Dillon Nusbaum has been on the verge of his first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals victory all week. On Friday night at Crystal Motor Speedway, he finally scored.
After finishing third, fourth, and second, respectively, in the first three races of Week 5 of the Hell Tour, the Warsaw, IN driver won a 25-lap brawl against his neighbor and current Series points leader Zeke McKenzie to earn his first Series win.
“There’s a lot of prestige that comes with winning a Summer Nationals race, and we’ve been trying for several years now,” Nusbaum said. “We don’t get to travel a whole lot or run a whole lot of the schedule, but we try and hit at least this swing that’s up here by us.”
The beginning stages of the main event saw front-row starters, Nusbaum and McKenzie, exchange the lead multiple times, trading sliders around the 3/8-mile dirt track. Nusbaum led the opening lap before McKenzie led Lap 2 as he drove around an attempted slider by the No. 17N of Nusbaum.
Nusbaum threw another slider in Turn 4, clearing McKenzie’s No. 24 car, giving him the lead back on Lap 3. McKenzie abandoned the top and ran the bottom in an attempt to get around Nusbaum, but it wasn’t enough as Nusbaum led the final 24 laps to become the newest first-time winner with the Series.
“I knew I had to get out in front of him there and kind of set the pace myself,” Nusbaum said. “Honestly, once I got out in front of him, I almost backed the pace down a little but just to kind save equipment. I didn’t want to catch lap cars any quicker than I had too. It was a lot of fun throwing haymakers back and forth with Zeke (McKenzie) there at the beginning. It’s a lot of fun when you can race with somebody that close and that hard, I don’t think we touched a single time.”
McKenzie finished second, John Toppozini finished third, his first career Series podium, Todd Sherman was fourth, and Brennan Sherman was fifth.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals head to Oakshade Speedway in Wauseon, OH for the Birthday Race on Saturday, July 11.
How can you watch the Summit Modifieds? Every race is live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[1]; 2. 24-Zeke McKenzie[2]; 3. T23-John Toppozini[3]; 4. 65-Todd Sherman[4]; 5. 82-Brennan Sherman[10]; 6. 60-Shannon Fisk[14]; 7. 87Z-George Zieman[9]; 8. B5-Matthew Baker[15]; 9. 25L-Josh Lolmaugh[11]; 10. 1A-Andrew Hollister[13]; 11. (DNF) 8C-Corey Bevard[8]; 12. (DNF) 12M-John McClure[12]; 13. (DNF) 14-Dalton Lane[6]; 14. (DNF) 18B-Bradley Inman[17]; 15. (DNF) 7L-Matt Leland[16]; 16. (DNF) 9R-Garrett Rons[7]; 17. (DNS) 17J-Jarrod Klay
