Billy Hicks Racing announced that Cory Hedgecock will pilot the team’s car in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for 2026 and will be chasing the Rookie of the Year title.

The team made the announcement on Facebook, “We are proud to announce Cory Hedgecock will be driving the Billy Hicks owned #79 for the 2026 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points and Rookie of the year.”

“The Billy Hicks Racing #79 will also compete in select other events in 2026 along with Cory Hedgecock Motorsports running the Chad Hegecock owned #23 when we are not on the road,” the team added.

Hedgecock had 10 wins in a super this year across multiple series. His wins came at I-75 Raceway, Penton Raceway, Lake Cumberland, Swainsboro, Smoky Mountain Speedway, North Georgia Speedway, Senoia, the Talladega Short Track. He won in the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern National series and the Southern All Stars.

When he competed with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the crown jewels he had strong performances. At the World 100 he finished 12th and 3rd in his preliminary features and then 12th in the big show on Saturday night. At Florence Speedway for the North-South 100 he finished 4th on Thursday night, 13th on Friday night and then 9th on Saturday night for the main event.

He also finished 6th with the World of Outlaws at Talladega, 13th at Smoky Mountain, and fourth at Swainsboro. His worst finish was 24th at Swainsboro on March 22nd.

The announcement comes after the team had originally planned to compete in the Peach State Classic and at Cherokee Speedway for the Freddy Smith Memorial this weekend. However, it had not revealed who would be behind the wheel at the time. The team posted on Facebook at the time, “The Billy Hicks owned #79 will be in action at Senoia Raceway Thursday-Saturday for the Peach State Classic and Sunday at The Place Your Mama Warned You About Cherokee Speedway for the Freddy Smith Memorial!”

However, on Friday afternoon November 14th ahead of the Peach State Classic, the team edited its post and shared that it had “decided to forgo this weekends events to work towards selecting a driver, refresh our hauler, and finalize plans to run with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2026.”

Additionally, it indicates a big change in plans for Hedgecock. He told StockCarReport.com during World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte that he planned to race closer to home next year, “We’re probably gonna scale back just a little bit, just race a little bit less. Just trying to get some personal stuff figured out and some business stuff back going the way we need it to.”

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