TIMMONSVILLE, S.C.- It was a cold night at Florence Motor Speedway for Saturday’s (Nov. 23) 32nd running of the South Carolina 400. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the Budweiser No. 8 were back in action at a track sold out above capacity for the first time in track history.
The capacity crowd was given a strong introduction to Treyten Lapcevich.
The 20-year old Treyten Lapcevich scored his first crown jewel Late Model Stock car win in dominant fashion on Saturday. Lapcevich put on a clinic in the 250-lapper, taking the lead just before the halfway break and never looking back. The Canadian led the entirety of the final 125 laps, only ever being challenged by Earnhardt Jr. at the front.
In the end, Lapcevich crossed under the checkered on cruise control with nearly a four-second gap back to Barnes in runner-up Doug Barnes Jr.
“I don’t really think it has sunk in yet,” Lapcevich said. “I can’t believe these Chad Bryant Racing guys. They’ll tell you I wasn’t too confident in our car Thursday, Friday, this morning, after practice, still didn’t quite know. We were four shocks and four springs after practice just wrenching on it.
“It definitely hasn’t sunk in to win a crown jewel like this and get Chad’s third (South Carolina 400 Victory), just an awesome racecar truthfully.”
Lapcevich and team took part in the new tradition at Florence of planting the winners Palm Tree out in front of the racetrack, and was awarded a Golden Shovel along with the race winning trophy. However, Lapcevich also lost an interesting bet with the Chad Bryant Racing team.
“Well, I guess Chad went shopping today,” Lapcevich said. “I guess he got some pickled pigs feet and was trying to see if he could pay someone $200 bucks to eat one. I told the guys, I think It was after qualifying, I said you know what, If I win the race I’ll eat one. At that time, I wasn’t really feeling that great about our chances honestly. … I was about to put it in my mouth and I was already gagging about to throw up. … It was disgusting honestly, definitely got to be a little bit more wise in the future making bets like that.”
Barnes and Sam Yarborough filled out the podium, with Jacob Heafner and Carson Loftin rounding out the top five.
The other story of the night was Earnhardt, who started dead last with a provisional. Despite the deep starting spot, Earnhardt rallied to…
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