1.20.24 World of Outlaws Late Models Results

Volusia Speedway Park

O’Neal claims second career World of Outlaws Feature win, Moran wins his second Surfboard trophy

In the span of 365 days, Hudson O’Neal has seen the highs and lows of racing with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models at Volusia Speedway Park.

On Saturday night, the Martinsville, IN driver commanded the field and held off the top dirt Late Model drivers to win his first Sunshine Nationals Feature – one year to the day that he missed the same Feature in 2023.

O’Neal’s space in Victory Lane was shared with Dresden, OH’s Devin Moran, who won the Sunshine Nationals Championship after a third-place finish in Saturday’s Feature.

Moran and O’Neal led the field to the green flag of the 40-lap, $15,000-to-win Feature, racing side-by-side before O’Neal drove away with the lead on the high line.

With lap traffic to manage, “The New Deal” utilized the top and bottom lanes to escape Moran and the leaders that closed in.

That was until Moran passed O’Neal on lap 15 for the race lead. The two battled intensely with each driver using both lanes to maneuver lap traffic and pass each other.

O’Neal gained the lead on lap 20 until a bad turn saw Moran take back the lead from O’Neal two laps later.

On lap 28, O’Neal claimed the lead once more from Moran by using the bottom lane through the first two turns.

Multiple cautions in the final 7 laps of the Feature gave opportunities for drivers to have a chance at catching O’Neal and Moran, including Kyle Bronson, reigning Series champion Bobby Pierce, and four-time Series champion Brandon Sheppard.

On the final restart of the Feature with four laps to go, O’Neal got the start he needed from his Rocket1 Racing Late Model to blast away and win the Feature.

O’Neal finds irony in the win, with the triumph coming one year to the day of his worst performance at Sunshine Nationals.

“It’s ironic,” O’Neal said. “If anybody remembers my first outing with Rocket1 and how bad it was at Sunshine Nationals one year ago. Then, to turn around and come back and have a good showing like we did (tonight). I think we had a critical test session here last year, came back and got to make a lot of laps and it helped a lot. I don’t know, I think I’ve found something that I’m comfortable with and something that this place likes. We’re just happy to be in contention and we are so far ahead of where we started last year and hopefully we can go to Speedweeks and win a few more.”

Bronson finished second in his new Longhorn Chassis #40B. The Brandon. FL native said he believes building a notebook is important to his success at February’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.

“It felt pretty good,” Bronson said. “It was really cool when I was catching (the leaders). I felt like I was gonna drive right by them. I got into their dirty air. It changed a little bit and I felt my car get a little looser there at the end because I was getting tighter entering the corner. Overall, our car was pretty good. We gained a lot from yesterday and I’m looking forward to coming back for DIRTcar Nationals.”

Moran – who won the Simpson Quick Time Award – came home in third place, clinching the Sunshine Nationals overall championship after winning Friday’s Feature race.

“It’s really cool,” Moran said. “It was a bummer I couldn’t get a caution when I was out in the lead. I felt like I could’ve maintained the race a little better, I just wasn’t good enough in traffic like (O’Neal) was and he did a good job. All in all, a good weekend and we’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”

Ricky Thornton Jr. earned the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award after climbing up 19 positions in the Feature to finish in fourth place.

“I really put myself behind after qualifying,” Thornton said. “I was just trying to be too cute with it and it cost me. There wasn’t much passing in the Heat and made it through the Last Chance Showdown. I was really good in the Feature because I could go wherever I wanted to. Overall, going from 23rd to finish fourth is pretty awesome so hopefully we’re just as good in two weeks.”

New Berlin, IL’s Brandon Sheppard bookended Saturday’s top five finishers after racing inside the top 10 for the duration of the Feature.

He leaves Sunshine Nationals as the current points leader, holding a six-point lead over Bobby Pierce in second. Cade Dillard is third (-18), Chris Madden is fourth (-24) and Nick Hoffman rounds out the top five (-28).

WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODELS
CASE Late Mode Feature (40 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[23]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[9]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[10]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[19]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard[4]; 9. 44-Chris Madden[5]; 10. 9-Nick Hoffman[15]; 11. 12W-Ashton Winger[14]; 12. 10-Garrett Smith[6]; 13. 16-Tyler Bruening[22]; 14. 19R-Ryan Gustin[26]; 15. 39-Tim McCreadie[12]; 16. 96V-Tanner English[17]; 17. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8]; 18. 7-Drake Troutman[24]; 19. 97C-Cody Overton[25]; 20. 111-Max Blair[21]; 21. 174-Ethan Dotson[13]; 22. 3S-Brian Shirley[18]; 23. B1-Brent Larson[27]; 24. 14W-Dustin Walker[29]; 25. 20-Jimmy Owens[20]; 26. 30-Todd Cooney[28]; 27. 19-Dustin Sorensen[30]; 28. 157-Mike Marlar[11]; 29. 17M-Dale McDowell[3]; 30. 54-David Breazeale[16]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 3. 5-Mark Whitener[2]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]; 5. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[6]; 6. 22P-Nick Panitzke[8]; 7. 28B-Carson Brown[10]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 9. (DNS) 30-Todd Cooney; 10. (DNS) 79-Kyle Bryant; 11. (DNS) 14W-Dustin Walker; 12. (DNS) 25B-Mike Benedum; 13. (DNS) 11-Austin Smith

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 3. 76-Blair Nothdurft[3]; 4. 14JR-Trey Mills[5]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 6. 97C-Cody Overton[6]; 7. 01-Jason Garver[12]; 8. 89-Mike Spatola[7]; 9. 22*-Max McLaughlin[9]; 10. 25-Donnie Chappell[11]; 11. 1J-Jason Papp[13]; 12. (DNS) 33-Jeff Mathews; 13. (DNS) 4-Amanda Robinson

Last Chance Showdown 3 (10 Laps): 1. 111-Max Blair[1]; 2. 7-Drake Troutman[3]; 3. 51-Mack McCarter[2]; 4. 6JR-Parker Martin[6]; 5. 81J-Jack Riggs[4]; 6. 214-Haiden Cowan[5]; 7. 388-Jackson Hise[8]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[10]; 9. B1-Brent Larson[7]; 10. (DNS) 11B-Stacy Boles; 11. (DNS) 17SS-Brenden Smith; 12. (DNS) 97T-Mitch Thomas

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 3. 174-Ethan Dotson[4]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 6. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[6]; 7. 30-Todd Cooney[7]; 8. 79-Kyle Bryant[8]; 9. 14W-Dustin Walker[9]; 10. (DNS) 11-Austin Smith

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 4. 5-Mark Whitener[5]; 5. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[4]; 7. 22P-Nick Panitzke[8]; 8. 28B-Carson Brown[9]; 9. 25B-Mike Benedum[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 3. 96V-Tanner English[4]; 4. 20-Jimmy Owens[6]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft[8]; 6. 14JR-Trey Mills[5]; 7. 89-Mike Spatola[3]; 8. 22*-Max McLaughlin[9]; 9. 25-Donnie Chappell[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 3. 12W-Ashton Winger[3]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[8]; 6. 97C-Cody Overton[7]; 7. 33-Jeff Mathews[5]; 8. 4-Amanda Robinson[6]; 9. 01-Jason Garver[9]; 10. 1J-Jason Papp[10]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 17M-Dale McDowell[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 3. 54-David Breazeale[6]; 4. 111-Max Blair[3]; 5. 7-Drake Troutman[4]; 6. 214-Haiden Cowan[9]; 7. B1-Brent Larson[7]; 8. 11B-Stacy Boles[8]; 9. 17SS-Brenden Smith[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 4. 51-Mack McCarter[4]; 5. 81J-Jack Riggs[5]; 6. 6JR-Parker Martin[8]; 7. 388-Jackson Hise[6]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[7]; 9. 97T-Mitch Thomas[9]

Group A Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 99-Devin Moran, 00:15.753[8]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.770[21]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.802[19]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:15.882[28]; 5. 1-Hudson O’Neal, 00:16.079[25]; 6. 44-Chris Madden, 00:16.100[10]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:16.120[18]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:16.155[11]; 9. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:16.184[27]; 10. 174-Ethan Dotson, 00:16.269[3]; 11. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:16.300[17]; 12. 96V-Tanner English, 00:16.332[22]; 13. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:16.390[2]; 14. 5-Mark Whitener, 00:16.469[4]; 15. 14JR-Trey Mills, 00:16.531[23]; 16. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:16.654[13]; 17. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:16.833[1]; 18. 20-Jimmy Owens, 00:16.841[5]; 19. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:16.993[6]; 20. 25B-Mike Benedum, 00:17.092[7]; 21. 25-Donnie Chappell, 00:17.124[12]; 22. 79-Kyle Bryant, 00:17.126[14]; 23. 22P-Nick Panitzke, 00:17.191[26]; 24. 76-Blair Nothdurft, 00:17.568[15]; 25. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:17.638[20]; 26. 28B-Carson Brown, 00:17.699[24]; 27. 22*-Max McLaughlin, 00:17.699[9]; 28. 11-Austin Smith, 00:17.699[16]

