STATESVILLE, N.C. — Heading into an off weekend for the Fourth of July holiday, 14-year-old Ryan Millington is rejuvenated following a solid fourth-place finish in his most recent NASCAR Whelen All American Series late model stock car effort at Hickory Motor Speedway on June 25.
Millington qualified third and used the first half of the 80-lap race to conserve his equipment, riding solidly near a podium position before dropping back one spot to fourth just after the halfway point.
With the second and third-running cars side-by-side ahead of him, the teenager held serve through the final 30 laps to maintain fourth place all the way to the finish — marking his first top-four effort in the track’s LMSC class since a runner-up finish on May 14 and helping to alleviate the sting of back-to-back rough outings.
“With the guys that were in front of me fighting side-by-side for second, I didn’t want to risk trying to make a pass or move to go three-wide … because I didn’t want to tear anything up after the month we’ve had,” said Millington, who had a hard crash two races ago and fought motor problems in his most recent start, but remains second in track points at HMS, 22 behind track points leader Dexter Canipe Jr.
“I do feel like we’ve made a ton of progress from where we were, though. The car was really good and I finally felt like we were back to where we needed to be, or at least pretty close to it. The motor is running awesome now and I’m really confident going forward. I think if we play our cards right, we have a shot to go out and replicate what we accomplished on opening night by winning our second race at Hickory.”
The June 25 race was also round seven in the 10-race Paramount Kia Challenge Series at Hickory. Millington maintains the second spot in those point standings as well, 18 markers behind Canipe.
Millington’s next scheduled race at Hickory is set for July 9, during Law Offices of Lyndon R. Helton Night at the track.
Follow Millington on Facebook by searching Millington Motorsports, and for more information on driver and team, visit his website at www.RyanMillington.com.
About Ryan Millington
Ryan Millington is an accomplished 14-year-old racer from Statesville, North Carolina. Growing up in a family with a background and love for the sport, Ryan has already been a winner on both dirt and pavement, competing in several different types of cars.
Millington has won over 80 races in go-karts on dirt and has also won on INEX legends cars on pavement. In 2015, Ryan had legends car wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Anderson Motor Speedway, and scored a mini-outlaw win at Millbridge Speedway on the dirt.
The personable teenager has also had a pole and several strong finishes to date in the Millington Motorsports No. 17 late model stock car. 2016 will find Ryan and the team concentrating on building their late model program out of their shop in Statesville, N.C.
Ryan’s promotion and coaching is handled by veteran Performance Coach Tom Baker of Team Full Throttle in Charlotte, N.C. His marketing partners include Scott Millington Motorsports and TAOTAO USA Inc.
CREDIT: Millington Motorsports
