Tyler Nicely is within striking distance of his second career DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals championship.
On Friday night at Crystal Motor Speedway, the Owensboro, KY native bagged his sixth win of the season after taking risks for the lead with differing strategies.
Nicely rolled off from the outside of the front row, with polesitter Dillon Nusbaum taking the lead off the bottom of the track through Turns 1-2 on the opening circuit.
Though the Warsaw, IN driver led through the first half of the 25-lap Feature with his No. 17N UMP Modified, Nicely kept his car close to the back bumper of Nusbaum.
When lapped traffic began to affect Nusbaum’s pace around the bottom lane, Nicely took his chance for the lead by shifting his No. 5 Elite Chassis to the middle line while Nusbaum attempted to block Nicely’s charge by running towards the top down the back straightaway.
Nicely continued to push the issue as he created momentum around the middle lane, passing Nusbaum with a run on the top of the backstretch on Lap 17 to take over the Feature’s lead.
With the 2023 champion cementing his spot at the top on Friday night, Nicely drove to over two seconds on the field as he parked in Summit Modified Nationals Victory Lane for the 17th time in his career. The win places him 16 points away from Trevor Neville for the points lead entering the Ohio swing.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Nicely said. “We just went to work a little bit there, and it just took off. Once we got to lap traffic, I knew I needed to make a move, and I got a heck of a run off (Turn 2), and was able to get it done.”
Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals enter the last two races of Week 5 with a trip to the Buckeye State’s Birthday Race at Oakshade Speedway on Saturday, July 12.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[4]; 2. 4-Michael Ledford[2]; 3. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[1]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[3]; 5. 75-Daniel Adam[6]; 6. 74M-Manix Furqueron[5]; 7. 65-Todd Sherman[7]; 8. 60-Shannon Fisk[10]; 9. 43-Mark Anderson[12]; 10. 9R-Garrett Rons[11]; 11. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[9]; 12. 12M-John McClure[8]; 13. 14T-Mario Toniolo[13]; 14. 09-Dan Price[15]; 15. 65X-Aaron Orr[14]