WHEATLAND, Mo. Justin Wells jokes that its a shame a milestone birthday is in the not-too-distant future. The half-century mark can be daunting. No matter the chosen occupation, it is supposed to mean a slower pace.

But Wells, 48, instead is ready to pick up the pace. He plans a semi-regular schedule of Open Late Model racing after dominating en route to back-to-back Hermitage Lumber Late Model track championships at Lucas Oil Speedway.

The Ozarks Area Racers Foundation Hall of Famer from Aurora, a one-time force on the regional racing scene, flashed that he still had the ability last October with runs of third and fourth in the Lucas Oil MLRA Fall Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Thats what were building on, Wells said this week. Its been a long time since we concentrated on super late model racing. Ive got the best cars and best motors and best of everything that Ive ever owned.

Its a shame that Im getting close to 50, he added with a chuckle. I want to give it a whirl before Im not saying that Im ready to quit, but I dont have a ton of racing left in me. Me and my wife (Missy) talked and with my crew guys and we said, Lets give it all weve got and if it dont work out, thats all right. If it does, thats gonna be cool.

Wells is looking forward to mixing it up with an expected top-notch field at the 12th annual Lucas Oil Speedway Spring Nationals Presented by Iconic Apparel, this Friday and Saturday. With the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series off this week, defending Show-Me 100 winner Jonathan Davenport and other national-touring drivers are expected, with top prizes of $7,000 on Friday and $20,000 on Saturday.

Everybody wants to tune up for the Show-Me 100 and I think youre going to draw a lot of good guys, like Davenport and some of them. It should be a good show for the fans, Wells said.

After winning 23 weekly features at Lucas Oil Speedway the last two years, Wells said he doesnt have a lot of home-track advantage because the power of the Open Late Models make it a different ballgame compared to the limited motor.

Wells is looking forward to putting his focus on the open division this season. He said he has two open motors available for his two cars a 2006 TNT chassis that he calls Old Faithful that has 116 feature wins and a TNT he debuted last year by making the Show-Me 100 starting field, plus the strong Fall Nationals runs.

Mainly thats all were gonna do this year, he said of open racing. Were just hit anything within about a three-hour radius and try that this year.

The Old Faithful car, were gonna take our open motor that we ran last year and put that in it and were gonna run the new ULRA Series and Revival Series and and use that car for the smaller tracks.

These motors any more, they so high-dollar that you have to have a reason to run em. You cant just take it to a $1,000 or $1,500 to win show. Theres got to be some money on the line where you think you have a chance to win something.

Wells broke out the newer car last earlier this spring at Springfield Raceway, but struggled with finishes outside the top 10. He figured to be better prepared for this weekend.

Were jacked up about it, Wells said. We didnt start off very good at Springfield, but it was mainly because we werent really ready to go. Now weve had these three weeks off and I feel good about where were at.