George Phillips closed out Pro Late Model competition at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing with a win in the Hart to Heart 100 Friday night, while Hunter Wright claimed the Pro Late Model championship.
Phillips backed up his victory in Thursday night's Pro Late Model feature by taking the win in the longest Pro Late Model feature of the week at New Smyrna. The 2023 Carolina Pro Late Model Series champion took the lead on lap five from Hudson Bulger and pulled away from the field in a race that went caution-free.
"I just want to thank my team, Fat Head Racing, a lot," said Phillips in victory lane. "It was a good race. We were able to manage ourselves really well throughout the race. I kept my pace good and had great competition tonight.
"I love this race track. This place is amazing. The World Series of Asphalt, I love this. It's awesome."
While there was little drama in the battle for the win, drivers such as Wright, Jimmy Renfrew, Dawson Sutton and Hudson Burger battled fiercely behind him. At the checkered flag, Renfrew finished second, while Wright's third-place finish was enough to secure the Pro Late Model title ahead of Sutton.
Wright put together a strong and consistent week, with a win and six podium finishes in seven starts. His only podium miss came on Thursday night, when a multi-car melee on the opening lap collected Wright and several other competitors.
In spite of that incident, Wright returned to the track last night and soldiered to a ninth-place finish, which proved to make the difference in the title fight.
"We raced really well tonight. We were hoping to get a win," said Wright. "I felt like we had a good long run car, but it was just a little bit too tight. I burned the front tires off of it. I held on to finish third.
"We didn't finish outside the top three except for last night when we wrecked. A really good night, I'm really proud of everyone who came to help. I'm really thankful. We had to work really hard to get the car on track after last night, but this makes it all worth it.
"We've been coming down here for a few years and haven't been able to do it. We've always had some kind of bad luck strike. Last night, we did too. We weren't the only ones who did, so fortunately we were able to run well enough all week to get it done."
-Images courtesy of Jason Reasin Photography
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
HART TO HEART 100 - PRO LATE MODELS
| Fin | No | Driver | Laps | Diff |
| 1 | 8P | George Phillips | 100 | --- |
| 2 | 00 | Jimmy Renfrew | 100 | 4.439 |
| 3 | 29 | Hunter Wright | 100 | 5.400 |
| 4 | 26S | Dawson Sutton | 100 | 5.651 |
| 5 | 17B | Hudson Bulger | 100 | 6.010 |
| 6 | 08 | Nicholas Naugle | 100 | 6.457 |
| 7 | 71 | Katie Hettinger | 100 | 6.915 |
| 8 | 28 | Isabella Robusto | 100 | 7.082 |
| 9 | 92 | R.J. Braun | 100 | 12.447 |
| 10 | 77 | Ruben Caceres | 100 | 12.674 |
| 11 | 18S | Mike Scorzelli | 100 | 18.957 |
| 12 | 6 | Brandon Lopez | 98 | 2 Laps |
| 13 | 29S | Tommy Sorem | 98 | 2 Laps |
| 14 | 45 | Mike Mayberry | 55 | 45 Laps |
| 15 | 24 | Dalton Smith | 7 | 93 Laps |