CASA GRANDE, Ariz. The second of six races of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw Memorial at Central Arizona Raceway drew 123 cars for the six division program.

Fridays weather was much improved over windy and chilly Thursday.

The WISSOTA late models started 23 cars on the high-banked three-eighths-mile dirt track. Opening night winner Dylan Thornton had an outside row one spot but got into the wall in turn two on the first lap. Ricky Weiss went to the infield and the top two from Thursday were out without a lap scored.

The next try led to a seven-car pileup in turn four adding to the carnage.

Nineteen cars tried it again and Clayton Stuckey, the original polesitter, took the lead. More yellow flags before a longer stretch of green-flag racing gave Stuckey clear track and he led all 25 laps for the win.

Don Shaw and Zach Johnson raced each other for many laps for second and Shaw prevailed and Johnson was third.

Northern sport mods were controlled by Mark Martini with Jake Kierstead and Kaden Woodie chasing Martini across the line.

Limited modifieds driver, Lucas Rodin, took control from fourth starting on the first lap and led the entire distance for the win. Jake Smith was second and James Trantina III finished third in the non-stop race.

The stock car checkers went to Mike Albertsen and Denton Koch won the super stocks finale.

The modified main was very competitive with Tate Johnson leading eleven laps with plenty of company seeking a win. On lap 12, Bryson Yeager used the inside line out of turn four to claim the lead.

Yeager had pressure from Troy Morris III and moving to an outside line worked for Morris and with two laps remaining it was Morris upstairs in turn four with a winning pass.

Morris was the winner ahead of Yeager and Tom Berry Jr.

Saturday will be round three and the series resumes next Thursday. Catch all the action on IMCA.tv.

BARBERVILLE, Fla. Kicking off the sixth annual DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park included four features contested to decide the top-20 starting positions in Saturday nights finale.

Starting the weekend with feature wins bagged by Sam Seawright, Matt Herlong, Demetrios Drellos and Mark Whitener.

Feature 1 Sam Seawright

Friday nights opening feature began with Mack McCarter spinning in the middle of Turn Two on the first lap. Multiple cars suffered damage, ending the races of McCarter, A.J. Miller, and former track champion Garret Stewart.

On the following restart, Sam Seawright took advantage of the gained track position to pass polesitter Layton Sullivan for the lead.

The Alabama native dominated the 20 laps by inflating his gap to over 10 seconds before the feature prematurely ended with Robert Smith, Kyle Hardy, and Sean Ragan involved in a major crash on the front stretch.

With Smith and Hardy contending for second place when time expired on the Feature, Smith was credited with a second-place result and Sullivan finished the night in the third position.

The finish:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 16S-Sam Seawright[4]; 2. 01S-Robert Smith[8]; 3. 99-Kyle Hardy[13]; 4. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[12]; 5. 23M-Beckham Malone[6]; 6. 15-Marty Massey[9]; 7. 42-Steven Stratton Sr[15]; 8. 7T-Tyler Thomason[7]; 9. 87C-Jarrod Carey[3]; 10. 16W-Wesley Scott[16]; 11. 59-Brian Wooldridge[19]; 12. 96-Sean Reagan[18]; 13. (DNF) 19X-Mark Page[17]; 14. (DNF) 2S-Layton Sullivan[1]; 15. (DNF) 16-Caleb Gay[11]; 16. (DNF) 7-Corey Neil Jr[10]; 17. (DNF) 51-Mack McCarter[2]; 18. (DNF) 14AJ-AJ Miller[5]; 19. (DNF) 67S-Garret Stewart[14]

Feature 2 Matt Herlong

Similar to the first feature, the second go-around for the 604 Late Models began with several late models spinning through the middle of Turn 2 and stopping the nights of Rob Pitcher, Monte Skinner, Dale Young, and Luke Bennett.

On the second attempt, Kaede Loudy took command of the feature, leading every lap to build a six-second gap until a late caution with two laps left opened the door for the field to contend.

Up to bat was Matt Herlong, who traded lanes with Loudy in the final two laps, which culminated in Herlong swinging down to the bottom of the track and then sliding up around Loudy to steal the feature win.

