LUCAMA, N.C. — Matt Hirschman led the final 10 laps in Saturday night’s North-South Shootout at Southern National Motorsports Park to pick up his 12th win in the 24 year history of the event.
Much of the race had been dominated by Paulie Hartwig, who was fastest in practice and qualifying and won the 602 Crate Modified feature earlier in the evening. A late race caution, however, would be Hartwig’s undoing as Hirschman quickly made his way out front in the final sprint.
“I thought that was the kind of race it could be,” Hirschman said. “We were ever out of contention? No. We were in it from the beginning. So many different strategies and some things I didn’t even think of that some people did, it just ended up working out. We got a good few restarts at the end where we didn’t lose any ground. That long caution with scoring really hurt [Hartwig]. Once we got to second, I knew there was blood in the water there, I knew he was struggling. What I didn’t expect was [Andy Seuss] to come as hard as he did and close up on me. He would’ve gotten me but the race is 125 laps.”
The victory is Hirschman’s sixth consecutive win in the North-South Shootout.
Hartwig led the most laps but faded to a sixth-place finish. Andy Seuss finished second, with Jake Christman, Burt Myers, and Ryan Newman rounding out the top-five in the Tour Modified feature.
Hartwig won a chaotic and shortened 602 Modified feature. A series of accidents and red flags promoted track officials to end the race right around halfway.
“It sucks that we didn’t go all 75 laps,” Hartwig said after winning the race, which was the first feature of the evening. “I think we had the best long run car. It’s really cool to be here for our first time and we’ll be ready for 125 good ones.”
Burt Myers finished second while Matthew Nance, Toby Grynewicz, and Brooklyn Newman rounded out the top-five.
Bradley McCaskill took the win in the KONI Charger feature, while Andrew Watson was victorious in Any Car. Steve Mendenhall and Kevin Floars took wins in Vintage Modified and Sportsman respectively. The Legends race was won by Tommy Jackson, Jr., who held off Scotty Benford in a thrilling race.
