Team No Love finishes 1-2 in Feature, take home 2-3 in points standings
He was dubbed the “people’s champ” after winning three Chevy Performance Street Stock League races in DIRTcar eSports Season 2. Now, Tyler Jackson has made it official as the first-ever champion of the League in Season 3, locking it up after his third-place performance in the finale Wednesday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Three Feature wins this season propelled the Rockford, IL-native to a 43-point lead over Carl Kilgore coming into the finale, and he was able to hold it after battling it out with Kilgore and fellow Team No Love member Keith Hackney in the closing stages.
Jackson started on the pole for the 25-lap affair and led Laps 2-13 before a big effort on a restart from Hackney gave him the opening he needed to sneak on by. Jackson took a low-to-high approach into Turns 1-2 while Hackney stayed up top and crossed down underneath him at the exit of Turn 2 to take the lead into Turn 3.
“I timed it right there on that last restart, and I knew he was gonna throw it in there on a slider. I had already backed out of it once I got up in the corner, because I was going to drive underneath him,” Hackney said.
Kilgore had to wait for his turn to pass, and finally got that opportunity with two laps remaining as he cashed-in on a big slide job attempt as they dove into Turns 1-2. Kilgore planted it on Jackson’s nose and took the spot, but Jackson returned the favor in Turns 3-4.
Hackney won his second Feature of Season 3 (Hank Silver Photo)
Kilgore stayed persistent and crossed it back underneath Jackson as they crossed under the flag stand. This time, Jackson hung back with one thing on his mind.
“Tonight, I definitely could’ve slid Keith a couple of times, but I figured I’d just roll second. I saw Carl coming and he kinda used me up going into [Turn] 1 and then slid me, but I just figured I’d let both of them go and take home the big trophy,” Jackson said.
His championship points strategy had worked – Jackson made some conservative decisions coming into the final races and points raced his way to a first big trophy. One which he will likely carry into the fall DIRTcar eSports season and try to defend.
Back out front, Hackney had driven away with the W, wrapping up his second Feature win of the year against his two biggest pieces of competition.
Jackson (25) and Hackney (69) racing for position (Hank Silver Photo)
“Especially my teammate [Kilgore] and Tyler [Jackson] also – we were pretty much the class of the season, and it’s always fun racing with everybody,” Hackney said.
Chevy Performance Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 69-Keith Hackney [2]; 2. 21-Carl Kilgore [6]; 3. 25-Tyler Jackson3 [1]; 4. 48-Kyle Vaughn [5]; 5. 717-Bobby Rafferty [9]; 6. 71-Daniel Stiffler [11]; 7. 77-Holden English [14]; 8. 21-Jim Reavis [13]; 9. 26-Sage Luther [20]; 10. 546-Randy Axner [10]; 11. 225-Nathan Lemons [12];12. 84-Mike Watt5 [21]; 13. 38-Ryan Carlisi [16]; 14. 17-Brett Rowles [17]; 15. 18-Justin Henson3 [7]; 16. 2-Clifford Bellomy [19]; 17. 46-Jonathan Nause [24]; 18. 77-Joel Phillips [22]; 19. 76-Robert Palmer8 [23]; 20. 5-Isaac Salas [4]; 21. 73-Scott A Reid [18]; 22. 111-Jaron Valley [15];23. 8-Sean Stevens [8];24. 54-Larry Barber Jr2 [3]
