Cole Denton Is Second In Atlanta Photo Finish

Cole Denton (Ryan Murphy photo)

HAMPTON, Ga. – Cole Denton was the runner-up in a thrilling Legend car photo finish Friday night on the Thunder Ring at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Denton, who entered the sixth event of the AMS season undefeated at the flat, quarter-mile oval, qualified second and started on the outside of the front row for the 20-lap main event.

He fell back to fourth on the top groove, but settled in from that point and was back in the second spot by the halfway point. A caution with four laps left allowed Denton to reset and make a run at the win.

Denton got to the inside lane on the restart and spent the last four laps battling with race-long leader Aiden King. He got to the top spot in turns three and four coming to the checkered flag, but was overhauled by inches at the finish line as King took the victory.

The winning margin was .019 seconds, but Denton was still smiling after the exciting last lap.

“We had a really fast car all night, but just lost track position early from being stuck on the top,” Denton explained. “I didn’t want to use up my equipment in the first half, but slowly made the passes we needed to make to have a shot when the final caution came out.

“That was a heck of a battle with Aiden; if the start-finish line had been 15 feet closer to turn four, we might have had our sixth win in a row at Atlanta,” Denton added, a big smile gracing his features. “You can’t be too disappointed in a race like that and we know we’ll come back even stronger.”

Denton would like to thank 77 Speed Shop, Matt Jones Motorsports, Race Face Brand Development, Race Face Digital, the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, Myers Construction Co., and City Chevrolet for their continued partnership and support.

He’ll continue his weekend Saturday night, May 11 with twin features at Cordele (Ga.) Motor Speedway.

About Cole Denton Racing

Nicolas “Cole” Denton is a 13-year-old Gulf South racer with dreams of racing at the top level of stock car racing. From Pascagoula, Miss., Denton began racing go-karts at the age of four and advanced into Bandoleros by the time he was eight years old, where his racing brand and nickname were born.

It was in Bandoleros where Denton, a fan of the iconic racing movie Days of Thunder, adopted the No. 46 as his car number and stylized his Bandolero scheme in black and neon green – akin to the same Mello Yello colors that Tom Cruise’s character Cole Trickle campaigned in the 1990 film.

Denton quickly picked up the nickname “Cole Trickle” at his races, and the persona stuck as his racing stock climbed, leading him to continue racing under the name Cole as he advanced and found success.

His breakout season came in 2022, when Denton accrued 40 wins and 59 podium finishes in 62 starts en route to the INEX Bandolero national championship, leading him into his first year in Legend cars last season.

Away from the driver’s seat, Denton is an avid iRacer, cyclist, and push scooter racer. He also practices flying on a flight simulator and attends both local and NASCAR races as his schedule permits.

For more information on Cole Denton, visit his website at https://coledentonracing.com/.