Cory Hedgecock led the final 19 laps for the win.
Cory Hedgecock rallied from a third place starting spot to win Saturday’s Dirt Slinger Classic Southern All-Stars race at I-75 Raceway.
Hedgecock is no stranger to victory lane at I-75 Raceway. Saturday’s race was no cake walk as Christian Hangar and John Ownbey topped Hedgecock in time trials among the 18 cars that entered the race.
The 40-lap race began with Hangar taking the quick lead over Ownbey. Hedgecock wasted little time in getting around Ownbey for second. Hangar built a sizeable lead until a caution on lap 9 regrouped the field for a double-file restart.
Hangar set sail back into the lead over Hedgecock. The lead pair eventually caught slower traffic. This allowed Hedgecock to pull right behind Hangar. As the lead two were negotiating heavy traffic, third place runner Bobby Giffin started reeling in the leaders. On lap 21, Hedgecock dove to the inside of Hangar going into turn 1 and grabbed the lead as they exited turn 2. The leaders continued to navigate heavy traffic which allowed Giffin to close in on Hangar. A caution on lap 26 paused the battle for the top three spots.
On the restart, Hedgecock powered to the lead with Heath Hindman taking third from Giffin. Cory Roulette looked under Giffin for third but had no luck in taking the spot.
Another caution on lap 27 allowed an interesting lineup shift as the field lined up to take the green. Fourth running Giffin chose the bottom to line up in fifth and allowed Roulette to line up in fourth. As the green waved, Roulette seized the opportunity to take third from Hindman. On lap 31, Hangar retired from the race. Hedgecock had a sizeable advantage until a lap 35 caution. From there, it was all Hedgecock as he cruised to the win. Roulette finished second and Hindman held off Giffin for third.
Results: 1. 23-Cory Hedgecock[3]; 2. 05-Cory Roulette[6]; 3. 91-Heath Hindman[4]; 4. 97-Bobby Giffin[5]; 5. 3-Austin Neely[13]; 6. 17-Billy Franklin[12]; 7. XJR-Caleb Gay[10]; 8. 57-Carson Brown[7]; 9. 11B-Stacy Boles[15]; 10. 78-Matthew Brocato[14]; 11. 15-Will Hicks[16]; 12. X75-Dan Cox[18]; 13. 777-Mike Skelly[9]; 14. 38-Jamie Oliver[11]; 15. 29-Christian Hanger[1]; 16. 21-Shay Miller[8]; 17. 8-Chris Chandler[17]; 18. 44-John Ownbey[2]
Cory Hedgecock, family, and crew in I-75 victory lane.
