Benji Hicks announced he and his team will step away from the remainder of the Southern Nationals Series schedule.

Hicks made the announcement in a post to Facebook, “After a lot of thought, we’ve made the decision to head home and officially step away from the remainder of the Southern Nationals Series.”

“This swing has been full of highs, hard lessons, bad luck, and some really solid runs. While the results didn’t always show the effort, we’re grateful for every lap, every fan who cheered us on, and everyone who helped,” he continued. “Sometimes the best decision is to regroup, get back to the shop, and prepare for what’s next.”

“Thank you to our crew, sponsors, family, and everyone who’s followed along. We had a lot of fun chasing this tour, and we’re excited to get back home, reset, and get ready for the next race. We’ll see y’all at the track soon.”

Hicks is currently fifth in the series standing, 70 points behind current leader Donald McIntosh. However, the current points standings does not factor in that each driver will have the opportunity to drop their worst race following the series points paying finale at Tazewell Speedway on July 25th.

Hicks had some really good runs early in the schedule that quickly became disasters. In the series opener at Volunteer Speedway, he appeared to have the car to beat leading the first 21 laps. Unfortunately, he suffered a flat left rear tire. After getting it fixed he stormed back through the field to salvage a fourth place finish. 

He shared with StockCarReport what happened that led to the flat tire, “Caught lap traffic very, very fast and got through them pretty good. Got to a few certain cars and it is what it is now. … It wasn’t contact with the lap car, but it was contact inflicted by the lap car.”

He then pulled his second car out at Harris, and, again, looked to have one of the dominant cars. He stormed from a B-Main to get as high as second. On a restart with 22 laps left in the 40-lap feature Hicks worked the high side and was able to get to the outside of Zack Mitchell and clear him coming out of turn 4. He then got to the rear of leader Garrett Smith and seemed to have a split second of indecision on whether he was going to slide Smith through 1 and 2, or try to run to the outside of him. He eventually went to the outside and lost just a smidgen of time, but it was enough for Mitchell to get underneath him. Mitchell motored around the bottom and then drifted up the track coming off of 2. He made contact with Hicks, who had a head of steam coming off the top, and it squeezed Hicks into the wall ending his night.

Hicks discussed the wreck and what happened telling StockCarReport, “I passed Zack coming off of 2 on that next restart, went down the back stretch, got a heck of a run coming off of 4. And I really debated about sliding Garrett getting into 1, but I knew that he was going to have to check it and roll to the bottom so I could charge into 1. So I kinda rolled out of it to stay behind him. When he cut, I gassed back up on it. And then coming off of 2, the hole got real narrow, real quick. I thought I was there enough that he would have seen me, or heard me, or knew that I was there. Not to mention that I told him that I was going to the top under that caution. I was motioning for him to get up. It’s a racing deal, I reckon.”

“This is two nights in a row that I feel like we’ve had two of them slip away from us,” he continued. “Maybe one of these days luck will be on our side and we can finish the night.”

He later added, “I’m sure we’ll talk about it. I know that he didn’t do it on purpose. I don’t think he went off into 1 saying, ‘You know what? Screw Benji. I’m going to knock him out of the race.’ I don’t think that thought ever crossed his mind. Maybe he’ll say that I did something wrong and if it is we’ll talk about it. We’re adults. … I’m sure me and Zack will talk and roll on about our business and be ready for Modoc Thursday.”

Hicks exited the race in 13th.

On Thursday, July 16th at Modoc, Hicks was drama free, but lacked speed and was lapped on the last lap of the race. He ended up finishing 10th. 

Then on Saturday, July 18th at Cochran, he finished 9th. Finally, on Sunday, July 19th at Swainsboro Hicks attempted to wrangle a yuke tire and came out worse for wear. He shared on Facebook, “Started 12th and found out that Yuke Tires still win… Every. Single. Time. ” He finished 21st.

Hicks is not the first driver to announce his departure from the series, Zack Mitchell announced on Sunday after he was involved in a wreck with Wil Herrington at Cochran. Mitchell and his G.R. Smith Motorsports team explained, “Unfortunately after going over the car after the race last night we have sustained more damage then originally thought! We will not be racing today and our Southern Nationals Series 2026 tour has come to an end.”

The team does plan to be back in action for competition at Fairbury American Legion Speedway last this week, “Zack Mitchell and his G.R. Smith Motorsports 22* team will get everything tuned back up and head to Fairbury American Legion Speedway! We would like to thank all our sponsors and fans for all the support! It’s been a crazy last 10 days! Zack and the team have a lot of speed and we will look forward to continuing to build on the momentum!”

The Southern Nationals Series continues at Senoia Raceway on Tuesday, July 21st for a $7544 to-win race. Other dates on the tour include:

July 23 – Sugar Creek Raceway (Blue Ridge, GA) – $7,553 to win
July 24 – North Georgia Speedway (Chatsworth, GA) – $10,053 to win
July 25 – Tazewell Speedway (Tazewell, TN) – $10,053 to win
August 20 – Toccoa Raceway (Toccoa, GA) – $7,571 to win (non-points)

NEXT: Cody Overton Keeps Rolling With Southern Nationals; Wins Third Straight At Swainsboro Raceway