Austin Horton considers himself a pretty lucky guy. Sure, he’s missed racing like most drivers, but the Newnan, Ga., driver who’ll celebrate his 25th birthday Thursday has had enough to do during the coronavirus pandemic since mid-March to keep him from going stir crazy.

“Thank God I work a 40-hour-a-week job, so that helps me a lot,” said Horton, who is employed by Forest Park, Ga.-based Cummins as a power generator technician working on backup generators for hospitals, schools and other large businesses. “I know there’s a lot more strain on the (drivers) who (race) for a living. It hasn’t been fun sitting at home, not being able to do nothing.

“My honey-do list has been, I guess, out the roof is what you could call it. It seems like that’s all I’ve been able to do. I mean, it’s been good spending time with the family and all, but I also miss racing, too, when you are used to doing that every weekend. Normally, with our schedule, by now we would have done raced 20 or 25 times.”

Horton is looking forward to finally getting a chance to turn his season's first competitive laps Thursday as his home track, Senoia (Ga.) Raceway, hosts the DirtonDirt.com Shootout, a $5,000-to-win spectator-free event for Super Late Models shown via live streaming video for FloRacing subscribers.

Watch the DirtonDirt.com Shootout LIVE on FloRacing!

The midweek event, which includes Crate Late Models on the card, is perfect for Horton, whose shop is 15 minutes from the track. So far, all Horton as been able to do is practice, but both sessions were at Senoia, a track with a typically slick surface that can prove tricky for visitors. That could give him an edge.

“(Practicing) went good. It went real good," Horton said. "I got hooked up with AED Fuel Systems. They sent me some new carburetors to try. We were just testing that really and trying a little different tire, just experimenting with some stuff so we ain’t blindsided when we do get to racing and hope that we’re on our A-game this Thursday.”

Horton, who cut his teeth racing at Senoia, Woodstock's Dixie Speedway and Whitesburg's West Georgia Speedway, has two career Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals victories, one career Ultimate Series triumph and was the 2017 Southern All Stars Late Model Series champion, though his lone career SAS victory came in 2018. He credits his solid equipment — he drives a Clements-powered Rocket XR1 — and more time behind the wheel for his continued improvement.

“It’s just laps on the car, getting seat time,” Horton said. “I haven’t really been racing all that long, I guess you could say. We were looking back just (Monday) night … six years ago was my first Late Model win in any kind of like, a Limited Late Model style car, so I really don’t have as much time in a car as a lot of people think I do.

“You can’t buy laps and the experience you get on a racetrack. It’s all about making laps and learning what to do and what not to do. That’s been a big key for me in developing my driving, just getting better in the driver’s seat. Plus, we have great race cars, a great shock program, great engine program. Everything it takes to run good nowadays, we have it and that definitely contributes to my success.”

Horton is coming off a six-victory season, five of the wins in special events. Along with a $3,000 triumph at Rome (Ga.) Speedway in June, he grabbed a pair of touring wins in July with victories in the $5,300-to-win Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals event at Rome and a $4,000-to-win Ultimate Southeast win at Dixie. Other special event wins came at East Alabama Motor Speedway in September’s $5,000 Alabama State Championship and November’s $5,000 National Late Model Super Car Series finale.

He would like nothing better than to continue last season’s success and grabbing a win close to home would be a good place to start.

“I hope we can go in guns blazing,” Horton said. “Definitely every time we go, we go to win. Hopefully we can pull it off. If not, just keep the car in one piece and have a good strong run. Some of the guys we’re going up against, they did a little bit more testing and they got their feet a little bit wet in Florida (during Georgia-Florida Speedweeks) at the first of the year. We’re going in with a little bit less laps than them, but at least it is home turf, so maybe I’ll have some sort of advantage over a couple of them.”