2.24.24 Lucas Oil Late Models Results

MARLAR GETS FIRST LUCAS OIL WIN OF THE SEASON IN GOLDEN ISLES DEUCES WILD FINALE
WAYNESVILLE, Ga. (February 24, 2024) – Mike Marlar picked up his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season on Saturday night at Golden Isles Speedway. Marlar earned $20,000 out of the $80,000 feature purse to become the ninth different winner in the 13 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events of 2024.

Marlar led 48 of the 50 laps to earn his 22nd career win with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The only other drivers to lead laps during the main event were Brandon Sheppard and Chris Madden who finished second and third to round out the Big River Steel Podium. Brandon Overton was fourth with Jonathan Davenport rounding out the top five drivers.

“It was no walk in the park, there was a whole lot more to it than that. These guys are really tough, Shep [Sheppard] about had me passed at one end I guess, and I was lucky to get back by him. These are some of the best racers I feel like with the stiffest competition there are down here. I am happy to win against them that’s for sure,” said the Winfield, Tennessee native.

There was track prep work done before the feature after a caution-free High Limit Sprint Car feature won by Jacob Allen. Marlar was asked about how it changed his strategy for the feature. “It will mess with you a little bit you know, you made your changes, and you really don’t know what the track will do. I am glad they worked on it because it really needed it. I was just confident in my set-up. I kind of stayed where I planned on being before the track prep and it worked out really good. Winning a race at this level is basically a night of all good decisions on the track and off the track.”

Sheppard, who won his first heat race during Speedweeks earlier in the night battled with Marlar as the two went back-and-forth just past the halfway mark as Sheppard was credited with leading lap 28 before Marlar seized control of the top spot a lap later.

“It was a really fun race,” said the defending Dirt Track World Championship winner afterwards. “It’s been an up-and-down Speedweeks for us for sure. We haven’t been able to race towards the front a whole race like that you know we’ve had to pass a bunch of cars during Speedweeks because we haven’t qualified good. Tonight, I feel like we turned that around. We won our first heat race of Speedweeks, so that’s really good. We qualified good and I think we ended Speedweeks on a really good note. We really wanted to win this one really bad, this place has been good to me over the years, but I have never got a win here.”

Madden, who ran second to Ricky Thornton Jr. in one of the two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events at Golden Isles back in January took home the spot after leading the opening lap of the feature before yielding to Marlar on lap two.

“Mikey’s [Marlar] raced a lot on this type of surface and Brandon’s [Sheppard] been in the South a lot since he’s been on the road starting back in the day when he raced for Mark Richards. He’s raced here as much as I have. All-in-all we had a good night, we were just way too tight in the first 10 or 15 laps or so. I think we fell back to like fifth and then we come back up through there. We were just extremely tight to start with and we just couldn’t get it done there the first few laps.”

The winner’s Greg Bruening, Skyline Motorsports-owned, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Truck Country, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Olson Explosives, Capital Signs, Bilstein Shocks, Petroff Towing, Bruening Rock Products, Brown’s Heavy Equipment, and Can Am Auto Salvage.

Completing the top ten were Garrett Alberson, Hudson O’Neal, Daulton Wilson, Kyle Larson, and Wil Herrington.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Deuces Wild
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Golden Isles Speedway – Brunswick, GA

Deuces Wild – SAT (50 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 3. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[8]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 6. 58-Garrett Alberson[7]; 7. 1-Hudson O’Neal[10]; 8. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 9. 6K-Kyle Larson[14]; 10. 14X-Wil Herrington[5]; 11. 39-Tim McCreadie[12]; 12. 99-Devin Moran[16]; 13. 32P-Bobby Pierce[15]; 14. 10-Garrett Smith[18]; 15. 55H-Benji Hicks[9]; 16. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[13]; 17. 1T-Tyler Erb[24]; 18. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[20]; 19. 7-Ross Robinson[22]; 20. 111-Max Blair[17]; 21. 17SS-Brenden Smith[28]; 22. 99B-Boom Briggs[25]; 23. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[23]; 24. 8-Dillon McCowan[21]; 25. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 26. 20-Jimmy Owens[19]; 27. 7T-Drake Troutman[26]; 28. 4G-Bob Gardner[27]

Fast Shafts B-Main 1 (10 Laps): 1. 111-Max Blair[3]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[7]; 6. 93-Cory Lawler[5]; 7. 51-Chad Tuten[9]; 8. 214-Haiden Cowan[6]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 11. 4G-Bob Gardner[15]; 12. 3-Brennon Willard[12]; 13. 15-Ethan Wilson[10]; 14. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[13]; 15. (DNS) 11-Austin Smith

UNOH B-Main 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 4. 6-Clay Harris[7]; 5. 7T-Drake Troutman[2]; 6. 5-Mark Whitener[6]; 7. 97-Cody Overton[8]; 8. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 9. 17SS-Brenden Smith[9]; 10. 388-Jackson Hise[12]; 11. 75-Daniel Adam[10]; 12. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[11]; 13. 15M-Mitch Fulford[13]; 14. (DNS) 00-Russell Brown Jr

