2017 Fastrak World Challenge & ChampionshipSep 8, 2017 by Dan Beaver
One Win Turned Into A Championship Run For Benji Hicks
One Win Turned Into A Championship Run For Benji Hicks
Benji Hicks did not expect to run the entire Fastrak season--until he won the opening race in Toccoa, Georgia.
At the start of the season, Benji Hicks had no clue that he would be running the full Fastrak touring schedule. However, after he scored a powerful first win in the series opener at Toccoa (Georgia) Raceway in April, his team knew a change was in order.
"That really set off fireworks in our season right there, with me being an employee at Longhorn," Hicks said of his first of four wins in Fastrak competition. "We got this brand new Longhorn car that I'd ran two or three times so far in the season. We had run competitively but not competitively up front like we wanted to. I went back to the drawing board, and I talked to one of my good friends at work and we came up with a set up that we wanted to run at Toccoa."
With four touring victories and eight overall wins with all of his combined efforts, Hicks is in the middle of his best season of his career, and his team is currently leading the series points championship. He and his No. 55 car will be at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, VA, for the third time this year at next weekend's two-night World Challenge and Championship, which is streaming live on FloRacing.com on Sept. 15-16.
Hicks has had both good and bad luck at the track, losing his right rear on the second lap of the tour's first feature and inheriting the win on his second visit.
"We've been up there twice this year and once the win fell into our lap and we'll take that, and then before we were up there and I had to burn off a right rear tire too soon and ended up backing her into the outside wall," he said. "So I've had both scenarios happen, you know from zero to hero. I feel pretty comfortable at the track. I've learned patience at the track and how to do it at my own pace and save the tires. When to go and when not to go."
In his last visit to Virginia Motor Speedway, Hicks battled Ross Bailes for the lead but after a shaking final restart could not make it back to the front to challenge for the win. Bailes, who was driving in a car owned by Hicks' uncle, turned up light at the scales. Hicks came across the line second and inherited with the win.
"Honestly, you take them any way that you can get them," Hicks said of his inherited win. "I felt that I had a good enough car that I could've won that race, but on the last restart I just screwed up a little bit but we ran him back down and just ran out of laps before I could get back up to him and try to match him again. I was just as happy that if fell out of his hands into mine as I would of been if I led every lap of it."
Watch Benji Hicks and the other stars of Fastrak take on the Fastrak World Challenge and Championship at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, VA, on Sept. 15-16 LIVE on FloRacing!
STREAMING: Available only on FloRacing. A yearly FloPRO subscription provides access to ALL FloSports sites. SIGN UP HERE
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"That really set off fireworks in our season right there, with me being an employee at Longhorn," Hicks said of his first of four wins in Fastrak competition. "We got this brand new Longhorn car that I'd ran two or three times so far in the season. We had run competitively but not competitively up front like we wanted to. I went back to the drawing board, and I talked to one of my good friends at work and we came up with a set up that we wanted to run at Toccoa."
With four touring victories and eight overall wins with all of his combined efforts, Hicks is in the middle of his best season of his career, and his team is currently leading the series points championship. He and his No. 55 car will be at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, VA, for the third time this year at next weekend's two-night World Challenge and Championship, which is streaming live on FloRacing.com on Sept. 15-16.
Hicks has had both good and bad luck at the track, losing his right rear on the second lap of the tour's first feature and inheriting the win on his second visit.
"We've been up there twice this year and once the win fell into our lap and we'll take that, and then before we were up there and I had to burn off a right rear tire too soon and ended up backing her into the outside wall," he said. "So I've had both scenarios happen, you know from zero to hero. I feel pretty comfortable at the track. I've learned patience at the track and how to do it at my own pace and save the tires. When to go and when not to go."
In his last visit to Virginia Motor Speedway, Hicks battled Ross Bailes for the lead but after a shaking final restart could not make it back to the front to challenge for the win. Bailes, who was driving in a car owned by Hicks' uncle, turned up light at the scales. Hicks came across the line second and inherited with the win.
"Honestly, you take them any way that you can get them," Hicks said of his inherited win. "I felt that I had a good enough car that I could've won that race, but on the last restart I just screwed up a little bit but we ran him back down and just ran out of laps before I could get back up to him and try to match him again. I was just as happy that if fell out of his hands into mine as I would of been if I led every lap of it."
Watch Benji Hicks and the other stars of Fastrak take on the Fastrak World Challenge and Championship at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, VA, on Sept. 15-16 LIVE on FloRacing!
How To Watch
ON TV: Now available on Roku and Apple TV 4 -- download the FloSports app today!STREAMING: Available only on FloRacing. A yearly FloPRO subscription provides access to ALL FloSports sites. SIGN UP HERE
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