Ty Dillon
BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Feb. 13, 2015 – Ty Dillon swept to the lead just as the white flag was displayed Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Nationals to win a thriller for his first UMP Modified victory of the season.
In the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season opener at Volusia, Kasey Kahne Racing’s Daryn Pittman won for the second consecutive night, passing Donny Schatz on the final lap to win his second Gator trophy of the week on the half-mile dirt oval.
Ty Dillon joins his brother, Austin, as winners this week at Volusia. It certainly wasn’t easy. Kyle Strickler had the lead but traffic came into play. Dillon went high, Nick Hoffman went low. Hoffman wound up taking second, dropping Strickler to third.
“I’ve been working hard for this,” said Dillon, a rising NASCAR star and the grandson of legendary car owner Richard Childress. “It’s just so cool all the North Carolina guys come down here and run so well. I knew Kyle was going to be tough to pass and I kind of had to slide across him there. I saw up on the board there was only 3 to go so I knew I had to make something happen. I’m proud of my guys, we’ve been coming down here for a long time. Volusia’s like a second home for us, coming to race at. I’m just so happy for everybody. This is so much fun. Got my Gator this year, man. I’m happy and proud of all my guys for all the hard work.”
Pittman’s second victory in as many days didn’t come easy. He was the fourth and final leader of the night, leading only the last lap. Greg Hodnett jumped out to a quick lead before Joey Saldana ran him down. Schatz worked past Saldana with five to go and looked like he was going to begin his championship defense with a win before Pittman drove to the front on the final lap.
“Last night felt pretty good, this one feels that much better,” said Pittman, the 2013 World of Outlaws champion. “[Thursday] night it felt like we had a great racecar, probably the car to beat from the time we unloaded. We were good all night tonight. At the beginning of that race I just didn’t feel as good and thought, man, we’re probably going to run top-three. The car got better as the race went on and came to us. I don’t know if those guys ran some softer tires or what but it just got better, and then Donny drove by us. I saw him go to pull the trigger in three and four on whoever the lap car was and he hit the bottom and passed for Saldana the lead, just stuck to the bottom. I thought, ‘Well, he’s just going to hit the bottom here.’ When I saw him slide and have to bail out I thought, ‘Wow, that guy doesn’t make very many mistakes and that was a pretty good one.’ So we had to take advantage of that and barely got back to him, in front of him at the flagstand and saw visions of last night in turn two again as he threw a Hail Mary there to try to get by me.”
Nightly doubleheaders at Volusia run Saturday through Feb. 21. On Saturday night the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series continues its high-powered, high-speed action along with the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.
For more information and updates on the DIRTcar Nationals, click DIRTcarNationals.com or follow on Twitter at @DIRTcarNats.
DIRTcar Nationals Statistical Report; Feb. 13, 2015; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, Fla.
Heat 1:
1. Brandon Green
2. Nick Hoffman
3. Devin Gilpin
4. Justin Allgaier
5. Gene Nicholas
6. Evan Taylor
7. Tony Anderson
8. Andy Galgoci
9. Matt Tifft
Heat 2:
1. Kyle Strickler
2. Ray Bollinger
3. Dale Mathison
4. Garret Stewart
5. Ryan Cripe
6. Kent Robinson
7. Dave Jamison
8. Jason Intoppa
9. Michael Stratton
Heat 3:
1. Ty Dillon
2. Josh Rice
3. Josh Harris
4. Jason Beaulieu
5. Joel Ortberg
6. Mike Smith
7. Dalton Lanich
8. Bobby Miles
9. Matt Johnson
Heat 4:
1. Jake Hawkins
2. Kenny Wallace
3. Todd Sherman
4. Jackie Boggs
5. Rich Pratt
6. Larry Burkins
7. Dave Baldwin
8. Jake Griffin
9. Ernie Gingerich
Heat 5:
1. Tyler Nicely
2. Austin Dillon
3. Will Krup
4. Jeff Mathews
5. Matt Crafton
6. Paul Miles
7. Dugan Thye
8. Todd Neiheiser
9. Cody Erickson
Heat 6:
1. Billy Workman, Jr.
2. Ken Schrader
3. Bobby Rose
4. Cory Daugherty
5. Jeff Thomas
6. Buzz Jacobs
7. Rick Weitekamp
8. Nick Tharp
Semi 1:
1. Justin Allgaier
2. Garret Stewart
3. Ryan Cripe
4. Evan Taylor
5. Matt Tifft
6. Gene Nicholas
7. Dave Jamison
8. Andy Galgoci
9. Jason Intoppa
10. Tony Anderson
11. Michael Stratton
12. Kent Robinson
Semi 2:
1. Jason Beaulieu
2. Jackie Boggs
3. Joel Ortberg
4. Rich Pratt
5. Dave Baldwin
6. Dalton Lanich
7. Larry Burkins
8. Mike Smith
9. Jake Griffin
10. Ernie Gingerich
11. Bobby Miles
12. Matt Johnson
Semi 3:
1. Matt Crafton
2. Cory Daugherty
3. Cody Erickson
4. Jeff Mathews
5. Dugan Thye
6. Jeff Thomas
7. Paul Miles
8. Buzz Jacobs
9. Rick Weitekamp
10. Todd Neiheiser
11. Nick Tharp
Feature:
1. Ty Dillon
2. Nick Hoffman
3. Kyle Strickler
4. Jake Hawkins
5. Austin Dillon
6. Josh Rice
7. Tyler Nicely
8. Kenny Wallace
9. Josh Harris
10. Brandon Green
11. Billy Workman, Jr.
12. Will Krup
13. Ray Bollinger
14. Garret Stewart
15. Ken Schrader
16. Devin Gilpin
17. Matt Crafton
18. Justin Allgaier
19. Cory Daugherty
20. Jason Beaulieu
21. Dale Mathison
22. Jackie Boggs
23. Todd Sherman
24. Bobby Rose
