Kyle Strickler Gets First Career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Win at I-80

GREENWOOD, NE – Kyle Strickler outran Shane Clanton to the checkered flag to win his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event on Thursday Night at I-80 Speedway. Strickler passed Clanton on lap 11 and then edged Clanton by just .045 seconds at the finish line.

Josh Richards came from the 10th starting spot to finish third with Chris Madden and Jimmy Owens rounding out the top five drivers.

Clanton grabbed the lead at the start of the 30-lap event while Strickler dropped back several car lengths behind him. Stickler managed to find a groove that worked well for him and he slowly started to close the gap on the Georgia veteran. Strickler was finally able to track down Clanton and pass him on lap 11.  Clanton began to lose contact with Strickler, but in the last two laps was able to make up several car lengths. Coming out of the final corner Clanton dropped to the inside of Strickler but came up one car length short of victory as the checkers flew.

The 37-year-old North Carolina driver became the 19th different winner this year on the tour. “On that last lap I thought please no flat right rear tire. My hat is off to Shane, he could have really sent her in there and cut in front of me, but he raced me clean and I appreciate that. I knew if I got into one and come off of four clean we would be really good. Man, everybody on this team deserves it so much. All my guys back home, my wife and my kids are watching on tv, my mom and my dad and friends are watching. Thanks to everybody who has helped me get here.”

Clanton came up just short of his first series win of the year. “If I would have went to the bottom a few laps before the end, maybe I could have cleared him off of four on the last lap. Overall, it was good night, and we led some laps. I thought we did pretty well to maintain a fast pace. Strickler just snuck by me on the bottom and then I don’t know if I just started to let up or become more timid. I was just trying to save my stuff for 30 laps.”

Richards survived a torrid battle for third place. “We had a phenomenal car. I can’t thank these guys enough for not giving up. We’ve had a lot of speed the last couple of weeks. We didn’t qualify the greatest, we were a little snug, the track was little greasy. It was a little narrow earlier and then it widened out and you can race all over it.”

The winner’s Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Bilstein Shocks, G Style Transport LLC, Donaldson Grading, Wehrs Machine, Tim Cat Performance, and Andy’s Towing.

Completing the top ten were Devin Moran, Ryan Gustin, Tim McCreadie, Brandon Overton, and Billy Moyer.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Optima Batteries I-80 Nationals – Presented by General Tire
Thursday, September 17th, 2020
I-80 Speedway – Greenwood, NELucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Devin Moran / 16.603 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Kyle Strickler / 16.484 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 29V-Darrell Lanigan[2]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 3. 44M-Chris Madden[4]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 5. 9-Devin Moran[6]; 6. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[5]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[8]; 8. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 9. 43-Jeremy Grady[9]; 10. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 11. 29D-Spencer Diercks[10]; 12. 112-Tyler Smith[12]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 4. 56-Chris Spieker[4]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[6]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 7. 98J-Jason Rauen[5]; 8. 81E-Tanner English[8]; 9. 14J-Jake Neal[10]; 10. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[9]; 11. L88-Larry Clawson[11]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 4. 8-Kyle Strickler[6]; 5. 32S-Chris Simpson[5]; 6. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 7. 777-Jared Landers[7]; 8. 62-Justin Zeitner[8]; 9. 98-Ben Schaller[10]; 10. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[12]; 11. 10C-Junior Coover[11]; 12. 6D-Dylan Schmer[9]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. 18J-Chase Junghans[4]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 8. 1C-Chad Simpson[11]; 9. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 10. 3C-Mike Collins[9]; 11. 14M-Reid Millard[10]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 1C-Chad Simpson[8]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 6. 81E-Tanner English[7]; 7. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[10]; 8. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 9. 14M-Reid Millard[12]; 10. 14J-Jake Neal[9]; 11. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[13]; 12. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 13. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 14. 10C-Junior Coover[14]

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 777-Jared Landers[5]; 4. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 6. 98J-Jason Rauen[1]; 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski[7]; 8. 98-Ben Schaller[9]; 9. L88-Larry Clawson[13]; 10. 29D-Spencer Diercks[11]; 11. 3C-Mike Collins[10]; 12. 43-Jeremy Grady[8]; 13. 6D-Dylan Schmer[12]; 14. 112-Tyler Smith[14]

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (30 Laps):

Race Statistics
Entrants: 46
Lap Leaders: Shane Clanton  (Laps 1 – 10); Kyle Strickler (Laps 11 – 30)
Wrisco Feature Winner:  Kyle Strickler
Margin of Victory: 0.450 seconds
Cautions: n/a
Series Provisionals: n/a
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Track Provisionals: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Kyle Strickler, Shane Clanton, Josh Richards
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Brandon Sheppard (Advanced 9 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jimmy Owens
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Kyle Strickler (20 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Josh Richards
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: n/a
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Vinny Guiliani
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Kyle Strickler (Lap #5 – 17.1073 seconds)
STEEL-IT Tough Break of the Race: Jared Landers
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Kyle Stickler
Time of Race: 8 minutes 59 seconds