winston-Salem, N.C. (August 18, 2014) – Dillon Bassett, and the No. 44 Roush Yates Performance/Rex Younger Galleries Bassett Racing team reached victory lane for the eighth time in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series competition in 2014 this past weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway. Bassett qualified in the 11th position but quickly made his way to the front of the field, leading the final 66 laps of the Hickory Motor Speedway 64th Anniversary 100-lap event on Saturday, August 16. The win improved Bassett’s 2014 stats to eight NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) wins, and 26 top-10 finishes in 27 starts.
On Saturday morning, it was evident Bassett was going to challenge for the race win as soon as the No. 44 was unloaded from the transporter. With extremely old tires, Bassett was able to set the 12thfastest lap in practice out of the 18-car field, and wanted no adjustments afterwards. Bassett went into qualifying with confidence in his car and race setup, knowing he was not going to be able to run a fast lap in qualifying. He was proved wrong when he qualified with a time of 15.47 seconds, which was good for an 11th place starting position, one of his best Hickory Motor Speedway qualifying efforts of the season. The green flag waived on the 100-lap main event and Bassett didn’t waste any time going to the front of the field. The No. 44 was scored in the fifth position on lap 22, and moved into third on lap 28, before taking the lead from Josh Berry on lap 34. Bassett and No. 44 conserved his equipment and tires for most of the remaining laps until a caution came out with 32 laps remaining. The ensuing restart didn’t effect Bassett’s domination of the Hickory Motor Speedway 64th Anniversary 100-lap event, as he immediately increased his lead and went on to win, leading the final 66 laps.
Dillon Bassett:
“What a great night for my entire Roush Yates Performance/Rex Younger Galleries Bassett Racing team at Hickory Motor Speedway. We had a really good long run car, which we knew in practice and I have to give credit to my crew chief Seth Smith who made all the right calls to get me to this point. I knew we were going to be a threat for the win after our practice sessions because the car handled really good when we were on 90-lap practice tires, as long as we qualified halfway decent. That was probably the most excited I’ve ever been qualifying 11th, we’ve come back to win at Hickory from qualifying as far back as 17th, so I was really confident we’d be at the front of the field at the end of the night. The win is just further evidence of a great car underneath me that I could conserve tires all night while passing and making my way to the front. After a night like this, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the 2014 racing season.”
