Youth Sensation: Paulie Hartwig III Scores SMART Modified Tour Victory At Hickory Motor Speedway

When it comes to showcasing young talent, the SMART Modified Tour was doing just that on Saturday night in Hickory, N.C. 

On April 5 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C., Paulie Hartwig III finished second to former Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman in a SMART Modified Tour event.

Saturday the 14-year old Hartwig wasted no time in taking the next step up the podium.

Hartwig III used a last corner pass of Luke Baldwin for the lead and held on to win the SMART Tour Hickory Hundred Saturday at Hickory Motor Speedway. 

It was the first SMART Tour victory for the eighth grader and series rookie from Galloway, N.J. Hartwig is the youngest winner in series history.

“This track is starting to be my favorite,” Hartwig said. “This is a dream come true. This track is a blast.” 

Baldwin held on for second and Bryce Baldwin was third. 

Hartwig got by Bailey for second place with eight laps remaining. With four laps remaining Hartwig was all over the back bumper of Baldwin in the lead. 

On the final lap Hartwig gave Baldwin a tap going into turn three and then dove to the low side into the corner. Hartwig cleared Baldwin off of turn four and drove to the checkered. 

“We were riding for the past 50 laps,” Hartwig said. “The lapped cars actually helped me out a lot. Luke was having trouble getting around them. I chased him down. I was getting wrecking loose, but I didn’t want to give up this thing. This track, I actually started to figure out this track the last 50 laps. I found a lot and we won a SMART race. That’s really emotional.” 

Said Baldwin: “He had a really fast race car at the end and he did what he had to do. He got to me with about three [laps] to go. I did everything could to try to drag brakes, run the middle of the backstretch, whatever I had to do. We were out of right rear tire. We were a little too tight center off [the corners] and it caused us to get a little snappy toward the end. Lapped traffic, I don’t know how he got through them, but a couple of them didn’t do me any favors. That’s racing. Congrats to him. The kid is good, you can’t take anything away from him. He drove from half a track back and got me. He did what he had to do to get me.” 

Matt Hirschman was fourth. Jacob Perry, making his series debut, was eighth.