Penske Shocks Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 14X-Wil Herrington[5]; 3. 55H-Benji Hicks[11]; 4. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[6]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 6. 111-Max Blair[7]; 7. 93-Cory Lawler[9]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman[8]; 9. 51-Chad Tuten[12]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 11. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 12. 4G-Bob Gardner[10]

Summit Racing Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 4. 32P-Bobby Pierce[1]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 6. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 7. 214-Haiden Cowan[9]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 9. 15-Ethan Wilson[8]; 10. 3-Brennon Willard[11]; 11. 11-Austin Smith[10]

Earnhardt Technologies Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 3. 1-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 4. 6K-Kyle Larson[4]; 5. 10-Garrett Smith[3]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 7. 1T-Tyler Erb[6]; 8. 6-Clay Harris[10]; 9. 17SS-Brenden Smith[9]; 10. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[8]; 11. 15M-Mitch Fulford[11]

Simpson Race Products Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 4. 99-Devin Moran[5]; 5. 7T-Drake Troutman[4]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[7]; 7. 5-Mark Whitener[8]; 8. 97-Cody Overton[9]; 9. 75-Daniel Adam[6]; 10. 388-Jackson Hise[10]; 11. (DNS) 00-Russell Brown Jr

Qualifying | GROUP A: 1. 44-Chris Madden, 00:14.953[8]; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce, 00:14.996[16]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens, 00:15.077[6]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:15.179[2]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.200[17]; 6. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.273[22]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:15.316[12]; 8. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.345[15]; 9. 14X-Wil Herrington, 00:15.378[14]; 10. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:15.407[18]; 11. 76N-Blair Nothdurft, 00:15.466[11]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:15.483[1]; 13. 111-Max Blair, 00:15.536[13]; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:15.571[7]; 15. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:15.573[9]; 16. 15-Ethan Wilson, 00:15.634[20]; 17. 93-Cory Lawler, 00:15.701[19]; 18. 214-Haiden Cowan, 00:15.727[3]; 19. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:15.730[21]; 20. 11-Austin Smith, 00:15.775[5]; 21. 55H-Benji Hicks, 00:15.901[10]; 22. 3-Brennon Willard, 00:16.369[23]; 23. (DNS) 51-Chad Tuten

Qualifying | GROUP B: 1. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.010[6]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.057[4]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:15.165[1]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.169[18]; 5. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:15.192[15]; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:15.207[7]; 7. 6K-Kyle Larson, 00:15.238[20]; 8. 7T-Drake Troutman, 00:15.259[5]; 9. 1-Hudson O’Neal, 00:15.284[19]; 10. 99-Devin Moran, 00:15.328[10]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:15.361[14]; 12. 75-Daniel Adam, 00:15.482[21]; 13. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:15.539[12]; 14. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:15.577[11]; 15. 25-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:15.610[17]; 16. 5-Mark Whitener, 00:15.694[8]; 17. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:15.698[9]; 18. 97-Cody Overton, 00:15.714[3]; 19. 6-Clay Harris, 00:15.721[22]; 20. 388-Jackson Hise, 00:15.822[2]; 21. 15M-Mitch Fulford, 00:15.908[13]; 22. (DNS) 00-Russell Brown Jr

Hot Laps | GROUP 1: 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:15.091[2]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens, 00:15.401[6]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:15.638[9]; 4. 76N-Blair Nothdurft, 00:15.642[11]; 5. 44-Chris Madden, 00:15.644[8]; 6. 11-Austin Smith, 00:15.660[5]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:15.752[12]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:16.059[7]; 9. 55H-Benji Hicks, 00:16.107[10]; 10. 214-Haiden Cowan, 00:16.134[3]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:16.372[1]; 12. (DNS) 51-Chad Tuten

Hot Laps | GROUP 2: 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.188[5]; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.325[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.359[10]; 4. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.466[3]; 5. 111-Max Blair, 00:15.540[1]; 6. 14X-Wil Herrington, 00:15.573[2]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:15.688[6]; 8. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:15.865[9]; 9. 15-Ethan Wilson, 00:15.937[8]; 10. 93-Cory Lawler, 00:16.005[7]; 11. 3-Brennon Willard, 00:16.339[11]

Hot Laps | GROUP 3: 1. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:15.260[7]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.295[4]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman, 00:15.303[5]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.408[6]; 5. 99-Devin Moran, 00:15.575[10]; 6. 97-Cody Overton, 00:15.641[3]; 7. 5-Mark Whitener, 00:15.705[8]; 8. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:15.782[1]; 9. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:15.854[11]; 10. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:15.931[9]; 11. 388-Jackson Hise, 00:16.162[2]

Hot Laps | GROUP 4: 1. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.010[7]; 2. 75-Daniel Adam, 00:15.251[10]; 3. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:15.312[4]; 4. 1-Hudson O’Neal, 00:15.384[8]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:15.471[3]; 6. 6K-Kyle Larson, 00:15.695[9]; 7. 25-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:15.763[6]; 8. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:16.075[1]; 9. 15M-Mitch Fulford, 00:17.202[2]; 10. (DNS) 00-Russell Brown Jr; 11. (DNS) 6-Clay Harris