After a year of building and preparing his program, Alex Payne is set to join the Super DIRTcar Series full time in 2024. The Hopewell, NY driver will battle for Rookie of the Year honors after a two-win season that included his first DIRTcar Big Block Modified win at Land of Legends Raceway.
But 2023 wasn’t just about success. It was about preparing for the future. The third-generation driver built his Big Block program to compete against the best in 2024.
“We probably could’ve made it happen last year, but I feel like we took our time to really prepare everything to the point where we’re going to be good and give it our best shot,” Payne said.
Even though 2024 will be his rookie year, Payne is no stranger to Super DIRTcar Series competition. The 18-year-old has made 18 Series starts and scored a career-best finish of fifth at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in 2021. But despite that experience, he said he knows he’ll face a learning curve.
“It’s going to be tough trying to unload fast,” Payne said. “Time trials are super important. So, there’s going to be some struggles with that, I feel like, but maybe we use some DIRTVision tapes from the past and maybe compare it to somewhere that’s close and get a feel for it. And just try to unload with our best shot.
“I think we’ll be ok. It’s all going to be learning constantly until we get to the point where we feel like we have a good baseline everywhere. It’ll be tough, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Along with his Series starts, Payne got the chance to race against several Super DIRTcar Series stars during his time racing weekly at Land of Legends. And the night he found Victory Lane at the iconic Canandaigua, NY oval, he beat one of his Series competitors, Peter Britten, to the checkered flag.
“There’s a lot of good cars in that field,” Payne said. “We had some really good speed in our first year, but that win was pretty big with some of the names that were behind me. I think…
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