Benji Hicks had one of the fastest cars at Harris Speedway with the Southern Nationals on Tuesday night, but unfortunately, it all went terribly wrong when he was involved in a wreck with Zack Mitchell while battling for second place.

Following 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 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 spoke with Stock Car Report following the race about what happened, “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.

On Facebook, Hicks added, “Unfortunately, our night came to an early end after getting pushed into the wall, forcing us to retire before the checkered flag. It’s a tough way to end a race after coming from the back and proving we had a car capable of contending for the win.”

“Two nights. Two rounds of bad luck. Gotta love it,” he wrote. “Maybe Modoc Speedway will be nicer to us.”

As for Mitchell, he told Stock Car Report, “I didn’t feel him hit me in the back or whatever. I had a good run going on the bottom and it just kinda gripped up. I don’t know. I don’t know what happened.”

The Southern Nationals are back in action on Thursday, July 16th at Modoc Speedway for a $7,553 to-win race. Mitchell currently leads the series points. He has a 6 point lead over Donald McIntosh, an 8 point lead over race winner Garrett Smith, and a 10 point lead over defending champion Kaede Loudy. Joseph Joiner is in fifth, 18 points back, and Hicks is in sixth place just 20 points back.

NEXT: Bobby Pierce Wins Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Adams County Debut