Don O’Neal is all smiles in victory lane after winning Saturday night’s World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series feature at Volusia Speedway Park to close out the 2017 DIRTcar Nationals. Photo: WoO Media
Coming into Saturday night’s World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series feature at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, veteran driver Don O’Neal was one of the biggest names to not have won a series victory.
That all changed for the veteran Martinsville, Indiana wheelman, as he finally took a coveted trip to victory lane to close out the 46th annual DIRTcar Nationals.
“We’ve had a good car,” said O’Neal. “The Peak Anti-Freeze team with Crawford Outdoor, Cometic Gasket, and Penske Shocks car has been good all Speedweeks, there just wasn’t anything going our way. Tonight, it did.”
O’Neal was a man on a mission all night. Locking up the final transfer spot from his heat put him 13th on the feature starting grid. O’Neal made quick work of the cars in front of him and used a lap 15 restart to take the lead from polesitter Dennis Erb, Jr., who had led every lap to that point.
“We had a harder tire on then most of those guys,” said Erb Jr., who finished seventh. “A lot of those guys gambled with that soft tire. We took the green early and everyone stayed in that line around the bottom. My car was working really good there. Everything was going good until that yellow came out. Then everybody got chasing the brown, (tacky dirt) around the top and those soft tire were able to pull away from me. We definitely got beat on tires tonight.”
Tim McCreadie jumped to the second position the same lap as O’Neal took over the point and steadily gained ground on the leader. On lap 38, in the midst of heavy lapped traffic, O’Neal nearly got into the turn two wall. The slip up by O’Neal allowed McCreadie an attempt for a last lap pass.
“I was warming my tires up on the outside and I thought ‘this feels so much better than the bottom did on that first 14-lap run” said McCreadie. “Don, he’s a professional and he found the traction before I did. I moved up and thought we could run with him, but at the end I think he had the best car. He made one little mistake at the end there and it gave us a chance. We hadn’t run this car yet and we ran it for three nights. We got a second and a third out of it.”
Shane Clanton holds the “Big Gator” trophy after winning the overall DIRTcar Nationals points race for the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series portion of the event. Photo: WoO Media
O’Neal claimed a desired Gator trophy and $10,000 but it was Zebulon, Georgia’s Shane Clanton who took home the king of them all, the Big Gator as DIRTcar Nationals Late Model champion.
“We missed it a little bit tonight, but it’s a testament to how hard we worked all week,” said Clanton “To run top-five three nights and just miss it a little bit tonight and run where we did (13th), we had a shot.”
Before the stretch at DIRTcar Nationals, series veteran Clanton explained the importance of coming out of the Georgia-Florida jaunt ahead in the standings.
“If you come out of Florida on top then it’s easy to stay on top, if you come up behind then it’s hard to dig yourself out of that hole,” said Clanton. “It’s important to have a good run because it will boost the whole season and (at this point) who knows who will be running good.”
Headed out of DIRTcar Nationals, Brandon Sheppard is the leader in the 2017 World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series Points Standings followed by Rick Eckert who is only a mere four points behind. For the last two years the driver who headed out of DIRTcar Nationals highest in points ultimately won the Championship Title at the end of the year.
That may not be the case this year as the points race is still very close, meaning it could be anyone’s for the taking.
For more information on the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series, visit WoOLMS.com.
In other action, Brett Hearn scored the Super DIRTcar Series victory, taking the DIRTcar Nationals championship home as well. Tim Fuller, Danny Johnson, Max McLaughlin and Peter Britten rounded out the top five.
For more information on the DIRTcar Nationals, visit DirtcarNationals.com.
Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL
DIRTcar Nationals – Feb. 25, 2017
World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series
1. 5- Don O’Neal
2. 39-Tim McCreadie
3. 21-Billy Moyer, Jr.
4. 40B-Kyle Bronson
5. 44-Chris Madden
6. 9-Devin Moran
7. 28-Dennis Erb, Jr.
8. 18-Eric Wells
9. 7-Rick Eckert
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11. 3s-Brian Shirley
12. 14-Darrell Lanigan
13. 25-Shane Clanton
14. 1-Brandon Sheppard
15. 91-Tyler Erb
16. 17M-Dale McDowell
17. 1*-Chub Frank
18. 18c-Chase Junghans
19. 7F-Jason Fitzgerald
20. 2H-Nick Hoffman
21. 99j-Frank Heckenast, Jr.
22. 14M-Morgan Bagley
23. 2c-Joey Coulter
24. 99B-Boom Briggs
25. 116-Brandon Overton
26. 15-Steve Francis
Super DIRTcar Series
1. 20-Brett Hearn
2. 19-Tim Fuller
3. 27j-Danny Johnson
4. 6h-Max McLaughlin
5. 21a-Peter Britten
6. 25r-Erick Rudolph
7. 44-Stewart Friesen
8. 14j-Alan Johnson
9. 98h-Jimmy Phelps
10. 99l-Larry Wight
11. 43-Jimmy Horton
12. 8-Rich Scagliotta
13. 7m-Mike Maresca
14. 96-J.F. Corriveau
15. 22-Brandon Walters
16. 109-Billy Whittaker
17. 30-Jamie Mills
18. 7-Rick Laubach
19. 9s-Matt Sheppard
20. 19m-Jessy Mueller
21. 88-Mike Mahaney
22. 5-Billy Vaninwegen
23. 54-Steve Bernard
24. 3-Justin Haers
25. 71-Mike Bowman
26. 96c-Mario Clair
27. 85-H.J. Bunting
28. 49-Billy Dunn
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