Gastonia’s Matt Stover Wins First Legends Pro Effort

Press Box

Matthew Stover, 16-year-old racer from Gastonia, has had an outstanding race year already in 2007, starting with the 

Winter Nationals at Orlando SpeedWorld in the Chargers division. Then he moved on to the Semi-Pro crown in Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Summer Heat season before he entered the Pro class in front of a NASCAR crowd at Lowe’s Motor Speedway prior to qualifying for the Bank of  America 500 stock car race.

Undaunted by the surroundings, the crowd or the audience of top-echelon owners, Stover drove a smooth race in his first-ever Pro race to beat out Stephen Daniels by a significant margin. “It was pretty good,” said the understated Matthew. “We had a pretty good starting position in third. We worked on the car all week to get it ready.

“Stephen Daniels started second,” he added. “I knew if I stayed close to the car in front of me he couldn’t get down on the inside. He passed me and then got loose and I got back around him.

“I can’t help it if my car was faster,” said Stover after his opponent refused to speak to him following the race. Asked about 

running in front of such a crowd, Stover replied: “it was pretty good. Everybody got to see me on the big TV in the infield, so that was pretty cool.”

Right now, Stover’s racing plans are uncertain, with the pressures of school. His next race is “probably going to be one of the races in the Winter Heat” series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, he said.