HICKORY, N.C. – Long before the green flag waved to begin Hickory Motor Speedway’s championship night, Connor Hall exchanged good luck wishes with current NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts Division I points leader Joey Tanner.
Hall entered the evening trailing Tanner by six points in the Division I standings, but knew he needed to be perfect at Hickory if he hoped to have a shot at his third national title. Everything unfolded the way Hall wanted, as he picked up a dominant victory in the 60-lap Limited Late Model feature.
For someone who originally had no plans to pursue another NASCAR Local Racing Series championship in 2026, Hall is pleasantly surprised to still be in contention during the final week of the points season. Although he does not know if the Hickory win will be enough to usurp Tanner, Hall is still satisfied with everything he accomplished this year.
“Amazing car by an amazing group of guys,” Hall said. “We didn’t really seek out this national thing. We got a little bit of a late start on it, gave up a bunch of races at Langley. All in all, we at least put our name in the hat to try and win this thing.
“Joey [Tanner] seems like a great guy and he’s had a hell of a season. Either way, I’m more than happy we had the season that we did.”
Tanner has been impeccable at his home track, Willamette Speedway, this year. Entering the weekend he had won 11 of 14 possible features. Hall believed the odds were against him to win the NASCAR Local Racing Series Division I national championship.
Hall could have made up some ground to Tanner with more starts at Langley Speedway, but a combination of rainouts, NASCAR commitments and a concussion sustained earlier in the year kept him away from the track. All Hall could do was win as many races as he could and see how the points turned out.
Despite being part-time, Hall’s 11 victories matched Tanner’s win total entering Saturday night. Since Langley had no more races prior to the Sept. 20 deadline, Hickory was Hall’s final opportunity to gain ground on Tanner.
The NASCAR Local Racing Series hands out points based on two factors – field size and starting position. Essentially, the deeper you start, the more points you earn. A perfect race would be worth 36 points if you start eighth or worse. If a driver starts between fifth and eighth, they earn 34 points for a victory. Per Hickory rules, since Hall was the most recent winner at the track, he was required to start Saturday’s race sixth after setting fast time. That meant he could earn up to 34 points Saturday night.
Once the green flag waved, Hall quickly went to work on passing cars. He found himself in the lead by Lap 10 of the 60-lap Limited Late Model feature and easily held off the field on a late restart for the victory.
Hall did his part on Saturday to keep his national title hopes alive. He spent the rest of the evening keeping a close eye on Willamette to see how Tanner would perform.
There was still some doubt in Hall’s mind about whether he would be declared the NASCAR Local Racing Series Division I champion. No matter what the final point tallies are, Hall will be content with the outcome.
“I’ve been very fortunate enough to win it twice,” Hall said. “Those were the years where we were like ‘let’s go do this thing.’ Every time this car leaves the shop, it’s a 110 percent effort. In a perfect world, I would have liked to get a couple more races in to replace some lower value races.”
As his obligations to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Niece Motorsports increase, Hall is not sure if he will get another chance to pursue a NASCAR Local Racing Series title.
Growing up, Hall aspired to follow in the footsteps of Late Model Stock legends such as Lee Pulliam, Philip Morris, Peyton Sellers and Josh Berry. Now, after racing Late Model Stocks for nearly a decade, Hall feels he has reached many of the same heights as his idols, but there are still some milestones he wants to reach before his career is over.
Hall will now wait to see if his efforts lead to his third NASCAR Local Racing Series national champion. If this is his last chance to chase the national championship, Hall knows he gave it everything he had.
“I want to get four, so I can match Lee and Philip,” Hall said. “Worst-case scenario, two is plenty. We do this for fun and Niece is nice enough to let me do it a lot. I just want to keep winning races no matter if it’s in a Truck, a Modified, an ARCA car, a go-kart or a lawnmower, whatever it be.”