Is Tyler Hines A "Surprise" Contender?

Last Saturday we saw opening day at the historic Stafford Motor Speedway. The first feature of the day was the SK Modified 40 lapper, at the end though many cautions we saw Tyler Hines take his first ever SK Modified win. Many are surprised by how dominative Hines was as he led all 40 laps and held off the likes of Keith Rocco and Todd Owen.

Last season Hines started in all 14 points paying races, with that said he was only able to get a 19th place finish in points with the only highlight of the season being a lone top 10. Now, after so many changes during the offseason Tyler Hines seems to be in the best car since his SK Lite days. We have only done one race so far of this 20+ race season, the next several weeks will prove what drivers will be contending for the championship down the road.

As for right now though Tyler Hines looks like the guy to beat, but we can not forget 18 time division I champion Keith Rocco who gained 19 spots during the race to finish second. The no.88 Modified has speed, if Hines wants to win more and later contend for the championship he will have a lot of learning to do on drivers like Keith Rocco and Ronnie Williams. Hines has the talent and the drive, overall there is a long season ahead of us and it will definitely be an interesting one.

Going into this season no one expected Hines to win off the bat, we all knew he has talent, but at the end of the day he pulled off the upset.