Tyler Nicely is on a different level from his closest competition in the 2025 DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals tour.
Through the last five Features that the Owensboro, KY native has contended in, he has won the previous four as Nicely marches towards a second career title in the last three seasons.
Nicely rolled off from third place for the 25-lap Feature, following behind leader Cole Falloway and Ray Bollinger before getting by Bollinger’s No. 77 machine on the bottom line through Turns 3-4.
Nicely and Bollinger’s battle for second helped Falloway get to a 2.4-second lead until lap traffic helped Nicely get back into contention against the No. 66 UMP Modified.
Falloway left enough of a space in the bottom lane for Nicely to fill the gap and race side-by-side with his fellow hometown driver for the win.
Nicely’s pace on the bottom after getting by the traffic in front helped the No. 25 Elite Chassis secure the top spot on Lap 18.
While Falloway dropped out of the Feature with an issue on Lap 20, Nicely built a two-second advantage over Jeff Curl over the final five laps as he surpassed Bollinger for fourth on the all-time wins list of Summit Modified Nationals with No. 15 at LaSalle.
“It’s always fun,” Nicely said. “Cole’s a good, hard, clean racer, and I wasn’t gonna do anything there to roughen him up or try to take myself out of it. It feels pretty good to be back (in Victory Lane).”
Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals celebrate Independence Day in the Illinois finale at Red Hill Raceway on Friday night, July 4.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[3]; 2. 12-Jeff Curl[6]; 3. 77-Ray Bollinger[1]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[5]; 5. 0-Travis Kohler[8]; 6. 09-Michael Ledford[18]; 7. 1-Nash Hilmes[4]; 8. 45H-Chase Holland[11]; 9. 5-Steven Brooks[10]; 10. 96M-Mike McKinney[21]; 11. 110-Landen Miller[12]; 12. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[16]; 13. 99-Hunt Gossum[15]; 14. 75-Daniel Adam[9]; 15. 0F-Matt Fabrizius[13]; 16. 1W-Bob Pohlman[25]; 17. 73-Mark Rhoades[7]; 18. (DNF) 66-Cole Falloway[2]; 19. (DNF) 75M-Shane Mecum[22]; 20. (DNF) 27G-Jason Garver[19]; 21. (DNF) 68W-Damion Wilmoth[17]; 22. (DNF) 10M-Chris Morefield[14]; 23. (DNF) 2M-Scott McDonald[24]; 24. (DNF) 44T-Wyatt Thompson[20]; 25. (DNS) 74-Donnie Boyer
