Joe Gibbs Driven

The Inaugural Dwight Huffman Memorial presented by CARS PLUS Lenoir was an amazing night filled with laughter and tears as family, friends, and fans remember the late Dwight Huffman. The night was filled with fast paced racing action as the Bojangles Late Models, the Jewelry Exchange Limited Late Models, the Hickory Street Stocks, the Hickory Pro 4's and the Red Baron Race Parts Hobby Stocks all made an appearance for Round #15 of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series at the World's Most Famous Short Track, Hickory Motor Speedway.

It was an extremely special evening for the Bojangles Late Models as the strong 19-car field headed onto the track to compete in a 77 lap feature to celebrate the memory of Dwight Huffman. It was no surprise for fans to see the #10 of Andy Mercer in the WynnCom Pole Position, as he has been demonstrating his dominance week after week. When the green flag waved, it didn't take long for Mercer and the #29 of Andy Loden to pull away from the field. The two raced side by side for the first five laps and then Loden made his move on Mercer pulling into the lead.

On lap ten, it was a battle for third as the #59 of Coleman Pressley went up against the #43 of Jesse LeFevers, Pressley dove to the low line capturing the position on lap 17. On lap 20, Mercer went to make a move on Loden trying to regain the top spot. As Loden and Mercer continued their great battle, the #25 of Sam Watts began to make his move on LeFevers for fourth, while Pressley continued to make up ground on Loden and Mercer. The #7 of Ashley Huffman had an unfortunate night, while racing in the memory of his father, Huffman experienced mechanical issues causing him to pull off early in the event.

Lap 35 saw a tight battle for second as Pressley worked his way up to take on Mercer. The two raced side by side, and Pressley found momentum as he drove off the turns, but lap traffic would give Mercer the ability to hold off Pressley. By lap 42, the car to watch was that of the #17, Rob Fuller. Fuller made his way into the battle for fourth, shooting past Watts and LeFevers. On lap 49, Pressley finally made his move on Mercer diving under him capturing the second place position, just as the #03 Randy Hawkins went for a spin heading into turn four bringing out the first caution, forcing Pressley to fall back into the third place position for the restart.

During the restart, the #33 of James Goff found himself in trouble on the back stretch causing major front end damage to his ride and bringing out the second and final caution. After the restart, Fuller began to work on Pressley to capture the third place position, Pressley got loose coming off of four, allowing Fuller to dive under him with Pressley back into the fourth spot. With six laps remaining, the battle for fifth became intense as Watts and the #70 of Brit Andersen went head to head, Anderson tried hard but didn't have enough for Watts, leaving Watts to finish fifth.

Mercer and Loden brought fans to their feet on the last lap, as Mercer made one last valiant attempt on Loden for the lead. As the two came off turn four, they were side by side, but Loden powered ahead of Mercer to grab the checkers. “Wow, what a great night. I really wanted to win this one for the Huffmans…winning this race is such a big deal,” Loden explained during his post race interview. It is not only an extreme honor for a driver to win this feature event, but it's an excellent pay day as well due in part to the many sponsors who donated to the overall purse as “Lap Sponsors”. Thanks in part to the gracious “Lap Sponsors” Loden will receive and additional ???? in prize money for laps lead during the feature.