Spencer Hughes needed the help of his fans and supporters to earn an invitation to Eldora Speedway’s Intercontinental Classic through the fan vote. During Thursday’s first night of preliminary action for the spectator-free event, Hughes rewarded them with a top-10 finish in his first ever race at Eldora’s famed half-mile oval.

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“To come up here and make the race our first try, I feel like that’s pretty good,” said Hughes, the 19-year-old Meridian, Miss., racer who has had a breakout year in 2020 on the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series and with a handful of strong showings in national events. “We got a whole herd of people watching back home in Meridian and pulling for us. It’s great to get up there and run good for them and show that we deserve to be here.”

If there was any doubt about Hughes’s worthiness to be among the 48 drivers invited to Eldora’s World 100 replacement event, he quelled it with his performance on Thursday. In the first of two $10,000-to-win preliminary programs, Hughes recovered from a mid-pack qualifying effort and advanced from sixth to finish third in his heat race. In the night’s 30-lap feature, he drove his Capital Race Car forward from his 11th starting spot to run as high as sixth before eventually settling for a ninth-place finish.

The top-10 effort was a solid debut for the talented young Mississippian, whose only prior experience racing on a half-mile track came in an open-wheel modified.

“I can tell I need more laps here. This is a lot different than anything I’ve ran before,” said Hughes. “My only other experience on a big racetrack was Volusia (Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.) in a modified. Other than that in Late Models, we’ve only really raced on quarter-miles and three-eighths. I’ve definitely got some learning to do on these big tracks. It’s a whole different animal than what I’m used to.

“I talked to (fellow Capital driver) Shane (Clanton) some about running here, but there’s not but so much you can learn from talking to someone about it. You just gotta come up here and get a taste of it for yourself. It’s a lot different than what we got close to home and there were 48 of the best here. Running top 10 against these guys, we’ll definitely take it.”

Hughes’s top-10 debut at The Big E continues his solid season fielding a car owned by Bill Langston of Bogalusa, La., with an engine provided by Chris McElhenney of Decatur, Miss. With a pair of victories on the series, Hughes is currently second in the Comp Cams Series title chase and leads the tour’s competitive Rookie of the Year battle.

Hughes has also impressed in the handful of national-level events he’s entered this season. Prior to his trip to Eldora, Hughes competed in two major events on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, entering the Clash at the Mag at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss., and Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway’s Topless 100. He made all six feature lineups between the two three-race events and didn’t have to run a consolation race for any of them.

“It’s been a learning year, but it’s turned out to be a good year too,” said Hughes, who has a pair of top-10 finishes in his six Lucas Oil Series feature starts. “About 80 percent of the racetracks we go to (on the Comp Cams tour) I’ve never been to before. You learn a lot when you go to a new racetrack that often and you have to unload and be competitive. And it’s a tough group of racers. Running that series has definitely been a great learning experience.

“We ran two crown jewel Lucas Oil races this year and haven’t had to run a B-Main yet. Then to come up here and have this run tonight, we’ve gotta be doing something right.”

At least one thing that Hughes has done right is to develop a strong support system for his team. Along with his backing from Langston and McElhenney, Hughes relies heavily on technical support from chassis builder Marshall Green, Capital house car driver Shane Clanton and Darrell Posey with PRP Suspensions.

“We’ve been really consistent ever since we got in this Capital car back before Magnolia,” Hughes said. “Marshall and Shane Clanton, they’ve put together a really good program. They answer the phone anytime I call and that’s a big help. Darrell Posley with PRP Suspension is the same way and helps us a ton. Having a chassis builder and an experienced driver and a shock guy that’ll all answer the phone and help you, that’s been a huge deal for us.”

Hughes’s successful season is coming in his second try at Super Late Model competition. His first foray in the division didn’t go so well. Racing with Mississippi-based Henderson Motorsports in 2018, Hughes struggled to find his rhythm and went winless while following the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series.

After splitting with Henderson at the end of 2018, Hughes stepped back to Crate Late Model and modified competition for 2019. But he used the setback as an opportunity to gain more experience in hopes of eventually getting another shot at high-level Super Late Model competition.

“I don’t remember a single time where we haven’t gone to the racetrack and I haven’t learned something,” he said. “And I’ve raced a lot since then. We got to run a bunch of stuff with the modified in the Summer Nationals and at Speedweeks with East Bay and Volusia. We raced a lot last year hoping another opportunity would come along.”

That opportunity came toward the end of 2019 when his new team with Langston and McElhenney came together for a handful of late-season events before setting out for their first full season in 2020. It’s been working ever since.

“We had a few good runs (with Henderson Motorsports), but a lot of times we struggled,” Hughes said. “This deal here with Brian and Chris, everything’s just working good for us. I get to keep the car at my place. This week we’re in Brian’s trailer, but most nights we’re in my truck and trailer too. Just to have everything at the house where we can work on it ourselves and maintain it and try to get faster, that helps out a lot.”

Hughes will look to build on his strong opening night performance at Eldora when the track hosts another round of preliminary night racing on Friday ahead of Saturday’s $50,000-to-win finale.

If there’s one thing that’s been lacking for Hughes in 2020 it’s his performance on the final nights of the major events he’s entered. Neither of the Saturday night features at Magnolia or Batesville went well for Hughes with finishes of 26th and 22nd, respectively. Hughes hopes to improve on that at Eldora.

“We’ve had good prelim nights before then just weren’t as good on Saturday. Like at the Topless 100 we ran 10th Thursday and Friday night but weren’t so good Saturday night,” Hughes said. “Our Saturday nights don’t show it, but we’ve been good in these big races. I guess it’s just part of the learning process. We’ve been better in these big races than we’ve made ourself look. Hopefully this weekend will be different and we can keep it up all the way through Saturday.”