BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Feb. 17, 2014 – Ty Dillon has dominated the DIRTcar Nationals presented by Summit Racing Equipment this year, and on Monday night at Volusia Speedway Park he earned his biggest victory of the week when he led wire-to-wire in the Gator Championship for DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.
DIRTcar Late Models also helped kick off the second week of action at the DIRTcar Nationals with Florida late model hero Ivedent Lloyd Jr. holding off Wisconsin’s Brady Smith for the victory.
Monday was Dillon’s night, though. He drew the outside pole for the 30-lapper alongside Kenny Wallace and quickly jumped in front. Dillon methodically edged away lap-after-lap until a mid-race caution bunched the field. Ty Dillon charged back to green with Nick Hoffman, Wallace and Matt Westfall in tow. Austin Dillon, Ty’s brother who won the Daytona 500 pole and was seeking his second win in as many nights, quickly picked off Westfall and Wallace and set his sights on Hoffman as he tried to catch his brother in front.
Then, a restart with three to go changed everything. As Ty Dillon powered back to the green flag, the left rear wheel of second-place-running Hoffman’s car came off, sending him into a spin that collected Austin Dillon, Wallace, Westfall and several others right under the flagstand on the frontstretch. Everyone walked away from the incident and Ty Dillon eventually raced the final three laps holding off two-time national DIRTcar UMP Modified champion Devin Gilpin to the checkered flag for his third consecutive win.
“I’m glad everybody’s OK,” said Ty Dillon, who will compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Daytona International Speedway. “I’m happy it turned out that we got the win. Three in row for me, four in a row for Team Dillon Racing at the DIRTcar Nationals. It’s been a great week.”
In late model action, Lloyd put on a clinic about how to race at Volusia. The Ocala native has turned a few laps at high-speed half-mile Volusia and was smooth and consistent throughout his victory in the 30-lap feature. Smith was second with Eric Wells rounding out the podium.
“This is great, this is the biggest win,” Lloyd said. “I’ve won races that have paid more money, but this by far is the career topper here to win this, this is cool. … Going down the back straightaway after the checkered flag you’re smiling pretty big, beating the hell out of the steering wheel. It’s definitely a neat deal.”
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds finish off their portion of the DIRTcar Nationals on Tuesday night with Triple 20s while the DIRTcar Late Models return for their second of six nights of action. The Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds roll into Volusia on Wednesday.
For more information and updates on the DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment, clickDIRTcarNationals.com or follow on Twitter at Twitter.com/DIRTcarNats.
DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment Statistical Report; Feb. 17, 2014; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, Fla.
DIRTcar UMP Modified “Gator Championship”
A-Main (30 Laps): 1. (41) Ty Dillon ($5,000), 2. (1G) Devin Gilpin, 3. (9M) Dale Mathison, 4. (7B) Jeff Babcock, 5. (8) Kyle Strickler, 6. (85) Kent Robinson, 7. (49) Brian Ruhlman, 8. (10) Austin Arneson, 9. (35) David Stremme, 10. (9) Kenny Schrader, 11. (1) Dwight Niehoff, 12. (20) Kody Weisner, 13. (4) Cody Bauman, 14. (5B) Steven Brooks, 15. (2) Nick Hoffman, 16. (3) Austin Dillon, 17. (36) Kenny Wallace, 18. (54) Matt Westfall, 19. (25) Tyler Nicely, 20. (K9) Will Krup, 21. (64JR) Billy Workman Jr, 22. (51) Justin Allgaier, 23. (OJ) Bryce Jewell, 24. (40B) Kyle Bronson, 25. (36H) Jacob Poel, 26. (O5) Dave Wiethholder, 27. (47) Collin Thirlby, 28. (2G) Troy Girolamo.
