HICKORY, N.C. – Ryan Repko patiently saved his tires, taking the lead late in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour portion of the Throwback 276 before driving to victory Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Repko, driving a Dave Marcis throwback scheme, qualified second and led most of the early portion of the race. He gave up the lead during a restart on lap 40 to Craig Moore, who was driving a car decaled like the car form the 1983 racing film Stroker Ace.
Giving up the lead, as it turned out, was according to plan for Repko. He rode behind Moore in second until another caution flag on lap 80 slowed the proceedings. When racing resumed, Repko stayed glued to Moore’s bumper, following him as they navigated lapped traffic.
Finally on lap 110 Repko made his move, dispatching Moore to take over the race lead. Once back in front Repko pulled away, easily holding on for his first CARS Tour triumph in the series’ signature race.
“I would say that’s the biggest one of my career, definitely the most memorable for sure,” Repko said. “It’s an honor to be able to honor Dave Marcis and run his throwback paint scheme. Any win here is special, there is a lot of history at this place.”
The victory was especially memorable for the 19-year-old Repko because the man he was honoring with his throwback scheme, Dave Marcis, was on hand. Marcis was one of the first men to greet Repko in victory lane Saturday night.
“I’m sure pretty much anybody here would trade places with me,” Repko said about being greeted by Marcis after his victory. “That’s a really cool thing and not a lot of people can say that. It just makes the win that much more special.”
Moore ended up second after a duel with Bobby McCarty in the closing laps. Moore said the car he drove came together in the nine days leading up to Saturday’s race and he felt like if he’d had more time to test the car, he might have had something for Repko.
“This car, man, I built this car in nine days before this race. We only had two hours of test time on that car. That (the result) was a product of that,” Moore said. “I feel like if we’d had test time, we probably could have got him.”
Layne Riggs finished fourth, with Sammy Smith completing the top-five. Seven cars failed to qualify for the 29-car field.
Matt Craig won the CARS Super Late Model Tour portion of the Throwback 276.
The finish:
Ryan Repko, Craig Moore, Bobby McCarty, Layne Riggs, Sammy Smith, Josh Berry, Brandon Pierce, Brody Pope, Mike Darne, Deac McCaskill, Tyler Matthews, Cole Glasson, Adam Lemke, Jacob Heafner, Charlie Watson, Mitch Walker, Justin Carroll, Taylor Gray, Austin McDaniel, Sarah Cornett-Ching, Matt Leicht, Camden Gullie, Terry Brooks Jr., Mini Tyrrell, Ryan Millington, Gage Painter, Jeremy Burns, Trevor Ward, Ronald Hill.