For a local guy, Dalton Cook doesn’t have a ton of laps at East Alabama Motor Speedway. But the 28-year-old Columbus, Ga., transplant who now lives in Smiths Station, Ala., about 10 miles from the track has already enjoyed a fair amount of success at the high-banked 3/8-mile oval. Cook won the National Late Model Super Car Series portion of the 2018 Alabama State Championship weekend, a victory that came over 18 competitors and paid a career-high $5,000. It was one of two NLMSCS wins Cook had in ’18. Watch the National 100 live on FloRacing.

As Cook readies for the 46th annual National 100, he’d like nothing more than to duplicate his 2018 success. He’s made three career National 100 starts, with a best finish of ninth in the event’s 2018 version, a race that was actually pushed to Jan. 27, 2019 because of inclement weather. His other finishes — 11th last fall and 21st in 2017 — are less than spectacular.

“To kinda recap on the way (the first three attempts) worked out is last year was actually the first time I had a true Super (Late Model) engine that would qualify as a competitive engine to actually run that race,” said Cook, who won his first career Super Late Model race Sept. 12 at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. “There were scenarios on the first couple starts where there was a low car count or some other sort of situation that just made sense to just start the race and just collect start money … that type of thing. But really it wasn’t really a competitive type ordeal. So, last year’s National, I guess it was this time last year, that was our real first, I would consider, true start … a competitive run at it I guess you’d say.

“But as far as what it’s gonna take to be better, the National 100 to me is very unique in the sense that it is a 100-lap race. Usually in this 100-lap race there’s a pretty good track transition from start to finish. I didn’t realize that or know that early on because this is the only track, I knew. But that to me ended up being a big deal, because when you’re trying to determine what kind of strategy you’re going to do, you’re trying to anticipate where you’re gonna end up at, what the track’s gonna do, and that sort of thing. You try to assume a lot of variables and then go from there.”

Cook said with the way the sport has changed, drivers rarely have a chance to sit back and pace themselves anymore. That often brings strategy into play, especially in longer races that can often be a grind just to finish.

“To me, pit strategy is something that actually can play a little bit of a role, because there’s no more … with Super Late Models these guys don’t pace no more,” Cook said. “They run as fast as they can run pretty much the entire race. What ends up happening is, they start lapping a lot of cars. If you’re positioning yourself towards the end of the race and thinking too much about the end of the race and you get a lap down early on because you didn’t anticipate the speed, pace, or what’s going on, your race is already over with.

“There’s a lot of ways to go about it, but you’ve gotta make sure you’re running towards the front all the time in case there is a long run and you’re just trying to stay on the lead lap. The track can, like I said, as far as how they prep it, can kinda throw a lot of different options out there. You just gotta take some preparation.”

Cook added that it’s important for a driver to be prepared when he rolls through the East Alabama pit gate.

“Me, I’m really bad at being too conservative as far as buying the tires I need to have and being ready to go,” he admitted. “So, that’s probably what hurt me the last year I tried to run. I didn’t really have things set up and try to do something with this different strategy. So, really the preparation as far as the different scenarios that I feel like I can see with that race, that’s probably gonna make the biggest difference outside of your car itself. To me that’s the difference this race presents than a lot of your other 40- or 50-lappers.”

Despite his limited experience at East Alabama — Cook has only been competing at the track about four years — he likes the place and has learned to appreciate what he considers to be a very technical layout with a tricky surface.

“It’s a high-banked, high-speed racetrack. But what I’ve learned that’s so good, is in the sense that it’s really wide,” Cook said. There’s never a predetermined spot that it races really well. It just seems that there are a lot of variables that allow you to choose lanes, to find a better way or better line. It kinda checks all the boxes, as far as what makes a good racetrack, as long as it’s prepped right. That’s always a big variable. That’s probably the biggest thing about it, it’s just unique in that sense.”

Stepping away from the track’s historic red clay surface a few years back, East Alabama officials covered the track with a light brown gumbo surface that often keeps drivers guessing through what can be a long weekend at the National 100. Cook likes the change.

“If we could put more of it on it, I’d love it,” said Cook. “It doesn’t get as tractioned up as fast. The day time, if they go out there and throw a little water on it before each feature, it will be, I’m not gonna say slick, but it’s not gonna be tractioned up. It will just retransition the track every time and it kinda slows it down enough to where it gets racey for a day time track. It will surprise you when that’s done correctly. As far as the night time goes, what will generally happen, if that track gets good and black and run in through the day, by the time the Super (Late Model) feature goes and they just go and water the track lightly and they don’t really let it sit and they don’t really work it, it will make it patchy and you’re gonna have traction spots all through it and it’s gonna make you search around and find spots to get around.

“That could be diamonding the corners off, chopping here or around and around there. It’s very technical. But if they do a full-blown rework, it will just be supersonic speed for a good while until it finally gives up. The dirt content they have now introduced a lot of variables and technicality that you just don’t usually see in a lot of tracks. I guess the main factor inprobably why I seem to like it. There’s nothing predetermined about it. I could care less about running around wide open as fast as we can go.

“I think the cars now, they’ve done just astronomically out-engineered everything there is and the car makes so much grip. It’s pointless to have a racetrack that has any sort of grip to go along with it. It just makes, for me, less quality racing. So anything you can introduce to take away some surface grip but allow the whole surface to be constant and create lanes to race with, then we can take these overpriced and overengineered race cars and try to make a show of it.”