NEWTON, N.C. – Preston Peltier continued his reign as the master of Easter weekend Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway, dominating to win his fifth Pro All Stars Series-sanctioned Easter Bunny 150 and second in a row.
Peltier used a picture-perfect restart to take the lead on lap 68 and never looked back, pacing the final 83 circuits in succession despite heavy pressure from Shane Lee in the second half of the race.
The end result was yet another celebration on victory lane for Peltier, marking his record-extending 16th-career PASS South victory in his 104th start, as well as his eighth PASS win overall at Hickory.
Peltier remarked in victory lane that this particular win was “very, very special,” as both his daughter and fiancé were able to be in attendance at the track he called one of his “absolute favorites.”
“Man, to have my daughter and my fiancé here, along with all my good friends and family and my old crew chief … this just feels good,” said Peltier. “I love this place. I love racing here. This is just a great night.”
“The whole car was just too stiff tonight, honestly, but I was able to hang on,” Peltier added. “It was hopping the back end going in (to the corners) and I could feel it using the right rear up, so I was afraid that we were going to run out of tire before the end of the race. It was borderline. We ended up alright, though.”
Though the Easter Bunny 150 is one of short track racing’s crown jewels, Peltier said after his latest win in the event that he’s never treated it any different than any other race he runs during the year.
“Honestly, when I come here, I don’t feel the pressure,” Peltier explained. “I know what I want to feel in the car and I know what we need to be able to perform. Yes, it’s a big race, but I don’t put the pressure on myself and I think that may be why I’ve always ran so well here. I just love the feeling every time we’re here (at Hickory).”
Peltier scored the fast time in two-lap time trials, but started from the outside of row five after the top-10 redraw, while Tate Fogleman and Lee lined up on the front row and brought the field to green.
The early advantage went to Fogleman, with Lee falling in line in second through the early stages.
Fogleman opened up a full second over the field in the first 15 laps, but as the field began to catch slower traffic, Lee began to reel the 2015 PASS South champion in before the night’s first caution flew with 17 laps complete for a crash on the frontstretch between Gracie Trotter and Jimmy Renfrew.
Racing resumed with Fogleman again opening up several car lengths over Lee after a torrid side-by-side battle for the first half-lap of the restart, but it wasn’t long before the first red flag of the night was displayed on lap 35 after a chain-reaction crash in turn two.
The incident – sparked after contact between Jeff Fultz and Jerick Johnson slowed Johnson up in turn two – saw Wyatt Alexander, Jeff Batten and Bryan Kruzcek all sustain heavy damage after piling in on the top lane, with Batten’s car going off on the rollback as a result.
