NEWTON, N.C. – After an invert of 10 placed him on the pole for Saturday night’s Southern Shootout finale at Hickory Motor Speedway, Bronzie Lawson IV joked that he “might need a miracle” in order to keep the lead down the stretch.
At the end of 50 laps, Lawson used a stunning display of driving to not only get his miracle, but collect his first Must See Racing Sprint Car Series victory.
Lawson started from the pole and led all 50 laps Friday night, holding outside polesitter Jerry Caryer at bay early on and then fending off three fierce challenges from Aaron Pierce in the final 10 laps to take home a $2,000 payday.
Saturday night’s triumph by Lawson made him the first North Carolina native to win a Southern Shootout main event since Hickory became part of the season-opening weekend in 2015.
The win made for an emotional victory lane celebration during which Lawson climbed on top of the wing, holding his head in disbelief at the outcome.
“This is my second race as a full-time driver … we only committed to Must See about a month and a half ago. This isn’t supposed to happen,” said Lawson. “I can’t even believe it.”
Lawson had to survive restarts on lap nine and 26 after two caution flags slowed the pace during the 50-lap feature.
The first yellow came out for a stalled Johnny Bridges in turn two, while the second and final slowdown was for a spinning Tom Jewell in turn one, leading to a hectic turn of events that saw Lawson challenged at every corner.
Under the lap 26 caution, second-running Jerry Caryer pulled off the track with overheating issues, leaving Aaron Pierce directly behind Lawson for the final restart of the night with 24 to go.
Pierce had already found the top lane on the previous restart, jumping up to fourth, and Lawson knew he was going to have his hands full.
“Man, when I heard the 75C (Caryer) pulled off I said to myself, ‘This is gonna get crazy,’” admitted Lawson. “I knew I had to get everything right for there to even be a chance, because if I made any mistakes he was going to be around me that quick.”
Lawson got what he called the restart of his life, however, when the green flag waved and he gapped Pierce by six car lengths before the No. 26 Sam Pierce Chevrolet mount began to close back in.
With 15 to go, Pierce was knocking on Lawson’s back nerf bar for the race lead and at 10 to go, he poked his nose to the inside in an attempt to make the pass.
The defining moment for Lawson came with eight laps left as, entering turn one, Pierce had a look to the inside and Lawson chopped down on entry to the corner, cutting off the run and leaving Pierce scrambling to try and rebound.
“If I chopped him, I’m sorry, but at that point I knew how close we were to the race win and I was doing everything I could to hold on,” Lawson said. “When you’re out in front of one of these races, you do what you have to do and I wasn’t going to give up on it that easily.”
