Dirt Racing’s Winning Moment: The battle of the race was between Mike Marlar and Hudson O’Neal, and it was for second. Dale McDowell utterly dominated the season opener for the XR Super Series at Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee, leading all 100 laps en route to the first six-figure payday of his length career.
Dirt Racing’s Dramatic Moment(s): Attica Raceway Park’s month of rainouts finally abated this weekend for the All-Star Circuit of Champions tour and resulted in two A-list features. Friday night saw home-state driver Craig Mintz prevail over Zeb Wise in a photo finish.
Saturday night was drama of a different type, with Brent Marks finally scoring his first win of 2023 with a dramatic run from 20th to first after being forced to transfer into the feature through a B-main.
Also worth noting, the USAC national sprint car series returned to action this weekend following the death of competitor Justin Owen at Lawrenceburg last week. Friday’s feature at Bloomington Speedway in Indiana suffered from a wet, narrow track as a result of late rainfall, but Saturday’s finish between Justin Grant and Kevin Thomas Jr. at Tri-State (Ind.) was an absolute gem.
What Dirt Racing Fans’ll Be Group Chatting About This Morning
Yes, it’s completely unfair to call out Jonathan Davenport after he won hard charger honors Saturday night at Volunteer, going from 23rd to eighth over 100 laps. But Davenport’s the top dog in super late model racing and for him to be a complete non-factor in the season’s richest race to date was the shocker of the dirt racing weekend. Race fans would be forgiven for mistaking Nutrient Ag Solutions packages for milk cartons this weekend, as the Fast 49 was all but missing.
The gamble taken on by the XR Super Series to delay their season opener to run one week after the Kyle Larson Late Model Challenge at the same track paid off, with a strong field of super late models and absolutely jammed grandstands on Saturday night (April 15). This was not a NASCAR sellout, the frontstretch at Bulls Gap was packed to the rafters.
Last year’s Eldora Million was remarkable not only for its purse, but how clean the 100-lap race was run despite it being contested for literally life-changing money for dirt late model drivers. Fast forward to Saturday night, and another rich, 100-lap feature proved to be a squeaky clean and competitive affair. True professionals race these machines.
That…
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