The final week of the Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park has flown by and on Saturday night, February 10th, it would be the final Lucas Oil Winternationals race ever. On a week where the competition has been fierce, it would be only fitting that the sixth different winner of the week would emerge and four Daulton Wilson, after two years of trying, he would finally get his first ever Lucas Oil Late Model Series victory.
Wilson, who had been close to victory again earlier this week, would make a lap sixteen pass on Tyler Erb and then make it stick up despite some strong return pressure from Erb late in the contest to claim the win and the fifteen thousand dollars that went along with that.
Sixty five drivers would sign in for the finale as the competition of a long week plus some less than favorable outcomes for some of the drivers found them loading up early and either heading for home or taking a night to lick their wounds, put things back together and than head for Volusia.
The format would be the same as it has been for the rest of the week with two groups of cars qualifying and that would be followed by six heats, three B Features and the fifty lap main event Erb would show his strength early as he was quickest qualifier overall at 14.357 seconds while a surprise would find Boom Briggs quickest of the second flight and just a slight tick behind Erb.
Whether it was the long week of hard racing, the extra drama this race had taken as as the finale forever, which by the way could be felt in the pits before the show, or just the extra money on the line but the racing took a harder toll during the heat race qualifying than it seemed to earlier in the week. There was an edginess displayed by a number of the drivers that hadn't been there earlier and some rougher driving that seemed to prevail. There was even a blatant "take out" or two that had to be dealt with by Lucas Oil officials as a couple of the drivers weren't playing well together.
Also, for the first time all week, we saw the heavy equipment needed as the East Bay racing surface needed some attention. A long week of racing had gradually made the first and second turns start to rut up and some pretty big bumps developed. There had been some the past couple of nights but everyone just bounced through them and continued on. By Saturday though, they were sending cars off the ground and were starting to produce a safety hazard. So the grader was dispatched for the first time just before the main event and while no one wanted to see it used, it was the correct call and did make the surface much better for the fifty lap finale. And overall the surface has been good all week, with everyone pleased with how well it has raced after, quite frankly, the last couple of years had been sub standard. The new gumbo that Al Varnadore found has definitely improved the racing and came at just the right time.
Thirty cars would take the green flag for the finale and again, with the qualifying as tough as it has been, just making the main event each night has been hard and a number of top runners would be starting deep in the field with many having to resort to the provisional allowance to even start. Mike Marlar, Spencer Hughes, Ross Robinson, Hudson O'Neal and Time McCreadie would all be going from the back couple of rows.
The feature on Saturday would not see as many different drivers lead the race but it was still an intense battle for the lead. Tyler Erb would start on the pole and would lead the first fifteen laps. Early race action would see Garrett Alberson spin as a result of contact between Boom Briggs and Jensen Ford taht would leave Alberson no room. Erb would continue to lead but Wilson would move into second and start to put the pressure on Erb.
With a slider in turn one, Wilson would take over the lead with Ford starting to slide back in the field while Brandon Sheppard and Garrett Smith would both be on the move. By the halfway point of the race, the yellow had waved three times and Sheppard, Smith and Jonathan Davenport would be the three chasing the leaders.
Wilson would continue to lead but Erb was gradually reeling him in as the laps started to wind down and they got into some traffic. Erb began to put heavy pressure on Wilson but a big move by Wilson past Briggs(who somehow seems to be in the middle of everything) gave him some running room and Erb's aggressive charge into the corner saw him bang with Boom, slowing him down and giving Wilson more space.
Boom wasn't done yet though, as he then slowed with just three laps to go, setting up a sprint to the finish. However, Wilson would get away cleanly and open up some distance while Erb was instead fighting to hold off Sheppard for second. Wilson would power away and to the cheers of the crowd, who seemed to be highly supportive of him, cross the finish line as the winner. Sheppard would steal second from Erb on the final lap with a big back straightaway move and Tyler had to settle for third with Smith and Devin Moran completing the top five. Twenty one cars would complete the race, all on the lead lap and the yellow would wave five times.
The facility here at East Bay was absolutely jam packed on this night and it's hard to imagine how they could possibly shoe horn any more people on to the grounds. Folks were parked at least a mile away from the track and the grid lock leaving afterward was epic. Some seem to think that the crowds will be even bigger when the track runs its finale Lucas Oil shows in October but I disagree as all the folks here for Speedweeks won't be around in October and I don't think the local and regional crowd is just that strong. However, I guess we will find out on that.
I was disappointed that there was no final ceremonies or special award presentations or anything to honor the event and even though there will be one final weekend in October, to me Winternationals is what this track is all about and now would have been the time to do or say something for Al and his crew. We have met and gotten to know quite a few of the track employees in recent years and will miss running into them each year and no matter how things shake out in terms of what 2025 looks like, it will never quite be the same ever again.
I also thought this would have been the appropriate time to make some kind of announcement of what the race schedule for 2025 will look like, but none was forthcoming. Perhaps things are still being negotiated for 2025 and there is not yet any announcement to make but in the meantime, a number of special events and series announcements remain twisting in the wind, so to speak, dependent of what happens with Lucas and their early races for 2025.
Thanks go out to Al Varnadore and his staff for their help this year and for all the years we have been going to the "Clay By The Bay." Best of luck to all of them and good health for all.
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