O’Neal Takes Another Win At Lucas Oil Speedway

Hudson O'Neal (fourth from left) and crew pose in victory lane at Lucas Oil Speedway Friday night. (Heath Lawson photo)

WHEATLAND, Mo. – Hudson O’Neal stayed undefeated at Lucas Oil Speedway this year after taking the win in Friday night’s Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing.

O’Neal, who started sixth, took the lead from defending multi-time track champion Justin Wells on the 23rd lap, leading the final 18 to claim the $10,000 victory.

It marked the second act of Show-Me 100 weekend, with Saturday night’s finale still to come.

Ricky Thornton Jr. squeezed by Jonathan Davenport at the flagstand for second. Davenport crossed third, with Brandon Overton and Devin Moran rounding out the top five.

Wells sprinted to the lead at the start of the 40-lap race until the only caution flag waved with four laps completed, after then third-place driver Garrett Alberson went off the track and slammed into the turn two wall.

Alberson checked out OK, but his car was done for the night.

On the restart, Wells maintained his lead over Davenport as the two drivers circled the top of the three-eighths mile oval. O’Neal then got into the mix from his outside third row starting spot, moving to third and then passing Davenport on lap 17 for second.

O’Neal then pressured Wells until he cleared him for the lead on lap 23. Davenport passed Wells a lap later to take second place. O’Neal then pulled away significantly as the race remained caution-free the rest of the way, with Davenport and Thornton managing to close in during the final laps.

Thornton went to the outside on the white flag, beating Davenport to the finish line, but finishing 1.298 seconds behind O’Neal at the checkered flag.

In addition to winning with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for the 31st time in his career, O’Neal has now won four straight races dating back to April at Lucas Oil Speedway.

“The track was quite a bit different, I felt like tonight versus last night. Jason (Durham) came up with some good ideas right before the feature, and it helped just a little bit more,” said O’Neal in victory lane. “This thing was awesome to drive. I probably wasn’t as aggressive enough with lap traffic there as I needed to be. I just got too complacent with that bottom, and I didn’t know, and I was scared to move out there. I didn’t want to give up the lead.

“I have always enjoyed the Show-Me 100 and hopefully we can enjoy another win here this weekend,” said O’Neal, who won the crown jewel event in 2021. “Our confidence is great right now. In 100 laps compared to these 40 or 45 lappers, there will be a lot of comers and goers. The balance of your race car is going to be a lot different whenever you are messing with that much fuel load and everything.

“We have still got a lot of work to do. It’s a long 100 laps, and with people like Ricky [Thornton] and JD [Davenport] on your heels, it’s tough company.”

Thornton took second in a thrilling finish from two-time Show-Me 100 winner Davenport.

“I would say our confidence level is pretty high for tomorrow night. My car got better as the race went on; it was kind of backwards on how it is. I made one mistake early in the race, and it cost me and allowed Hud to get by,” explained Davenport. “I could race with him after that, and I felt like if it hadn’t been for that, at least I would have had a shot to give myself a chance to win.

“Congrats to Hud and JD, and I want to thank JD for giving me plenty of room there on the last lap, but he could have easily just moved up and chopped my nose off,” Thornton added. “My car is really good, so we look forward to tomorrow night.”

Davenport, who ran second for 32 of the 40 laps, felt he ended in a good place for Saturday’s crown jewel event.

“I definitely gained on it from last night. I could finally steer through the center,” he explained. “I was afraid to tighten up the rear tonight, so I tried to free the car up more in the front. I just really moved down one or two laps too late, and I might have gotten in front of Hudson there before he got by me on the bottom.

“It was weird. I was just telling the guys, there was a lot of oil. The 98 (Wells) was doing a great job though his tires just died, but he was throwing so much oil,” Davenport continued. “I didn’t know it at the time; I actually thought it was raining and so I was like, ‘If it’s slick up here, it’s going to be really slick in the black,’ so that’s really the reason I didn’t want to move down any earlier than I did.”

Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Stevens, Justin Wells, Tyler Bruening, and Bobby Pierce closed the top 10.

The finish:

A-Main (40 laps): 1. 71-Hudson O'Neal [6]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr. [4]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport [3]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton [5]; 5. 99-Devin Moran [9]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard [7]; 7. 2T-Tyler Stevens [11]; 8. 98-Justin Wells [1]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening [8]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce [12]; 11. 93-Carson Ferguson [10]; 12. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck [15]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard [16]; 14. 79-Donald McIntosh [23]; 15. 6-Clay Harris [13]; 16. 18D-Daulton Wilson [14]; 17. 8-Dillon McCowan [18]; 18. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall [17]; 19. 19M-Spencer Hughes [24]; 20. 60-Dan Ebert [20]; 21. 91-Chris Jones [22]; 22. 1XM-Aaron Marrant [19]; 23. 40B-Kyle Bronson [21]; 24. 58-Garrett Alberson [2].