After a short night on Monday due to a rainstorm that stopped the action, the Volusia Speedway Park was back in action on Tuesday night, February 13th for the first full night of the 53rd annual Federated Auto Parks DIRTcar Nationals for the Late Models and USAC Sprints.
After Monday night's rain shortened program, it was decided to run a double feature event for the USAC cars on Tuesday since they would be moving down the road to another engagement and wouldn't be available after Tuesday night. The DIRTcar Late Models would run their make up feature race as a part of the Wednesday night program.
A double feature program for the USAC cars is a rare event indeed, so along with the grinding crash in the Late Model feature on the front chute after a bad restart, these would probably be the longest lasting memories of this night. That and the fact that Logan Seavey, would make the double feature program even more memorable by sweeping both feature races for the open wheel cars.
Car counts would be very similar to the Monday night program with twenty seven Sprint Cars again signing in to race although Iowa's Robert Bell would have terminal engine problems early and would be done for the night. The Late Model field fell by one as while Parker Partin completed his engine swap from Monday and was racing, both Stacy Boles and Dustin Walker decided to take the night off while several other drivers were on hand but still opted not to open the trailers up.
The program would be identical to the one presented on Monday night except for the fact that no rain fell and we got the whole show in. Three heats for the Sprints and four for the Late Models plus three B Features in total would set the order for the main events.
Previous to that, C.J. Leary would break his one night old track record for USAC cars at VSP with a lap clocked at 16.151 seconds. The Late Models would be split into four groups for heat race action and the quickest in the four groups were Kyle Bronson, Bobby Pierce, Austin Smith(in an upset) and Hudson O'Neal with Pierce quickest overall at 15.256 and it continues to surprise me that the Late Models are faster than the Sprint Cars here.
The regularly scheduled Sprint feature would be the first to take to the track with ten grand on the line for the winner of the thirty lap main. Seavey blew a motor on Monday night just as he crossed the finish line in his heat race and they were in the midst of buttoning up the new power plant when the rains hit, but they didn't let the uncertainty of that event bother than on Tuesday night as Logan would come from the ninth starting spot to win the main event.
After a first lap yellow when Alex Bright hit the inside wall, Carson Garrett would take the early lead with Kyle Cummins moving into second. Another yellow on lap six for a spin slowed the field once again with Seavey up to fourth by this point as he trailed Brady Bacon and Garrett as Cummins took over the lead.
Cummins continued to lead but Seavey made some nice moves as he raced up to second and began to close on the leader under a long green flag period of racing. By the halfway point, Garrett had lost third to Bacon with Justin Grant cracking the top five.
Seavey would apply extreme pressure on Cummins as they dipped back and forth through lapped traffic with Seavey sliding under Cummins on lap twenty to take over the lead. From there he began to pull away with Cummins, Bacon and Kevin Thomas Jr. battling for second.
Things came unglued for Bacon with just two laps to go when he got into a lapped car in turn four as he was fighting for second and he was part of a three car flip that saw both Jadon Rogers and Trey Osborne tip over with no injuries reported and all drivers actually still able to start the second feature.
Seavey would pull away on the restart and drive on for the two lap sprint to the finish with Cummins second and trailed by Thomas Jr, C.J. Leary and Garrett.
The Late Model feature looked like just another Bobby Pierce benefit run until the unthinkable happened with just eight laps to go but those unknowns I think, are what keep us coming back to the track week after week.
Pierce would take the early lead with Bronson and Chris Madden moving into second and third. The yellow would wave twice in the first twelve laps, keeping the field bunched and the pressure on Pierce who was not able to walk away from the field. After Bronson applied early pressure, it was Devin Moran that closed on the leader and twice he appeared ready to make a serious challenge, only to see the yellow wave both times for spinning and slowing cars as the Pierce horseshow appeared to still be working just fine.
However, that belief went out the window following the lap seventeen yellow for a spinning Ethan Dotson. Pierce would bring the tightly paced field through turn four for the restart and then, nothing happened.
Pierce had lost power and with the field barreling down on him, drivers were sent scrambling in all directions with some wild hits taking place including one that launched O'Neal into a near orbit. Much damage was inflicted and several cars were sidelined, a couple with terminal ills that will require teams to borrow cars or go to back up machines.
Of the thirteen cars that were able to restart, just half the field, most had some damage ranging for minor dings to body parts dangling in the wind. Moran would inherit the lead but Ricky Thornton Jr was all over him and a couple of times it appeared that Thornton Jr was ready to make a pass when both times he jumped the cushion and lost major ground.
Moran would drive on for the win with Thornton Jr, Bronson, Max Blair and Cade Dillard completing the top five. It will be a busy overnight as many cars will need some extensive repairs to return for action on Wednesday.
A twenty five lap Sprint feature would then complete the night's racing. Chase Stockon would lead but for only one circuit before he was passed by Bacon for the top spot. Seavey would start fourth and move into second following a lap eleven yellow for debris.
He would then put the pressure on Bacon for the lead with Leary Daison Pursley and Alex Bright running in the top five at the halfway point. By this time of the night, the track was wide and shiny all the way up to the cushion near the wall and it was a perfect track for some slide jobs. We were treated to some great battles at this point with Bacon trying to protect his lead over Seavey and this slid each other back and forth and at one point, doing it twice to each other on a single lap. It was wingless racing at its best.
However, Seavey was just too strong and on lap nineteen, with just six laps to go, he was able to clear Bacon and Brady didn't have enough speed to get back at him and would have to settle for second as Seavey would pull away. Leary would finish a strong third with Pursley fourth and Grant completing the top five. It was a good comeback for Pursley who spent most of the night battling engine woes.
It was an ignominious night for Rogers as he managed to flip in both feature races. Even with lots of racing, the final checkered would wave at 10:30 pm., not bad considering the circumstances.
Wednesday night will see change take place. The USAC Sprints will be replaced by the "Beasts from the East," the Big Block Modifieds that will start their four night run. Also, in a rather unusual format move, the Late Models will run a night of feature races only, much like the Modifieds do here with all drivers split into three feature races, thus everyone will get to run a feature and participation ribbons are promised for all. The evening will conclude with the Late Model feature that was not able to be run on Monday night. Crowds continue to grow each night working toward the weekend, even as it was quite cool at the track on Tuesday night.
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