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Race 6 - 8-6 - LANIER
Sunday of Speed - Lanier National Speedway - Braselton, GA

Local Favorite Scores First-Career PASS South Victory Over a Hard-Charging Lawler

Just a quick glimpse into the grandstands during the Pro All Stars Series South event at Lanier National Speedway on Sunday afternoon showed how much of a local legend Jason Hogan is at the historic half-mile. There were plenty of t-shirts sporting Hogan’s #92 Super Late Model being worn throughout the crowd by fans who have been at Lanier supporting the 23-year-old since he first started making the half-hour commute from his Cleveland, GA, home to the track for weekly events in 1994.

In the time since, Hogan has become one of the biggest names in short-track racing by winning some of the biggest races in the country, including last year’s All-American 400. This year he is also in contention for this year’s NASCAR Southeast Series championship. Hogan came full-circle from his beginnings at Lanier on Sunday by winning his first-ever PASS South Super Late Model race, the “Sunday of Speed” Williams Brothers 150, in dominating fashion. The Hogan Lumber #92 Chevrolet was out front of the PASS South field for the final 130 laps on Sunday.

“It feels pretty good to get back into victory lane at Lanier,” said Hogan. “We struggled in Super Late Model races pretty bad in years past. We’ve always had good cars, but we’ve always had stuff happen to them. Last year we came down here and dominated the field, and this year we came down here and dominated with just as good of a car and a better field of drivers in this race. The guys here today were some of the best drivers in the country and that showed by running 150 laps green. That was pretty exciting for us. I’m just extremely happy to be back in victory lane for all of our supporters and backers that were here today.

“It is special to win here, because we got everybody to come out to the racetrack this weekend that have been supporting me since I started racing here in 1994. Everybody always comes up and asks how I’m doing and how I’m running, and it’s great to come out here and actually show them all how good I’m doing. It’s pretty awesome.”

Hogan took the lead on lap 20 from Chris Whorton, who had checked out on the 26-car field from the pole starting position. The 150-lap feature was originally scheduled for Saturday night, but thunderstorms swept through the Lanier area shortly after time trials for the PASS South competitors and forced the race to be moved to Sunday afternoon. In time trials, PASS South second-place points holder Ryan Lawler and Lanier regular Paul Kelley set equally-fast qualifying laps. The two would start eighth and sixth respectively as a result of the top-eight qualifiers redrawing for their starting positions, placing Whorton and PASS South winner at Florence Speedway (SC) Charlie Bradberry on the front row.

Whorton jumped to the lead, but Hogan swiftly took the top spot from his fourth starting position. Bradberry would find himself sliding toward the back of the top-10 competitors early (he finished seventh), which left the door open for PASS South point leaders Mike Rowe and Lawler to make runs for the top spot. Rowe got there first, but he was never able to catch Hogan. With Hogan checking out to a sizable advantage, Rowe and Lawler were locked in a battle for second that lasted several laps before Lawler took the advantage.
“The first part of the race I was just hanging in there,” said Lawler, who entered Lanier a mere 16 points behind Rowe for the PASS South points lead. “I knew I was in the top five, but I didn’t know exactly where I was; I was just trying to save my tires. I was hoping to catch a caution to bunch us back up, but it never came. I got all the way up to second there at the end, and I was trying my best to catch Hogan. I was driving the heck out of that thing to get up to him. I was saving my tires for most of the race and really turned it up at the end of the race. Turns out my tires were fine at the end of the race, so I wish I had driven the car harder earlier in the race, too.”

Rowe, however, knew that he didn’t have the car to compete with Hogan and Lawler and accepted his third-place finish. It was enough to keep him atop PASS South points.

“We’ll take a third-place finish today,” said Rowe. “We were pretty good there early, but not
having any restarts really hurt us. The car kept getting loose and then Lawler caught me, so I just pulled over and let him go. There were about 50 laps to go and my car was too loose, so there was no sense holding him up.”

The two point leaders mixed it up for second and third, but there was no catching Jason Hogan this day. Lawler did all that he could in the final laps, but Hogan was too strong.

“I knew that I had a good car, so I wasn’t too worried about the #31 catching up to me in the last laps,” said Hogan. “I was just being patient through the traffic and doing what I needed to do to get the win. It was a lot of fun out there and it feels really good to get back to victory lane.”

Lawler finished about ten car-lengths behind Hogan at the checkered flag, with Rowe, Chuck Barnes, Jr. and Lanier regular Shane Chastain rounding out the top five.

The next race for the PASS South Super Late Models is the “Over the Mountain 150” at Hickory Motor Speedway on Sunday, August 27th.