By Matt Skipper
Saturday’s ARP Street Stock Feature during the seventh annual World Short Track Champion at The Dirt Track at Charlotte saw a close duel for the lead, which ended with Devon Morgan picking up the win.
Morgan’s path to the victory wasn’t easy, having to race his way froward from 11th in the 20-lap Feature.
When the race commenced, he methodically sliced his way through the field, consisting of 26 cars overall.
Mirroring Morgan’s path was Patrick Lyon, who was also making a charge to the front from his 10th-place starting position. However, the Gastonia, NC driver found his way to the front a step quicker than Morgan.
By Lap 7, he’d grab the lead by working the high side of the 4/10-mile track and made his case that anybody that wanted to pass him would have to use the bottom of the track.
Morgan would be that challenger.
By the halfway point of the Feature, the two drivers had made it to the front two spots and used up all the room they could with their Street Stocks, utilizing every line. Lyon ran high – the line that got him the lead – while Morgan tried to master the bottom.
Morgan used the most he could of the bottom lane and kept getting his car in the right area to steal the lead and the win from Lyon.
“[The bottom] had a lot of moisture down there and my car was just about perfect to where I could still rotate the bottom,” Morgan said. “I just kept getting in the moisture pretty good with the left rear there, and I was getting really big runs off the end to where I wasn’t losing that much and I could really run the inside and it just worked out.”
Despite the track changing and the high line being used by many drivers, Lyon said that using the high line was the way he needed to get to the lead after starting 10th.
“Well, the track changes so much,” Lyon said. At first, the moisture on the racetrack was a lot different when we started, the grip was there (on the high line). Knowing that you’re starting further back, you gotta do something.”
Even though the two drivers were the ones that ramped up the excitement for the lead, David Duke, who started back in 17th, snuck past Lyon in the closing laps to finish second. Lyon had to settle for third, with Dalton Peavy and Andre Durham rounding out the top five.
RESULTS:
Feature – 20 laps:
1. 17-Devon Morgan[11]; 2. 7DD-David Duke[17]; 3. 01-Patrick Lyon[10]; 4. 9P-Dalton Peavy[7]; 5. 06-Andrew Durham[18]; 6. 11L-Kade Langley[1]; 7. 83-Calob McLaughlin[23]; 8. 70-Mike Grady Jr[2]; 9. 92-Tanner Fortune[19]; 10. 00-Cody Ussery[20]; 11. 96-Dalton Pannell[6]; 12. 14-Megan Erwin[22]; 13. 91F-Chris Stowe[24]; 14. 9-Ronnie Mosley[8]; 15. 7-John Cagle[26]; 16. 17M-Cameron Martin[25]; 17. 18D-MItchell Duvall[4]; 18. Y44-Bailey Loftin[12]; 19. 18-Ricky Greene[16]; 20. 78-Blake Pryor[3]; 21. 41-Mattison Hoots[15]; 22. 26-Brandon White[5]; 23. 81-Justin Barber[13]; 24. 73-Timmy Smith[21]; 25. 2-Bradley Weaver[9]; 26. 51-Phoenix Lawter[14]
Last Chance Showdown #1 – 8 laps:
1. 7DD-David Duke[2]; 2. 92-Tanner Fortune[1]; 3. 73-Timmy Smith[3]; 4. 83-Calob McLaughlin[13]; 5. 15-Rick Potter[4]; 6. 11-Robbie Mooneyham[6]; 7. 5N-Nick Evans[11]; 8. 1-Brandon Blair[12]; 9. 40-TJ Bolin[10]; 10. 7B-Mickey Barnes[5]; 11. 7-John Cagle[9]; 12. 40B-Todd Bolin[7]; 13. (DNS) 9S-Chris Steadman; 14. (DNS) 39-Steve Greene
Last Chance Showdown #2 – 8 laps:
1. 06-Andrew Durham[1]; 2. 00-Cody Ussery[4]; 3. 14-Megan Erwin[5]; 4. 91F-Chris Stowe[3]; 5. BB2-Jesse Wall[7]; 6. 17M-Cameron Martin[11]; 7. 32-Garrett Killman[2]; 8. 17D-Russell Douville[9]; 9. (DNS) 15L-Donovan Long; 10. (DNS) 53-Eric Grant; 11. (DNS) 11W-David Wells; 12. (DNS) 5-Junior Johnson
Heat #1 – 6 laps:
1. 70-Mike Grady Jr[1]; 2. 26-Brandon White[6]; 3. 2-Bradley Weaver[4]; 4. 81-Justin Barber[7]; 5. 92-Tanner Fortune[9]; 6. 73-Timmy Smith[11]; 7. 7B-Mickey Barnes[5]; 8. 40B-Todd Bolin[2]; 9. 7-John Cagle[3]; 10. 5N-Nick Evans[10]; 11. 83-Calob McLaughlin[8]
Heat #2 – 6 laps:
1. 18D-MItchell Duvall[3]; 2. 96-Dalton Pannell[5]; 3. 01-Patrick Lyon[4]; 4. 51-Phoenix Lawter[9]; 5. 7DD-David Duke[10]; 6. 15-Rick Potter[8]; 7. 11-Robbie Mooneyham[6]; 8. 9S-Chris Steadman[2]; 9. 40-TJ Bolin[1]; 10. 1-Brandon Blair[11]; 11. 39-Steve Greene[7]
Heat #3 – 6 laps:
1. 78-Blake Pryor[3]; 2. 9P-Dalton Peavy[6]; 3. 17-Devon Morgan[7]; 4. 41-Mattison Hoots[9]; 5. 06-Andrew Durham[10]; 6. 91F-Chris Stowe[2]; 7. 14-Megan Erwin[5]; 8. BB2-Jesse Wall[8]; 9. 17D-Russell Douville[1]; 10. 17M-Cameron Martin[4]
Heat #4 – 6 laps:
1. 11L-Kade Langley[2]; 2. 9-Ronnie Mosley[7]; 3. Y44-Bailey Loftin[5]; 4. 18-Ricky Greene[10]; 5. 32-Garrett Killman[1]; 6. 00-Cody Ussery[9]; 7. 15L-Donovan Long[3]; 8. 53-Eric Grant[6]; 9. 11W-David Wells[4]; 10. (DNS) 5-Junior Johnson
