Davey Johnson celebrates after winning his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory at East Bay Raceway Park Saturday night. Photo by Rick Schwallie Photography
Davey Johnson returned to East Bay Raceway Park’s victory lane tonight in Tampa, FL for the first time since 2001. The veteran driver took the lead on lap 12 and held off a hard charging Earl Pearson, Jr. in the closing laps for his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win.
Trailing Johnson and Pearson to the finish line in the 38th WinterNationals finale was Don O’Neal, Eddie Carrier Jr., and Jimmy Owens.
“We had to work on the car most of the night to get it ready for today,” said Johnson. “I want to thank Austin Hargrove, we brought him in during the off-season and he has made a big difference in our race team. Our business slowed down a little last year, and we were able to travel more and run some bigger shows. I think we are ready for a really good season.
“We have always liked coming down here to East Bay. The last time we won here was in the Rocket House Car in 2001. The track was really racy tonight. Our car worked better on the bottom, and then we moved up the track late in the race, and it was still fast. Man, it feels good to win here again.”
Jimmy Owens led the first eleven laps of the race until Johnson took over the point. Johnson held a steady pace as Scott Bloomquist started to apply some pressure. Johnson and Bloomquist ran one-two until a caution on lap 49.
On the restart Pearson soared past Bloomquist on the outside to take over second. In the final 11 laps Pearson tried hard to run-down Johnson, but Johnson was able to withstand Pearson’s challenges and take his car to Lucas Oil victory lane.
“That was a heck of a race,” said Pearson afterwards. “I don’t know if that caution hurt or helped us. We got around Scott, and I then thought I had enough laps to catch Davey, but we didn’t. This Bobby Labonte Racing Team and everyone at Longhorn Chassis should be proud of what we have done so far this season.” Pearson retains the point lead heading into the series next event at Brownstown Speedway in Indiana on March 22.
O’Neal started tenth, and made a late-race charge to claim third.
“I saw Earl get up against the cushion, so I decided I was going to try it as well,” he said. “The bottom was working well for us, but the top got faster, we were in the right spot at the right time. It was another good point night for the Clint Bowyer, Peak Oil Team, and we will be ready for Brownstown next month.”
Completing the top 10 were Steve Francis, Gregg Satterlee, Bobby Pierce, Scott Bloomquist, and Ray Cook.
In preliminary action, Billy Moyer set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time (Group B) amongst the 40 entrants, with a lap of 14.362 seconds. Dennis Erb, Jr. set the fastest time in Group A with a time of 14.648 seconds. Jimmy Owens, John Blankenship, Davey Johnson, and Scott Bloomquist won their respective heat races. Jason Hughes and Randy Weaver won their respective B-Mains.
For the latest breaking news on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, visit lucasdirt.com.
38th Annual Winter Nationals
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL
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1. Davey Johnson
2. Earl Pearson, Jr.
3. Don O’Neal
4. Eddie Carrier, Jr.
5. Jimmy Owens
6. Steve Francis
7. Gregg Satterlee
8. Bobby Pierce
9. Scott Bloomquist
10. Ray Cook
11. John Blankenship
12. Jared Landers
13. Dan Stone
14. Randy Weaver
15. Brian Shirley
16. Jason Riggs
17. Mike Benedum
18. Dennis Erb, Jr.
19. Booper Bare
20. Devin Moran
21. Chad Hollenbeck
22. Dennis Franklin
23. John Mollick
24. Jason Hughes
25. Kevin Weaver
26. Jason Papich
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