Another racing week at Volusia Speedway Park began on Monday night, February 8th under cloudy to party cloudy skies with the threat of showers also. For the Modifieds, it was their big night of the week as they would wrap up their grueling stretch of racing here at VSP with the battle for the big "Gator" trophy and their highest pay of the week while the Late Models would make their debut here for 2021 with a full show highlighted by the thirty lap main event.
Twenty cars were already qualified for the Modified feature through the double feature races held on Sunday night with another forty sticking around in the muddy Gator pits for one last shot to make the main event. Two cars each would come out of four Last Chance Features along with two provisional starters to set the thirty car starting field for the main.
The four Last Chance races were predictably chaotic with one calm race and three that saw the yellow wave at least three times for various spins and crashes as some of the racers seemed to feel compelled to engage in at last one last spin or collision before they called it a Speed Week. Also, during these four races the sprinkles would start and a couple of times there was a minor delay for rain that required just a few laps to repack the track. With these factors in play, Race Director Sam Driggers called for the evening's schedule to be rearranged as with this being the last night for the Modifieds, it was imperative that their feature race be completed. So they only race three Late Model heats after the Mods were done with their Last Chance races and then moved directly into the Modified feature with the rest of the Late Model program being put on hold. The redraw for the Mods and the driver's introductions, scheduled to be a part of the festivities on this night, were done away with which was a smart choice since the most important thing was getting the Mod feature in the books.
The heaviest and fastest track of the week was served up to the drivers on Monday night, likely the result of the humid and increasingly cloudy afternoon so it was a "hammer down" track for most of the night.
As stated above, thirty cars would start the thirty lapper for the Mods and this race would see only two different leaders as Nick Hoffman would lead the first ten laps and would build up a sizable lead in the early going with Justin Allgaier, Mike Altobelli and Lucas Lee chasing him.
Hoffman would look to be in control until he approached the back of the pack which was having their own wild fight for positions. Just in front of Hoffman was a swarm of about six or more cars and he was forced to back off as he looked for an opening. Just then, one of the cars got out of shape which further wadded things up. Allgaier, Altobelli and Lee all caught him and a back of the pack car got turned around by one of the surging cars fighting for the lead and that triggered the yellow.
The restart saw Allgaier get the jump on Hoffman and take over the lead and he quickly put some distance on the pack. Altobelli also got by Hoffman for second but a series of yellows within the next few laps would keep the pack bunched.
However, each time the green would fly, Allgaier would again pull in front and even though Hoffman would eventually get back to second, he had nothing for the leader. One final yellow set a four lap sprint to the finish but Allgaier would again edge away with a comfortable margin at Dave Forney's checkered flag over Hoffman and a changing Mike McKinney would come from twelfth to complete the podium finishers.
Nineteen cars would compete the distance with mechanical issues eliminating such challengers as Steve Arpin, Michael Long, Tyler Nicely, Lee, Will Krup, David Stremme and Nick Allen. The track had a muddy lower groove where most of the drivers were racing and by races' end many were so covered in mud the car numbers were undistinguishable. In the "factory wars" which were in effect all week, it would be Elite chassis one and two over a Longhorn in a war that will be carried out over the Summer in various sanctioning bodies across America.
Fifty one Late Models would sign in for night number one of their six night engagement here at VSP. The heavy track produced some blinding speeds but also made passing tough. Bobby Pierce, somewhat surprisingly since he is more of a "short track" guy, would set the pace in qualifying with a blistering time of 16.139 seconds.
Six Late Model heats and two Last Chance races set the field for the main event which would start twenty four cars with no provisional starters due to the fact that the first two nights of this six night outing for the Late Models are under the direction of UMP with the last four night being World of Outlaw shows.
Somewhat regretfully, all six qualifying races saw the winner come from right in the front row, so time trials were super important on Monday. This pattern would be completed during the main event when McCreadie would get the jump from the outside pole and then drive away from the field for thirty laps to take the win.
The track was fastest right up against the wall so the driving style of this night was bury the throttle, rim ride the cushion and keep the car off the wall. The only driver that was able to make some progress was Mark Whitener who with hard work was able to pass both Kyle Bronson and Devin Moran to take the second spot and he was gaining on McCreadie for a time as he halved the lead that McCreadie had.
However, as Whitener would later say, the track where he was running in a lower groove than most were, seemed to give out at some point and while Whitener would close up the gap, he was never able to provide a serious challenge. Moran would roll on for third ahead of Bronson and Pierce. There was only a single yellow flag in the main event and only Moyer and Dale McDowell were not on the track at the finish.
Several drivers, most notably Ricky Weiss, Jimmy Owens and Scott Bloomquist continued their early season struggles with only Owens even making the main.
UMP sanctioned Late Models will be in action one more night before the WoO takes over and they will be joined by the east coast Big Block Modifieds as they start their five night stand.
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