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Twin Fourth-Place Finishes Kick Off Kyle Hall’s Hot Summer
At 16 years old, Kyle Hall is the youngest driver racing in the Late Model Stock division at Old Dominion Speedway. While he is young by age, his talent behind the wheel of a racecar mimics the skill of a veteran. In his first year of Late Model Stock Car racing, Hall has not finished a race outside the top 10. Saturday, Hall continued that streak with two fourth-place finishes in twin 75-lap events.
“We have been working on the car since last Monday every day after I got out of school,” said Hall. “We got to the racetrack and wasn’t sure on how it was going to be. We unloaded for practice, and it handled great. We were top-three in practice all day. We were real confident about the car.”
Hall carried the momentum from practice into his qualifying run and into the first of two feature races.
“We ended up qualifying fourth out of 15 cars but started third on the inversion,” said Hall. “We were just following the leaders for about 40 laps. We are still down on power. I had to make it up in the corners by driving it in to turn three two car lengths further than anyone else. I tried to make a move on third place at the end of the race but I ended up finishing fourth. It was pretty good since fifth on back was half of a track behind us.”
The track used the finishing positions from the first race to determine the start of the second race along with a shuffle of the top positions. That put Hall on the outside pole at the start of the race. But a combination of old tires and less horsepower dropped him back a few positions by the end of the event.
“In the second race I started second and got a good jump on the start,” explained Hall. “I tried for the lead but ended up dropping back to third. I ran there for a while but a few guys that were in a wreck in the first race had newer tires on their car for the second race so they went to the front. I still ended up finishing fourth on old worn out tires.”
The two fourth-place finishes capped off another strong weekend for Hall ahead of an increased racing schedule. Hall will climb back into a Legends car for the 10-event Summer Shootout at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (NC) starting with the series opener on Tuesday, June 12th.
“I think the last time I raced the Legends car was at the Nationals in Lanier. I am excited about driving the Legends car again. It is going to take a few practice sessions to get used to it. I cannot wait to race it.”
While the Summer Shootout occupies nine weeks of the year, Hall is not parking his Late Model Stock. He will be commuting back and forth between Virginia and North Carolina every week to race both cars.
“We will be going back up north on Fridays and Saturdays to run the Late Model Stock at Old Dominion, then come back down to Concord (NC) Mondays and Tuesdays to race the Legends car in the Shootout. We will be doing that the whole summer. I am really excited about it.”
Kyle Hall will make his return to the Summer Shootout in his Legends car Tuesday, June 12th, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.
