It doesn’t matter what car he’s driving – when Hudson O’Neal rolls onto the track at Volusia Speedway Park, he’s going to be in contention.
Three weeks after wheeling the K&L Rumley Enterprises No. 6 to Victory Lane in the Friday portion of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, O’Neal returned to Volusia in February in his primary ride, the SSI Motorsports No. 71. Following a sixth-place run on Monday, the “New Deal” led all 25 laps of Tuesday’s DIRTcar Late Model Feature to become the second winner of the week at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.
“It’s so awesome to be able to get back in the 71 car, to come down to a fresh start to Speedweeks and be able to get us a win on the second night is pretty awesome,” O’Neal said. “We knew that it was going to be a little bit of a tire game. We were lucky to be able to get out to the lead there early. It started to lane up down in [Turns] 1 and 2 especially, and we were just lucky to have good track position.”
The Martinsville, IN driver became the first repeat winner of 2026 at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” in the fifth Super Late Model race hosted at the track this year. Not only is O’Neal now a five-time Volusia winner dating back to his first triumph in 2023, he has now won at the track with three different teams in Rocket1 Racing, Rumley and SSI.
When combined with his pair of victories in January at the Wild West Shootout, O’Neal’s four wins in 2026 have him tied with Monday winner Brandon Overton as the winningest Late Model driver in the nation in the young 2026 season.
O’Neal sits second in the Big Gator standings with two nights in the books, 15 points shy of Cody Overton, who finished runner-up for the second night in a row. Ryan Gustin filled the last spot on the podium in third, while Brandon Sheppard and Tim McCreadie rounded out the top five.
Hudson O’Neal, Cody Overton and Ryan Gustin made up Turesday’s podium at Volusia (Emily Schwanke Photo)
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Late Model portion of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals concludes on Wednesday, Feb. 11, with three split-field, $5,000-to-win Features. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
Want to watch live? Stream every night of DIRTcar Nationals on DIRTVision.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 97-Cody Overton[5]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[7]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[9]; 6. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 7. 9-Nick Hoffman[6]; 8. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 9. 44-Chris Madden[11]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce[17]; 11. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 13. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 14. 22*-Drake Troutman[19]; 15. 93-Carson Ferguson[14]; 16. 1-Tyler Erb[21]; 17. 76-Brandon Overton[18]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[22]; 19. 111-Max Blair[24]; 20. 24-Tyler Wyant[13]; 21. 1Z-Logan Zarin[23]; 22. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[15]; 23. 13-Dallon Murty[20]; 24. 74X-Ethan Dotson[16]
