MONROE, Wash. — Naima Lang emerged as the winner in the Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Pro Late Model division on the opening night of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series season at Evergreen Speedway on Saturday night.

Lang, making his return to racing after suffering a broken leg in a crash at Tri-City Raceway at RMEC in West Richland, Washington, last year, powered to a 3.192-second victory in the 75-lap main event on the 0.375-mile inner oval.

The race wasn’t without its challenges for Lang, who started seventh. He worked his way to second with 56 laps left before taking the lead two laps later, but his stay at the front of the field was short lived.

With 42 laps left second-place Dawson Cox clipped Lang’s left-rear, sending him up the track in turn four. That allowed third-place Haley Constance to slip past both of them and take the race lead.

Another driver, fast qualifier Chad Fitzpatrick, soon joined the fray and with 32 laps left moved past Constance to assume the lead. Lang followed him past Constance to take second before a caution flag slowed the action.

During the restart, Lang saw his chance and pounced, driving around the outside of Fitzpatrick to regain the race lead. He held the top spot for the rest of the race, ultimately beating Fitzpatrick to the finish line.

“That was a long few months after that wreck,” Lang said in Victory Lane. “I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to race again. I’m so glad I’m out here. I’m so glad I got support from my wife, all my crew. We worked real hard on getting that car ready every week.”

Constance finished third in the race, with Thomas Stanford and Daniel Moore completing the top five.

Four other divisions were in action on the opening day of action at Evergreen Speedway, including two divisions of Hornets. The 30-lap Interstate Batteries Hornet feature was won by Blaine Manning while the Youth Hornet feature was won by Riley Ruddell.

Other winners included Jesse Jensen in the NASCAR Street Stock feature and Branden Lindberg in the Buzz Inn Stinger 8 class.

Evergreen Speedway returns to action Saturday night, April 2, with a six-division card and a fireworks show. Evergreen Speedway will host racing on most Saturday nights throughout the season, with season champions set to be crowned during two consecutive weekends on Sept. 10 and Sept. 17.

In addition to NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series racing, Evergreen will also host two major events this year. The first is the annual Summer Showdown, which features two days of racing on July 22-23 headlined by a $25,000-to-win Super Late Model event.

The ARCA Menards Series West also returns to Evergreen this year after a one-year hiatus, with the track scheduled to host the Evergreen 150 on Aug. 20. Blaine Perkins won the most recent West Series race at the track in 2020.

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series action from Evergreen will be streamed live all season long by FloRacing.