HICKORY, N.C. -- For 14-year-old Stanley, North Carolina racer Nick Loden, the past couple of weeks have been frustrating. Two weeks ago, he was running strong in the PRA 602 Super Limited Tour race at Hickory Motor Speedway when he had a mechanical failure in the rear end of his car that sent him to the pits and out of the action.

Last weekend, he was scheduled to race at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, North Carolina, only to have rain stop the program before it could get started. 

Now he will have a few weeks to prepare for his return to Hickory for his final start of 2019 in the prestigious North-South Shootout race. The race is one of the biggest weekends in Southeast pavement racing, and Nick has confidence that he and his team, led by his father Andy (a three-time Hickory track champion) can run for the win at the event, which will be held on November 7-9 at Hickory. 

"This is the first year the race is at Hickory," Nick said. "It's been at Concord Speedway for a lot of years but that track is closed now so they moved it to Hickory. I think that works out for us because of my Dad's experience and success there, and I really like that track. I feel like we had a chance to win a couple of weeks ago but it just didn't work out for us.  I know I'm excited to go back and race there again. I wish the race was this weekend instead of having to wait two weeks."

As he prepares for a high-profile season finale', Nick reflected on his first full season in a full-size stock car, saying "I feel like we've made a lot of progress, especially in the past few races. We had a second at Orange County, led laps at Ace and finished sixth and we've been fast almost everywhere we've gone.  I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like I get better every race. We have had a couple of races where the drivers just all wrecked each other, but that's outside of my control. I can't thank my team and my sponsors enough, because without them I wouldn't be able to do this. I'm looking forward to seeing what Hickory has in store for us."  

Feature action at Hickory gets underway Saturday night at 7pm. For more information, visit the track's website at www.hickorymotorspeedway.com.   

Motorsports partners for Nick include  AFCO Racing Products, Pro Shocks, RE Suspension, Home Essentials of Denver, N.C., and Longacre Racing Products. 

Follow Nick and his racing on Facebook (@NickLodenRacing), Instagram @Nick_Loden_Racing) and via his website at www.NickLodenRacing.com.