Group B Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:15.782[3]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.789[22]; 3. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:15.886[26]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:16.007[6]; 5. 17M-Dale McDowell, 00:16.011[10]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:16.051[25]; 7. 12W-Ashton Winger, 00:16.060[17]; 8. 111-Max Blair, 00:16.121[1]; 9. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:16.122[7]; 10. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:16.138[14]; 11. 7-Drake Troutman, 00:16.171[15]; 12. 51-Mack McCarter, 00:16.493[2]; 13. 33-Jeff Mathews, 00:16.496[12]; 14. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:16.503[9]; 15. 81J-Jack Riggs, 00:16.525[11]; 16. 4-Amanda Robinson, 00:16.547[4]; 17. 54-David Breazeale, 00:16.561[27]; 18. 388-Jackson Hise, 00:16.610[23]; 19. 97C-Cody Overton, 00:16.631[18]; 20. B1-Brent Larson, 00:16.703[20]; 21. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:16.849[21]; 22. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:16.877[5]; 23. 11B-Stacy Boles, 00:16.884[13]; 24. 6JR-Parker Martin, 00:16.965[24]; 25. 01-Jason Garver, 00:17.029[16]; 26. 214-Haiden Cowan, 00:17.384[19]; 27. 97T-Mitch Thomas, 00:17.682[8]; 28. 1J-Jason Papp, 00:18.107[28]

Hot Laps: 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.225[33]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:15.227[42]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:15.302[34]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.309[19]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:15.425[31]; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:15.434[35]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.455[50]; 8. 7-Drake Troutman, 00:15.548[43]; 9. 12W-Ashton Winger, 00:15.592[45]; 10. B1-Brent Larson, 00:15.673[48]; 11. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:15.674[11]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:15.698[28]; 13. 1-Hudson O’Neal, 00:15.719[25]; 14. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:15.744[49]; 15. 54-David Breazeale, 00:15.756[55]; 16. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:15.757[37]; 17. 11B-Stacy Boles, 00:15.775[41]; 18. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:15.787[27]; 19. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.851[21]; 20. 81J-Jack Riggs, 00:15.860[39]; 21. 96V-Tanner English, 00:15.872[22]; 22. 22*-Max McLaughlin, 00:15.880[9]; 23. 51-Mack McCarter, 00:15.967[30]; 24. 214-Haiden Cowan, 00:15.981[47]; 25. 97C-Cody Overton, 00:16.006[46]; 26. 111-Max Blair, 00:16.045[29]; 27. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:16.115[53]; 28. 6JR-Parker Martin, 00:16.158[52]; 29. 33-Jeff Mathews, 00:16.159[40]; 30. 11-Austin Smith, 00:16.225[16]; 31. 17M-Dale McDowell, 00:16.250[38]; 32. 4-Amanda Robinson, 00:16.302[32]; 33. 22P-Nick Panitzke, 00:16.314[26]; 34. 388-Jackson Hise, 00:16.387[51]; 35. 25B-Mike Benedum, 00:16.435[7]; 36. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:16.485[18]; 37. 01-Jason Garver, 00:16.521[44]; 38. 76-Blair Nothdurft, 00:16.528[15]; 39. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:16.569[17]; 40. 25-Donnie Chappell, 00:16.698[12]; 41. 99-Devin Moran, 00:16.734[8]; 42. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:16.797[20]; 43. 14JR-Trey Mills, 00:16.887[23]; 44. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:16.893[2]; 45. 44-Chris Madden, 00:16.950[10]; 46. 28B-Carson Brown, 00:16.986[24]; 47. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:17.264[1]; 48. 5-Mark Whitener, 00:17.401[4]; 49. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:17.508[13]; 50. 174-Ethan Dotson, 00:17.650[3]; 51. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:17.757[6]; 52. 97T-Mitch Thomas, 00:18.035[36]; 53. 20-Jimmy Owens, 00:18.333[5]; 54. 1J-Jason Papp, 00:19.057[56]; 55. 79-Kyle Bryant, 00:19.057[14]; 56. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:19.057[54]