Shannon Babb – Jim Denhamer photo
By Jordan Morris
DANVILLE, Ill. July 13, 2014 Three-time DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Shannon Babb continued the back-and-forth battle for victories with six-time champion Billy Moyer Sunday night, as he dominated Vermilion County Speedway for his fourth checkered flag of the 2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals season.
Jason Feger started the 40-lap feature event from the pole-position with points-leader Shannon Babb starting to his outside. Feger would fail to lead the opening lap as Babb powered his way to the front of the field, leaving Ferger to settle into second-place.
Babbs closest competition in the championship standings, Ryan Unzicker, suffered from a flat right-rear tire on lap four, causing the races only caution and bringing Feger back to the leaders back-bumper. The restart was Fegers only shot at Babb for the lead, but the leader proved to be too strong and pulled away from second-place, eventually building up a three-second lead with 10-laps remaining.
Babb never faced a serious challenge for the victory, as he dominated all 40-laps en route to claiming the $5,000 checkered flag at Vermilion County Speedway his 87th career DIRTcar Summer Nationals victory, just one behind Billy Moyer on the series all-time wins list.
The car was really comfortable tonight, said Babb, who within the last week has combined with Billy Moyer to win six-out-of-seven races. We never changed nothing on the thing all night long. It was good all night. Theres probably one out of the whole year that that happens.
With just four races remaining in the 2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals championship chase, Shannon Babb extended the slim 14-point advantage he had over Ryan Unzicker, who recovered from his lap four flat tire to finish seventh, in whats shaping up to be the tightest points battle in series history.
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Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley and Tanner English rounded out the top five.
Heat race winners were Feger and Babb.
Following a two-day break, the DIRTcar Summer Nationals joins the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals on Wednesday night at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio.
DIRTcar Summer Nationals Statistical Report; Vermilion County Speedway; Danville, Ill.;
July 13, 2014; A-Main (40-laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb ($5,000), 2. 25-Jason Feger, 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 4. 81-Brian Shirley, 5. 96-Tanner English, 6. 89F-Daren Friedman, 7. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 8. 77M-Jay Morris, 9. 42-MCKay Wenger, 10. 25L-Steve Lance Jr, 11. 4G-Bob Gardner, 12. 1CJ-Gary Christian, 13. 116-Torin Mettille, 14. 33H-Billy Hough, 15. 32-Bobby Pierce, 16. 12B-Kevin Weaver, 17. 89-Mike Spatola, 18. 38C-John Gardner Jr.
2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals Schedule
| Date | Day | Track | Location | Win |
| June 11 | Wed | Brownstown Speedway | Brownstown, Ind. | RAIN |
| June 12 | Thur | Kankakee Co. Speedway | Kankakee, Ill. | Billy Moyer |
| June 13 | Fri | Cedar Lake Speedway | Somerset, Wis. | Rick Eckert |
| June 14 | Sat | Cedar Lake Speedway | Somerset, Wis. | RAIN |
| June 15 | Sun | Wilmot Raceway | Wilmot, Wis. | Rick Eckert(2) |
| June 16 | Mon | Off | ||
| June 17 | Tue | Farley Speedway | Farley, Iowa | Shannon Babb |
| June 18 | Wed | Spoon River Speedway | Canton, Ill. | Jason Feger |
| June 19 | Thur | Quincy Raceways | Quincy, Ill. | RAIN |
| June 20 | Fri | Tri-City Speedway | Pontoon Beach, Ill. | Billy Moyer(2) |
| June 21 | Sat | Fairbury Speedway | Fairbury, Ill. | RAIN |
| June 22 | Sun | I-96 Speedway | Ionia, Mich. | Brian Shirley |
| June 23 | Mon | Peoria Speedway | Peoria, Ill. | Brandon Sheppard |
| June 24 | Tue | Off | ||
| June 25 | Wed | Clarksville Speedway | Clarksville, Tenn. | Shannon Babb(2) |
| June 26 | Thur | Clayhill Motorsports | Atwood, Tenn. | Brian Shirley (2) |
| June 27 | Fri | Paducah Int. Raceway | Paducah, Ky. | RAIN |
| June 28 | Sat | Federated Auto Parts Raceway | Pevely, Mo. | Brian Birkhofer |
| June 29 | Sun | Lincoln Speedway | Lincoln, Ill. | Brady Smith |
| June 30 | Mon | Off | ||
| July 1 | Tue | Belle Clair Speedway | Belleville, Ill. | Bobby Pierce |
| July 2 | Wed | Jacksonville Speedway | Jacksonville, Ill. | Jason Feger(2) |
| July 3 | Thur | LaSalle Speedway | LaSalle, Ill. | Brian Birkhofer(2) |
| July 4 | Fri | Fayette Co. Speedway | Brownstown, Ill. | Brandon Sheppard(2) |
| July 5 | Sat | Highland Speedway | Highland, Ill. | Tyler Reddick |
| July 6 | Sun | Tri-State Speedway | Haubstadt, Ind. | Billy Moyer(3) |
| July 7 | Mon | Off | ||
| July 8 | Tue | Florence Speedway | Union, Ky. | Jason Jameson |
| July 9 | Wed | Terre Haute Action Track | Terre Haute, Ind. | Billy Moyer(4) |
| July 10 | Thur | Macon Speedway | Macon, Ill. | Shannon Babb(3) |
| July 11 | Fri | Farmer City Raceway | Farmer City, Ill. | Billy Moyer(5) |
| July 12 | Sat | 34 Raceway | Burlington, Iowa | Billy Moyer (6) |
| July 13 | Sun | Vermilion Co. Speedway | Danville, Ill. | Shannon Babb(4) |
| July 14 | Mon | Off | ||
| July 15 | Tue | TBA | ||
| July 16 | Wed | Atomic Speedway | Chillicothe, Ohio | $5,000 |
| July 17 | Thur | Brushcreek Motorsports Complex | Peebles, Ohio | $5,000 |
| July 18 | Fri | Attica Raceway Park | Attica, Ohio | $5,000 |
| July 19 | Sat | Oakshade Raceway | Wauseon, Ohio | $10,000 |
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour is brought to fans across the country by many important partners including: Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Racing Electronics (Official Communication), Velocita (Official Uniform), VP Racing Fuel (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to these fine Contingency Partners: Beyea Headers, Cometic Gasket, Comp Cams, Dominator Race Products, Edelbrock, Fox Shocks, JE Pistons, JRI Shocks, Mobil 1, MSD, Quartermaster, Superflow Dynos, Summit Racing Equipment and Wrisco Aluminum; Promotional Partners include: Chevy Performance Parts, Indiana Decal, Intercomp and Petroff Towing.
