6.18.22 UMP DIRTcar Late Models Summernationals Results

Two starts, two wins. Chris Simpson has been hotter than the Hell Tour this week.

Thursday night in his home state of Iowa, he won. Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway in Illinois, he did it again, besting a stacked field of 48 other drivers to stake claim to the second $10,000 check of the 37th DIRTcar Summer Nationals season.

Simpson set Quick Time in the sixth and final group of Qualifying before going on to win his Heat Race and redrawing the pole for the Feature. Outside polesitter Nick Allen got the jump at the drop of the green and led the race through the first 23 laps with several restarts along the way, until Simpson and the rest of the top-five got the jump on him.

Simpson, of Oxford, IA, threw his Longhorn Chassis #32 to the outside into Turn 1 as fourth-starting Tanner English did the same to Allen’s inside. By the time they came back around to the stripe, Simpson had the upper hand and control of the race with one half left.

Simpson held strong out front until Erb brought his A-game with him to the low groove, moving past him with 15-to-go. But that lead didn’t last long. Simpson stuck to the high line and wound-it-up on the banking, then uncorked a slide job to take the lead back with 10-to-go.

“[Erb] kept getting under me and I kept getting a run off of Turn 2 where I’d get back ahead of him,” Simpson said. “I went down in front of him to try and slow him down, and then he ended up getting by me and the top started cleaning up really good.

“I got a run down the front-stretch and he kept going way out wide. I got a run off of Turn 2 and went down into 3 and slid him, got in front of him, and a lap later the caution came out.”

The yellow was indeed displayed, twice more, both with an extra bit of pressure coming back on Simpson for the restarts.

Behind him, an epic climb through lapped traffic for reigning champion Bobby Pierce. After suffering electrical issues in Qualifying and his Heat, Pierce took a provisional and started 22nd on the grid.

Five laps in, he was 15th. Fifteen laps down, he had cracked the top-10. He cracked the podium on Lap 31, using his signature high-side to make the moves, and topped it off with a pass for second on Lap 41.

Under caution for the last couple restarts, Simpson got the idea he was getting closer by the lap.

“I could hear them say on the [one-way driver radio] that 32 was in fifth, then third, and then second,” Simpson said.

But Simpson hung tough through the restarts to bag his second Feature win in two starts.

“I got the best crew help I’ve ever had,” Simpson said, reflecting on the weight of his two Hell Tour victories this week after going nearly seven years since his previous one. “I got the best crew chief – my crew chief Chad Simonson. I’ve told this to my sponsors the last four years… I said, ‘Listen, I have the best help I’ve ever had.’ There’s no reason I can’t go out here and win these races.”

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[22]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 4. 24-Ryan Unzicker[7]; 5. 111V-Max Blair[3]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 7. 19R-Ryan Gustin[21]; 8. 42-Mckay Wenger[12]; 9. 35-Derek Chandler[15]; 10. B12-Kevin Weaver[8]; 11. 25-Jason Feger[19]; 12. 11-Gordy Gundaker[20]; 13. 14G-Joe Godsey[18]; 14. F1-Payton Freeman[13]; 15. 38J-Jake Little[17]; 16. 89-Mike Spatola[23]; 17. 4G-Bob Gardner[25]; 18. 76-Titus Sneed[24]; 19. 21A-Nick Allen[2]; 20. 81E-Tanner English[4]; 21. 45-Kyle Hammer[16]; 22. 1M-Mike Mataragas[5]; 23. 36-Logan Martin[14]; 24. 7-Drake Troutman[10]; 25. 77-Preston Luckman[11]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 25-Jason Feger[2]; 2. 11-Gordy Gundaker[1]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. 89-Mike Spatola[4]; 5. 15-Justin Duty[9]; 6. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[13]; 7. 4G-Bob Gardner[6]; 8. 18-Shannon Babb[14]; 9. 10-Paul Parker[8]; 10. 4D-Doug Tye[10]; 11. 3-Dale Markham[15]; 12. 30-Mark Voigt[16]; 13. 23NZ-Mick Quin[11]; 14. 14R-Jeff Roth[5]; 15. 51-Matt Furman[12]; 16. (DNS) 10S-Taylor Scheffler

