Another DIRTcar Summer Nationals race, another win for Tyler Erb.
Erb, 27, of New Waverly, TX, claimed his ninth win of the 2024 Hell Tour Thursday night at Butler Motor Speedway, but not without putting his aggressive driving style on display throughout the 30-lap main event.
After he and new Big Frog Motorsports driver Wil Herrington came together racing hard for the lead late in the race, Herrington and Michigan racer Chad Finley made contact of their own and brought out a caution in the final laps while Erb sped off on the restart to another $5,000 payday.
“I had to fix my nose so it’s only fair,” Erb said of the contact between he and Herrington in the battle for the lead. “It was kind of a bonehead move so I made a bonehead move back and ensured we’d both have to work on a little bit of something. Nothing [vengeful] or nothing.
“Fair is fair. I passed him, he slid the lapped car, the lapped car hit me. Like, it was going to wreck me by him hitting the lapped car, so there was no lapped car for me to hit, so I just hit him.”
The overall Summer Nationals points leader started on the pole but lost the early lead to Finley and Herrington as they both moved past him on Lap 3. Finley crossed only .088 seconds ahead of Erb to take lead at the line before Herrington drove the bottom lane through Turns 1-2 to take second from Erb and then set his sights on Finley.
The next time around, Herrington got a great drive off Turn 2 on the bottom and moved past Finley into the lead heading into Turn 3.
Once Herrington got the lead, he started to set the pace around the 3/8-mile oval and was over a second ahead of second-place Finley with 10 laps left. However, Herrington soon caught lapped traffic and got stuck behind Carter Schlenk, allowing Erb to reel him in.
Erb (1) chasing down Herrington (58) in the closing laps. (Tyler Carr Photo)
As Erb continued to rip the high side, he took the runner-up spot on Lap 21 and on Lap 25 pulled even with Herrington down the backstretch. With Herrington still struggling to make it by Schlenk, Erb edged in front before Herrington finally got by Schlenk and dove to the bottom of Turn 3.
“I tried not to blow the tires off this thing,” Erb said. “Once we caught lapped traffic, I started picking the pace up and [Herrington and Finley] were hung up behind lapped traffic for sure.
“I kind of maneuvered my way through there and raced [Finley] hard and was able to get by him. And on the back straightaway there I passed Wil and two lapped cars and really thought that was going to be the move to win the race.”
Once Herrington got by Schlenk, the slower car of Brad Harden was riding the middle groove while Herrington was coming through and the two made contact, causing Harden to wash up the track right into the nose of Erb. As Harden spun off Erb’s nose and off the top side of Turn 4, Erb kept his wheels rolling, lining him up behind Herrington for the restart.
On the restart, Herrington led the first circuit with Erb close behind, still riding the high banking. The next time around, Erb dove underneath Herrington going into Turn 3 and as he slid in front of Herrington in Turn 4, he made contact, slowing Herrington and allowing Erb to take the lead.
On Lap 27, Herrington and Finley came together in Turn 3 in the battle for second, causing both to spin out and retire early. The caution forced Erb to restart with Rusty Schlenk and Dillon McCowan behind him, but Erb had no problem on the restart as he crossed under the checkered flag over a second ahead of Rusty Schlenk.
Erb crossing under the checkered flag for his ninth win of the 2024 Summer Nationals. (Tyler Carr Photo)
“It all worked out,” Erb said. “On the restart, I knew that I was either going to drive off the top of [Turns] 1 and 2 or get something and make something happen. Once I started driving harder into 1 and 2, I honestly got faster and was just able to make a move and take the lead and kind of do whatever I wanted from there.”
Erb entered the race with a 19-point advantage over McCowan in the overall Summer Nationals championship standings and stretched out his lead with the win to 29 points as McCowan finished third.
UP NEXT
Week 5 of the 39th annual DIRTcar Summer Nationals continues Friday, July 12, at Crystal Motor Speedway in Crystal, MI. Tickets will be on sale at the gate and if you can’t be there, watch all the action live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view results here)
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 91-Rusty Schlenk[8]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[3]; 4. 14JR-Trey Mills[9]; 5. 15-Clayton Stuckey[10]; 6. 27-Eric Spangler[5]; 7. 19M-Carter Murday[13]; 8. 12-Ashton Winger[4]; 9. 55-Michael Archer[12]; 10. 388-Jackson Hise[15]; 11. 06-Jake Rendel[11]; 12. 30-Mark Voigt[19]; 13. 38-Thomas Hunziker[22]; 14. LIL91-Carter Schlenk[21]; 15. 42-Chad Finley[2]; 16. 58-Wil Herrington[6]; 17. 07-Rylee Knoll[17]; 18. 51-Devin Shiels[18]; 19. 52-Brad Harden[20]; 20. 41-Mike Vandermark Jr[16]; 21. 71-Rusty Smith[7]; 22. 4-Travis Stemler[14]
