LUCAMA, NC – Wayne Goss methodically raced his way into a top-five finish in the Easter Bunny 100 last Saturday night and now the Southern National Motorsports Park veteran hopes to channel that into a victory in the Howell Racing Products Charger division on April 14th.
The 50-year-old from Goldsboro started Saturday night’s Easter Bunny 100 in the 11th position and dropped towards the rear of the field early on to manage his tires. Midway through the second stage, he began to make his push, racing his way up into the top-10. In the final stage, Goss’ car came to life and he methodically worked his way up into the top-five, edging fellow Goldsboro driver Clay Jones out for the fifth position.
“We were smart this time and that’s rare for me,” Goss said. “I’m hardly ever smart. I go until we burn the car up and don’t have anything at the end. This time I was smarter. I felt proud of myself for being smarter, saving the car at the end and having something to show for it.”
Goss was one of the fastest cars on the track in the final stage and he felt he could have finished even better had he began racing a little harder a little sooner, or if the race had just a few more laps.
“We made a track bar adjustment at the end of the first stage, went back out and ran 15-16 laps before we started putting down some lap times and seeing what the car had,” Goss explained. “The following break, we made another track bar change and an air pressure change and the car just took off. We were passing cars when we got to them with no problems. With the exception of a few bumps and bruises, the car was virtually unscathed. With the problems [Rusty Daniels] had, we would’ve ended up fourth if we had more laps.”
Next weekend, Goss will be ready to try again, this time in a Charger car. Goss has run regularly in the Charger division at Southern National Motorsports Park throughout the years. This upcoming race will be Goss’ first race of the year in the Charger at Southern National but the strong finish in the Limited Late Model race has given him plenty of confidence.
“I feel like what I learned in the Limited Late Model race will carry over,” Goss remarked. “We’ve got a real good car for the Chargers. I feel like we have a winning car. We found a few things wrong with the car last time we ran it. That car probably has had problems the past two years that we overlooked. I feel like we found a winning combination now. The car was fast in the last race at East Carolina which I hope results in a win at Southern National. We’re way off what we normally do and we need to get back on track to winning races like we’re used to.”
The Whelen Spring Fling, which is the name of the race on April 14th, will be the first race with the supercharged purses for the Howell Racing Products Charger division which will now pay $700-to-win and $125-to-start. In addition to the increase in payout, tires for the races will only cost $150 for a set with a $25 discount for drivers who have designated Southern National as their NASCAR Home Track.
In addition to 35 laps for the Howell Racing Products Charger division, the Whelen Spring Fling will feature twin 75 lap races for the Late Model Stock Cars as well as 35 laps of racing for Mini-Stocks, 25 laps for Legends, 20 laps for Bandoleros and 15 laps of Any Car racing. The Whelen Spring Fling, which is the first night race of the 2018 season, will commence at 7pm on Saturday, April 14th.
For more information about Southern National Motorsports Park, check out SNMP’s website at www.snmpark.com, “like” Southern National Motorsports Park on Facebook or “follow” @SNM_Park on Twitter.