Consolation Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[2]; 2. 3-Dale Markham[6]; 3. 9R-Curtis Roberts[4]; 4. 26M-Brent McKinnon[1]; 5. 334-Billy Hough[5]; 6. 9-Lyle Zanker[3]; 7. 76-Titus Sneed[10]; 8. 31-Paul Stubber[9]; 9. 73-Bill Weistart[7]; 10. (DNS) 33-Rickey Frankel

Consolation Race 2 (10 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[2]; 2. 30-Mark Voigt[3]; 3. M27-Mike Provenzano[6]; 4. 18M-Jimmy Miller[4]; 5. 0-Deshawn Gingerich[9]; 6. T8-Tim Gauntt[1]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[8]; 8. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[7]; 9. (DNS) 84-Myles Moos; 10. (DNS) 4T-Tommy Sheppard Jr

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21A-Nick Allen[2]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[3]; 3. F1-Payton Freeman[1]; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker[5]; 5. 10S-Taylor Scheffler[8]; 6. 26M-Brent McKinnon[4]; 7. 9R-Curtis Roberts[6]; 8. 73-Bill Weistart[7]; 9. 76-Titus Sneed[9]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. B12-Kevin Weaver[2]; 3. 36-Logan Martin[4]; 4. 25-Jason Feger[3]; 5. 10-Paul Parker[6]; 6. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[5]; 7. 334-Billy Hough[8]; 8. 33-Rickey Frankel[7]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 3. 35-Derek Chandler[2]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 5. 15-Justin Duty[3]; 6. 9-Lyle Zanker[8]; 7. 3-Dale Markham[5]; 8. 31-Paul Stubber[7]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 111V-Max Blair[2]; 2. 7-Drake Troutman[3]; 3. 45-Kyle Hammer[4]; 4. 89-Mike Spatola[5]; 5. 4D-Doug Tye[7]; 6. T8-Tim Gauntt[8]; 7. 18M-Jimmy Miller[6]; 8. (DNS) 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr

Heat 5 (10 Laps): 1. 1M-Mike Mataragas[5]; 2. 77-Preston Luckman[1]; 3. 38J-Jake Little[4]; 4. 14R-Jeff Roth[6]; 5. 23NZ-Mick Quin[7]; 6. 18-Shannon Babb[2]; 7. 84-Myles Moos[3]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce[8]

Heat 6 (10 Laps): 1. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 42-Mckay Wenger[4]; 3. 14G-Joe Godsey[2]; 4. 4G-Bob Gardner[5]; 5. 51-Matt Furman[3]; 6. 30-Mark Voigt[7]; 7. M27-Mike Provenzano[6]; 8. 0-Deshawn Gingerich[8]; 9. (DNS) 4T-Tommy Sheppard Jr

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. F1-Payton Freeman, 00:12.702[2]; 2. 21A-Nick Allen, 00:12.778[8]; 3. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:12.883[3]; 4. 26M-Brent McKinnon, 00:13.002[1]; 5. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:13.108[9]; 6. 9R-Curtis Roberts, 00:13.369[6]; 7. 73-Bill Weistart, 00:13.520[4]; 8. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 00:13.571[5]; 9. 76-Titus Sneed, 00:14.030[7]

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:12.845[4]; 2. B12-Kevin Weaver, 00:12.946[3]; 3. 25-Jason Feger, 00:13.001[5]; 4. 36-Logan Martin, 00:13.213[8]; 5. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:13.398[2]; 6. 10-Paul Parker, 00:13.450[7]; 7. 33-Rickey Frankel, 00:13.525[6]; 8. 334-Billy Hough, 00:13.985[1]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 81E-Tanner English, 00:12.809[3]; 2. 35-Derek Chandler, 00:13.184[2]; 3. 15-Justin Duty, 00:13.188[4]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:13.250[6]; 5. 3-Dale Markham, 00:13.467[8]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:13.500[1]; 7. 31-Paul Stubber, 00:13.657[7]; 8. 9-Lyle Zanker, 00:13.679[5]

Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:13.125[7]; 2. 111V-Max Blair, 00:13.216[4]; 3. 7-Drake Troutman, 00:13.441[6]; 4. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:13.479[2]; 5. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:13.521[5]; 6. 18M-Jimmy Miller, 00:15.035[1]; 7. 4D-Doug Tye, 00:15.537[8]; 8. T8-Tim Gauntt, 00:16.633[3]

Qualifying 5 (2 Laps): 1. 77-Preston Luckman, 00:13.458[4]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:13.641[3]; 3. 84-Myles Moos, 00:13.720[6]; 4. 38J-Jake Little, 00:13.950[7]; 5. 1M-Mike Mataragas, 00:14.019[8]; 6. 14R-Jeff Roth, 00:14.682[5]; 7. 23NZ-Mick Quin, 00:15.925[2]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.925[1]

Qualifying 6 (2 Laps): 1. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:13.405[7]; 2. 14G-Joe Godsey, 00:13.513[5]; 3. 51-Matt Furman, 00:13.596[6]; 4. 42-Mckay Wenger, 00:13.642[4]; 5. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:14.017[8]; 6. M27-Mike Provenzano, 00:14.170[2]; 7. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:14.418[3]; 8. 0-Deshawn Gingerich, 00:14.726[1]; 9. 4T-Tommy Sheppard Jr, 00:14.726[9]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:13.106[9]; 2. 21A-Nick Allen, 00:13.472[8]; 3. F1-Payton Freeman, 00:13.514[2]; 4. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 00:13.541[5]; 5. 73-Bill Weistart, 00:13.878[4]; 6. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:13.906[3]; 7. 76-Titus Sneed, 00:13.937[7]; 8. 26M-Brent McKinnon, 00:14.339[1]; 9. 9R-Curtis Roberts, 00:14.339[6]

Hot Laps 2: 1. 33-Rickey Frankel, 00:13.298[6]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:13.345[4]; 3. 36-Logan Martin, 00:13.372[8]; 4. 25-Jason Feger, 00:13.378[5]; 5. B12-Kevin Weaver, 00:13.421[3]; 6. 334-Billy Hough, 00:13.580[1]; 7. 10-Paul Parker, 00:13.995[7]; 8. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:13.995[2]

Hot Laps 3: 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:12.776[6]; 2. 31-Paul Stubber, 00:13.056[7]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:13.058[1]; 4. 3-Dale Markham, 00:13.151[8]; 5. 81E-Tanner English, 00:13.222[3]; 6. 35-Derek Chandler, 00:13.376[2]; 7. 9-Lyle Zanker, 00:13.439[5]; 8. 15-Justin Duty, 00:13.557[4]

Hot Laps 4: 1. 111V-Max Blair, 00:12.876[4]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:12.983[5]; 3. 7-Drake Troutman, 00:13.039[6]; 4. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:13.213[2]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:13.228[7]; 6. 4D-Doug Tye, 00:13.974[8]; 7. 18M-Jimmy Miller, 00:14.044[1]; 8. T8-Tim Gauntt, 00:14.948[3]

Hot Laps 5: 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:12.722[1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:12.754[3]; 3. 38J-Jake Little, 00:12.764[7]; 4. 84-Myles Moos, 00:12.916[6]; 5. 1M-Mike Mataragas, 00:13.027[8]; 6. 77-Preston Luckman, 00:13.135[4]; 7. 14R-Jeff Roth, 00:13.816[5]; 8. 23NZ-Mick Quin, 00:14.202[2]

Hot Laps 6: 1. 42-Mckay Wenger, 00:12.645[4]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:12.795[7]; 3. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:12.862[8]; 4. 14G-Joe Godsey, 00:12.968[5]; 5. 51-Matt Furman, 00:12.987[6]; 6. M27-Mike Provenzano, 00:13.311[2]; 7. 0-Deshawn Gingerich, 00:13.788[1]; 8. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:13.788[3]