Last Chance Showdown #1 (10 laps, top four transfer): 1. (O5) Dave Wiethholder, 2. (5B) Steven Brooks, 3. (90) Jason Beaulieu, 4. (26) Bobby Gierke, 5. (17JE) Jack Steilder, 6. (4) Cody Bauman, 7. (67) Garret Stewart, 8. (O1) Mitch O’Patik, 9. (33) Jeff Mathews, 10. (52) Jordan Bailey, 11. (O7) Jeff Thomas, 12. (88) Matt Crafton, DNS. (O8) Jake Griffin
Last Chance Showdown #2 (10 laps, top four transfer): 1. (2G) Troy Girolamo, 2. (1) Dwight Niehoff, 3. (51) Justin Allgaier, 4. (47) Collin Thirlby, 5. (54B) Larry Burkins, 6. (28) Paul Miles, 7. (20) Kody Weisner, 8. (D4) Dave Jamison, 9. (66) Justin Marks, 10. (O1X) Joel Ortberg, 11. (79) Nick Kurtz, 12. ( (24JR) Jeffrey Lien Jr.
DIRTcar Late Models
A-Main – (30 Laps): 1. (21L) Ivedent Lloyd Jr. ($7,000), 2. (2) Brady Smith, 3. (18W) Eric Wells, 4. (23) John Blankenship, 5. (25) Shane Clanton, 6. (0) Scott Bloomquist, 7. (29) Darrell Lanigan, 8. (22) Gregg Satterlee, 9. (1) Brandon Sheppard, 10. (14M) Morgan Bagley, 11. (81) Brian Shirley, 12. (99JR) Frankie Heckenast Jr., 13. (24) Rick Eckert, 14. (32) Bobby Pierce, 15. (38) Kenny Pettyjohn, 16. (5) Eric Jacobsen, 17. (39) Tim McCreadie, 18. (21) Billy Moyer, 19. (18x) Jack Sullivan, 20. (101) Casey Roberts, 21. (157) Mike Marlar, 22. (18c) Chase Junghans, 23. (2) Dan Stone, 24. (J4) John Garvin Jr.
Heat No. 1 (8 laps – Top 4 Transfer): 1. Eric Wells, 2. John Blankenship, 3. Darrell Lanigan, 4. Bobby Pierce, 5. Kenny Pettyjohn, 6. Kyle Bronson, 7. Chase Junghans, 8. Jason Fitzgerald, 9. Jeff Beyers, 10. Chad White
Heat No. 2 (8 laps – Top 4 Transfer): 1. Ivedent Lloyd Jr., 2. Gregg Satterlee, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Dan Stone, 5. Rick Eckert, 6. Billy Moyer, 7. Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs, 8. Vic Coffey, 9. Chad Hollenbeck, 10. Chuck Julien
Heat No. 3 (8 laps – Top 4 Transfer): 1. Shane Clanton, 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Brian Shirley, 5. Jack Sullivan, 6. Stacy Boles, 7. Jeff Babcock, 8. Tim McCreadie, 9. John Winge, 10. David Gibson Jr.
Heat No. 4 (8 laps – Top 4 Transfer): 1. Brady Smith, 2. Morgan Bagley, 3. Casey Roberts, 4. Eric Jacobsen, 5. Tyler Bruening, 6. Frankie Heckenast Jr., 7. Chub Frank, 8. John Garvin Jr., 9. Dennis Erb Jr., 10. Mike Hammerle
B-Main No. 1 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): 1. Rick Eckert, 2. Kenny Pettyjohn, 3. Billy Moyer, 4. Chase Junghans, 5. Vic Coffey, 6. Chad Hollenbeck, 7. Jason Fitzgerald, 8. Jeff Beyers, 9. Chad White, 10. Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs
B-Main No. 2 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): 1. Jack Sullivan, 2. Frankie Heckenast Jr., 3. John Garvin Jr., 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Tyler Bruening, 6. Jeff Babcock, 7. Stacy Boles, 8. David Gibson Jr., 9. Mike Hammerle, 10. John Winge