I watched him do it three or four times in a row so I set him up for that, Herlong said. It was a hell of a race. Im worn out, it was rough out there for sure. I did this for my good friend Jim, who isnt here no more.

The finish:

Feature  (20 Laps): 1. 131-Matt Herlong[2]; 2. 126-Kaede Loudy[3]; 3. 07-Hayden Cardwell[6]; 4. 18X-Michael Page[7]; 5. 18B-Austin Yarbrough[13]; 6. 18-David Showers Jr[4]; 7. 44-Kam Boyd[1]; 8. 8-Matthew Larson[8]; 9. B2-Brian Booze[17]; 10. 515-Bubba Roling[12]; 11. 49-Mario Gresham[9]; 12. 31S-Tim Swartz[16]; 13. 4G-Kale Green[11]; 14. 57-Landon Zakalowski[18]; 15. 119-Joe Belkey[10]; 16. (DNF) 17P-Rob Pitcher[15]; 17. (DNF) 00M-Monte Skinner[5]; 18. (DNF) 14Y-Dale Young[19]; 19. (DNF) 3-Luke Bennett[14]

Feature 3 Demetrios Drellos

Curtis Glover and Nathan Bray led the field to the start, but Super DIRTcar Series regular Demetrios Drellos stole the show in the third feature.

The New Yorker ran in second for the majority of the race until a three-car battle gave him breathing room for that chance. Drellos, Trynt Lloyd, and Nathan Bray for the lead off a late restart on Lap 13, which resulted in Drellos prevailing with a move around the top of Lloyd.

Lloyd finished second. Ethan Wilson rounded out the podium.

I really had to bide my time there, Drellos said. I didnt want that caution to come out because I was about to turn it up a wick, but it did and next thing I knew, we were three-wide going for the lead. That was a lot of fun though.

The finish:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 111-Demetrios Drellos[4]; 2. 2-Trynt Lloyd[9]; 3. 00-Ethan Wilson[8]; 4. 21-Nathan Bray[2]; 5. 30-Curtis Glover[1]; 6. D8-Dustin Linville[3]; 7. 257-Skylar Marlar[10]; 8. 86-Wil Herrington[11]; 9. 7A-Corey Almond[6]; 10. 39W-Brandon Wells[14]; 11. 67-Gregory Carrico[7]; 12. 23-Toby Sims[12]; 13. 20-Owen Osteen[13]; 14. 71C-Davy Cline[18]; 15. 18C-Miles Cook II[5]; 16. (DNF) 28L-Austin Leamon[16]; 17. (DNF) 24-Payton Stevenson[19]; 18. (DNF) 118-Jared Delk[15]; 19. (DNF) 1X-Ethan Whitis[17]

Feature 4  Mark Whitener

Visiting Sunshine Nationals victory lane for the first time since 2022, Mark Whitener continued to prove his threat for the feature win on Saturday with a dominant display in the final 604 Late Model feature.

To do so, he had to fend off Winter Shootout points leader Jimmy Thomas and reigning Volusia division champion Mikey Kopka for the race win through the 20 laps.

We come here a couple of times to get ready for Speedweeks, Whitener said. Weve been working on the (super late model) and not enough on this thing, so we got some things to work on. Everythings all good, I know theyre working hard on (the track) and I look forward to tomorrow.

Thomas finished second, and Kole Platt snagged the final podium spot from Kopka off the final restart on Lap 19.

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 5-Mark Whitener[1]; 2. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[10]; 3. 44P-Kole Platt[4]; 4. 721-Mikey Kopka[12]; 5. 28-Jake Rainey[5]; 6. 6-Dillon Brown[7]; 7. 611-Koulten Herbert[11]; 8. 52-Cody Karl[9]; 9. 2C-Zack Carley[8]; 10. 94-Holden Allen[16]; 11. 12C-Chase Giddens[6]; 12. 54T-Tuck Trentham[2]; 13. 17C-Jamie Maurice[15]; 14. 18I-Jason Intoppa[13]; 15. (DNF) 69-Wyatt Boyd[17]; 16. (DNF) 89-Timmie Harrelson[18]; 17. (DNF) 11-John Ownbey[3]; 18. (DNS) 35-Christian Augspurger

BARBERVILLE, Fla.  They say if you dont win the show, be the show. But if youre Ryan Gustin at DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, you do both.

