Volunteer Speedway
Hicks flirting with win for Double Nickel brand
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Benji Hicks at Volunteer Speedway. (Austin Bumgarner)
Benji Hicks has captivated Dirt Late Model observers on the national stage in recent starts, delivering a string of stirring performances with little to show for them in the final results.
At West Virginia Motor Speedway, the 31-year-old from Mount Airy, N.C., climbed from sixth to third in Oct. 17’s Dirt Track World Championship semifeature before contact with Tyler Carpenter sent him spinning, leaving him 14th at the Mineral Wells oval.
He won Oct. 18’s DTWC non-qualifiers’ race, forgoing the $3,000 payday to start last in the $100,000-to-win finale. He rallied as high as sixth before blowing a tire while running ninth with 10 laps left, relegating him to 22nd.
Then came Thursday’s FloRacing Night in America feature at Volunteer Speedway. Hicks ran second from laps 17-34 and had eventual winner Jimmy Owens in his crosshairs before a leaking right-rear tire spoiled his bid. He faded to 12th over the final 16 laps — another promising night undone in what he considers his fastest season ever, yet one that has yet to yield a Super Late Model victory.
“We’ve had as much speed this year as we’ve ever had, with the least amount of wins,” Hicks said Thursday in Bulls Gap, Tenn. “We’ll just put our head down, keep working, and maybe we can get us a big win before the end of the year.”
The pattern continued Saturday when Hicks returned to WVMS for a $2,500-to-win Super Late Model event alongside the postponed DTWC support-class program. He advanced from sixth to second before slipping to third on a restart, then retired with left-side damage following contact on another restart with seven laps remaining.
“The luck missed the exit … again,” Hicks wrote in his race recap on Facebook.
Hicks does have five Late Model victories this season — four on the first-year RidgeRunner circuit for Limited Late Models in Virginia at Rural Retreat’s Wythe Raceway and Bassett’s Oak Level Raceway, and another in 604 Crate Late Model competition at Friendship Motor Speedway in Elkin, N.C.
But his first Super Late Model victory since April 2023’s Carolina Clash triumph at Lavonia (Ga.) Speedway has remained tantalizingly out of reach.
Thursday at Volunteer offered perhaps his most compelling opportunity. Hicks “definitely” thought he had something for Owens, the sentimental winner at one of his home tracks. To reach second, Hicks powered around Chris Madden following a lap-15 restart, finding his rhythm along the upper reaches of Volunteer’s high banks.
“When I got by Madden, I could maintain pace with Jimmy. My brother-in-law kept telling me how my lead was getting bigger and bigger over Madden,” Hicks said. “Believe it or not, I really hadn’t been 100 percent pushing it. I’d say I was probably 70 percent, maintaining speed with them.
“As far as my knowledge, nobody was running as high in three and four as I was. I don’t think Jimmy would do it, and I don’t think anybody had told him. I carried so much more momentum down the straightaway. Then I actually started rolling out to keep the car straighter through one and two when I was in second.”
Things started going south for Hicks following the lap-34 restart for Garrett Alberson.
“I came out of (turn) two and it kind of wheel-hopped funny. And I hadn’t felt that yet,” Hicks said. “I was trying to figure out what was going on. And it just went downhill from there. I was just dropping like an anchor. My brother-in-law was waving the sticks at me, mad, and I was waving back at him. I was pissed.”
When Hicks arrived back to his pit postrace, he noticed “two or three chunks of the beadlock ring missing,” resulting in a flat right-rear tire.
“I guess when I wheel-hopped, I had to have hit a rock or maybe hit the wall or something, but it actually busted the ring on the beadlock,” Hicks said. “So the last 16 laps, we were just running around on a flat tire.”
The speed has made for an encouraging return to a fuller schedule for Hicks — 55 starts and counting — who made fewer than a dozen feature starts in 2025 after more than 40 in ’24. Last season, he focused on his businesses, BHR Fabrication and Double Nickel Race Cars, while serving as crew chief for fellow Double Nickel racer Kennie Compton Jr.
Stepping away from that full-time role freed Hicks to pursue his own varied schedule this year, with designated cars for Super, Limited and Crate Late Model competition.
“It just makes a statement about how hard me and my brother-in-law have been working. We take a lot of pride in these Double Nickel Race Cars,” Hicks said. “I know we’re not the biggest chassis manufacturer, but I feel like we can run with the biggest chassis manufacturers. I feel like we’ve proven that here lately. We just haven’t gotten the complete package — haven’t gotten the finish.
“Like I said, we’ll just keep our head down, keep working, keep showing people the speed’s there and we’re just as fast.”
Hicks and Alex Vance of Waynesville, N.C., are the lone drivers currently campaigning Double Nickel chassis in Super Late Model competition, while T.J. Salango, Biscuit Williams, Daniel Durham and Hicks’ cousin Kendal Tucker are among those representing the brand in lower divisions.
Hicks hopes for a breakthrough victory that puts the Double Nickel brand on the map.
“The speed’s there. The drive to do it is there, and we’re going to keep on keeping on,” Hicks said. “We’re going to put one of these Double Nickels on a big stage before long.”
