TIMMONSVILLE, S.C. — Another chapter was written in the history books of prestigious late model stock car events this past Saturday night (Nov. 18) with the 2023 edition of the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway.
Serving the purpose of being the spiritual continuation of the Myrtle Beach 400 at the now extinct Myrtle Beach Speedway, the race continues to carry on the legacy of its famous predecessor.
It continually draws the biggest names in late model stock racing to South Carolina in late November every year. Because of that, it presents some of the toughest fields short track racing in America has to offer.
Every year, the winner of the prestigious event adds to what typically is an already impressive legacy or breaks through and creates a new one. This year, it was the latter.
Forty-one cars started the 250-lap main event at Florence Saturday night. And a little over three and a half hours later, 17-year-old Kade Brown crossed under the checkered flag first.
Kade Brown Got the Last Laugh
What a run Brown has been on. In his first season in the Matt Piercy Racing No. 23, Brown has ended his season on a tear. He won the Bobby Isaac Memorial and the track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway back in September, followed by the Orange Blossom Shootout at Orange County Speedway in October. Now he has won both the Fall Brawl at Hickory and the South Carolina 400 at Florence in the month of November.
As the 2022 Florence track champion, Brown is no stranger to success at the South Carolina 0.400-mile track. He came into Saturday night riding a hot streak that continued into qualifying for the main event. Brown laid down the fourth-fastest lap of the 41-car field, meaning he would roll off fifth due to Sam Yarbrough being guaranteed the pole position.
Brown hung around in fifth for the entirety of the first 62-lap green flag run. Then a frenzy of cautions began to shuffle the field a bit. Brown never fell out of the top 10, only falling as far down as ninth before the mid-race break at lap 100, which was moved up from lap 125 due to fuel concerns for the teams.
When the race went back green, Brown’s charge to the front began, and by lap 111, the No. 23 car was leading. From that point on, the tire conservation began, not just for Brown, but the entire field. In a true game of cat and mouse, some cars dropped all the way to the back, while others backed off only enough to save their equipment…
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