HICKORY, N.C. — Hunter Robbins joined select company Saturday in the Hooters Pro Cup record books by becoming just the fourth driver to win in a race before his 17th birthday.
Robbins, a 16-year-old rookie, swept past Wade Day with 47 laps remaining in the 4 Brothers 250 presented by Galaxy Food Centers at Hickory Motor Speedway and checked out by 3.650 seconds to win his first Hooters Pro Cup event in just his seventh start.
“This car was so awesome tonight,” said Robbins, driver of the No. 6s Goodson Consulting Ford. “I could put it anywhere it needed to be. We had motor problems on Thursday in testing, so we took it over to Charlie Long’s shop and worked on it until late Friday night. My crew hasn’t been to sleep much in the last couple of days, but I couldn’t have done it without them, my car owner, Tracy Goodson, the Longs, or the help Benny Gordon gave us with setups.”
Robbins joined Brian Vickers, Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne in the Hooters record book.
Robbins gambled on a short-pit strategy, finishing his mandatory stops by taking two left-side tires and fuel before lap 25. The decision looked to be a good one when he cycled into the lead on lap 78. But just after the halfway mark, Clay Rogers blasted past on fresh rubber.
“I was worried when they caught us for the lead; we hadn’t planned on coming back in,” said Robbins. “But we were able to pass pretty easy when we pitted earlier in the race, so we decided to come back in and basically have new tires for the final 100 laps. It really made a difference.”
Day took the lead from Rogers on lap 157, but Robbins was nearly two tenths of a second quicker on fresh tires and claimed the top spot on lap 202. While Day was also searching for his first win, he wasn’t too disappointed with finishing second.
“Of course you want to win, but we finally finished where we should have tonight,” said Day, whose second-place finish was his first top-five run Hooters Pro Cup competition. “To not have a top-five finish before tonight was embarrassing because we’ve been a lot better than that.”
Billy Bigley, Jr. tried to take second from Day in the final laps, but he had to settle for third place, which was his career-best finish. Bayne wasn’t able to repeat his win from a year ago, but he did pick up his fifth top-five of the season by coming home fourth. James Buescher filled the top five.
The finish:
Showing driver, car, laps completed, money won: 1. Hunter Robbins, Ford, 250, $12,000; 2. Wade Day, Ford, 250, $6,400; 3. Billy Bigley, Jr., Ford, 250, $5,000; 4. Trevor Bayne, Chevrolet, 250, $5,200; 5. James Buescher, Chevrolet, 250, $3,000; 6. Clay Rogers, Chevrolet, 250, $4,700; 7. Kirk Leone, Ford, 250, $2,600; 8. Woody Howard, Chevrolet, 250, $2,800; 9. Michael Ritch, Ford, 250, $4,300; 10. Carl Long, Ford, 250, $2,200; 11. Caleb Holman, Chevrolet, 250, $2,500; 12. Mark McFarland, Chevrolet, 250, $2,600; 13. Bradley Riethmeyer, Chevrolet, 249, $1,900; 14. Randy Hawkins, Ford, 249, $1,800; 15. Matt Lofton, Chevrolet, 248, $1,700; 16. J.P. Morgan, Chevrolet, 248, $1,600; 17. Larry Barrett, Chevrolet, 247, $1,600; 18. John Gibson, Ford, 246, $1,850; 19. Matt Hawkins, Ford, 245, $2,000; 20. Dana White, Chevrolet, 244, $1,600; 21. Bryan Silas, Ford, 234, $2,200; 22. Trevor Farbo, Chevrolet, 164, $1,400; 23. Brad Rogers, Chevrolet, 145, $1,400; 24. Lucas Ransone, Chevrolet, 138, $1,400; 25. Bobby Gill, Ford, 107, $2,400; 26. Drew Herring, Ford, 74, $2,150; 27. Joey Coulter, Ford, 41, $1,200.