Michael Long has found his key to success at Fairbury Speedway.
On Saturday night, the Fowler, IL driver dominated the early portion of the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals 30-lap Feature, lost the lead late, then came back to win in the final few laps for his first win of the 2025 tour.
Long rolled off from the pole position and took command on the bottom lane of the track while fellow front row starter Michael Ledford attempted to make the cushion around the top work for him.
Long continued to utilize the low side while Ledford kept his distance within one second of Long and waited for his moment to strike the lead.
The moment came within the final 10 laps as Long began to struggle on the bottom and Ledford logged faster laps using the same line. With nine laps to go, Ledford muscled Long up to the middle lane to squeeze by for the Feature’s first lead change.
Ledford’s time at the point was short-lived as his left front wheel broke from hitting a tractor tire with seven laps to go, and he attempted to win the Feature on three operating wheels.
The woes on Ledford’s No. 09 gave Long a path to pass him on the cushion with six laps to go and drove onto his fourth consecutive year on the podium at Fairbury for a Summit Modifieds Feature.
“I was good on the bottom when I could keep speed up,” Long said. “With the yellows, the track really cleaned up. When I had to really slow down there, I just got too tight and Ledford had a better car than me. Then, I kinda found that line up top, I didn’t think I was going to be able to find anything. I was able to drive across, hit the cushion and go.”
Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models visit Maple Park, IL’s Sycamore Speedway on Sunday, June 16, while the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modifieds take three days off until Quincy Raceways on Wednesday, June 18.
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 (30 Laps): 1. 18L-Michael Long[1]; 2. 09-Michael Ledford[2]; 3. 21L-Derek Losh[4]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[6]; 5. 10Y-Trent Young[10]; 6. 66-Cole Falloway[9]; 7. 45H-Chase Holland[5]; 8. 21A-Nick Allen[13]; 9. 5-Steven Brooks[25]; 10. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[3]; 11. 8A-Austin Holcombe[20]; 12. 89-Austin Friedman[18]; 13. 1H-Ben Harmon[16]; 14. Z1-Zac Oedewaldt[11]; 15. 74M-Manix Furqueron[14]; 16. 21C-Drew Charlson[19]; 17. 110-Landen Miller[8]; 18. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[26]; 19. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[23]; 20. 45-Kyle Hammer[15]; 21. 27-Beau DeYoung[7]; 22. 7-Brad Deyoung[24]; 23. Z24-Zach Taylor[21]; 24. 242-Degan Dozard[22]; 25. 12-Jeff Curl[12]; 26. 88S-Alan Stipp[17]
