2/24/2024
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
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
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Chris Madden | 14.953 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Mike Marlar | 15.010 seconds
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 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 Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 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 Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 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 Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 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
Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 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 Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 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.
Deuces Wild Feature Finish (50 Laps):
Race Statistics
Entrants: 45
Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Chris Madden
Lap Leaders: Chris Madden (Lap 1); Mike Marlar (Laps 2-27); Brandon Sheppard (Lap 28); Mike Marlar (Laps 29-50)
Wieland Feature Winner: Mike Marlar
Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/a
Brandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/a
Margin of Victory: 1.001 seconds
Dave Warren Powersports Cautions: Drake Troutman (Lap 8)
Series Provisionals: Ricky Thornton, Jr.; Tyler Erb
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: Boom Briggs; Drake Troutman; Bob Gardner; Brenden Smith
Track Provisional: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Mike Marlar, Brandon Sheppard, Chris Madden
Penske Shocks Top 5: Mike Marlar, Brandon Sheppard, Chris Madden, Brandon Overton, Jonathan Davenport
Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Tyler Erb (Advanced 7 Positions)
Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Hudson O’Neal
Deatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Bobby Pierce
MD3 Most Laps Led: Mike Marlar (48 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Garrett Alberson
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: n/a
Coltman Farms Fastest Lap of the Race: Mike Marlar (Lap 11 – 15.601seconds)
Slicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Brandon Sheppard
Miller Welders Hard Luck Award: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Josh Davis (Mike Marlar)
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Brandon Overton (15.0105 seconds)
Time of Race: 16 minutes 52 seconds
Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:
Submitted By: Jeremy Shields