Moments after The Reaper crossed the line at Volusia Speedway Park to claim the 11th World of Outlaws Late Models win of his career, the engine under the hood of the No. 19r machine started to turn sour. With smoke billowing out from every corner of the car, Gustin crossed the scales to officially become the first winner of the new season.

It was obviously running hot, Gustin said. Smoke was pouring out on the backstretch and they said keep going, so we burned her down and it paid off. Im glad there werent many more laps, I dont know how many laps the old girl had left in her.

Earlier in the night, Gustin claimed the Simpson Quick Time Award and won his Heat Race to make the Redraw, where he pulled the outside of the front row to start next to Bilstein Pole Award winner Nick Hoffman.

A brilliant start gave Gustin the early lead, but a multi-car pileup on the backstretch quickly erased his advantage. On the following restart, Hoffman nailed the first set of corners to grab the lead back and went to work on building a gap.

Hoffman maintained the top spot for the next 15 laps until he jumped the cushion in Turn 2, letting Gustin get to his inside. That kicked off a back-and-forth tussle for the lead, with both drivers taking their turns at sliders through slower traffic.

It all came to an end for Hoffman just past halfway though, as he squeezed his No. 9 under Gustin entering Turn 1, lost the back end and went around to bring the caution out.

When the race went back green, Gustin found Ethan Dotson and Jonathan Davenport on his tail in second and third. A perfect restart allowed Gustin to extend a sizeable advantage over both of them with the laps ticking down.

Davenport got within four tenths of Gustin in the closing stages, but slid up over the cushion exiting Turn 4 which gave Gustin the opportunity he needed to drive away to the win.

Fridays event marked Gustins first World of Outlaws start with new crew chief Cody Mallory on the wrenches, and theyve already proven themselves to be a lethal duo capable of beating dirt Late Model racings best.

Cody came on here and hes completely redone this thing, Gustin said. Whole different unit than what weve had. This thing is just in the racetrack, fun to drive.

In the final run to the checkers, Davenport got close enough to notice the trouble brewing under Gustins hood, but wasnt able to pull off the winning move for his first Volusia win in seven years.

Congratulations to Ryan there, they did a great job, Davenport said. Saw his motor was running hot and I was pulling up beside him like man, dont burn that thing down, go ahead and give us one here. But anyway, it just wasnt our day.

Rounding out the podium was Cody Overton  with a career-best third-place finish. It certainly didnt come easy, as the second-year Outlaw drove up from his 23rd starting spot to take home the Fox Factory Hard Charger as well.

I was kind of doubting myself after Qualifying, I was like maybe I just cant drive, Overton said. My car owner [Dave Steine] has a lot of faith in me, he has spent tons and tons of money and Im super thankful for him. This is a new car to me, my notebook has got one page in it. Were going to take these notes and grow from there.

Ethan Dotson kicked off his bid for the MD3 Rookie of the Year Award by finishing fourth, good enough for Fridays Rookie of the Race honors. Tim McCreadie completed the top five in his first World of Outlaws start in the Boom Briggs-owned No. 9m.

The finish:

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin [2]; 2. 49D-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 3. 2-Cody Overton[23]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[5]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[17]; 6. 22*-Drake Troutman[13]; 7. 1-Brandon Sheppard[8]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[25]; 9. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 10. 3S-Brian Shirley[11]; 11. 97-Cade Dillard[16]; 12. 76-Brandon Overton[6]; 13. 93-Carson Ferguson[10]; 14. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 15. 16-Tyler Bruening[21]; 16. 28-Dennis Erb Jr.[24]; 17. 17SS-Brenden Smith[18]; 18. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 19. B1-Brent Larson[26]; 20. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[27]; 21. 14W-Dustin Walker[28]; 22. 1T-Tyler Erb[14]; 23. 8-Dillon McCowan[29]; 24. 157-Mike Marlar[20]; 25. 11-Austin Smith[30]; 26. 09-Michael Leach[19]; 27. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[7]; 28. 111-Max Blair[9]; 29. 60-Dan Ebert[15]; 30. 71-Hudson ONeal[22]