{"id":47743,"date":"2024-07-08T02:14:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T06:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dirtcar.com\/miscellaneous\/tyler-erb-wins-tri-state-in-return-to-summer-nationals-tanner-english-claims-week-4-title\/"},"modified":"2024-07-08T02:14:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T06:14:50","slug":"tyler-erb-wins-tri-state-in-return-to-summer-nationals-tanner-english-claims-week-4-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dirtcar.com\/recap\/tyler-erb-wins-tri-state-in-return-to-summer-nationals-tanner-english-claims-week-4-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Erb Wins Tri-State in Return to Summer Nationals, Tanner English Claims Week 4 Title"},"content":{"rendered":"
Back like he never left, Tyler Erb has returned to Victory Lane with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.<\/p>\n
Making his first Hell Tour<\/em> start since winning at Red Hill Raceway on June 30, Erb made his return in the Week 4 finale Sunday night at Tri-State Speedway, leading all 30 laps of the Feature for his eighth Summer Nationals win of the season.<\/p>\n After competing with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series this past weekend as part of the Gopher 50<\/em> at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN, Erb decided to make the nine-hour drive to Haubstadt, IN, for a dramatic return to the Hell Tour<\/em>. The driver from New Waverly, TX, said after the race, he\u2019d not slept for over 30 hours but still wanted to come run with the Summer Nationals despite his lack of sleep.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve done this race before and I always thought this place was really cool and I\u2019ve never had the opportunity to come back,\u201d Erb said of why he made the long trip. \u201cIf I would\u2019ve sat there all day and watched this race I kind of would\u2019ve been disappointed in myself because it\u2019s just a little of mind over matter. I\u2019ve done dumber things, so this didn\u2019t seem like the dumbest idea I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n In his return, Erb started from fourth on the grid and at the drop of the green flag, he was side-by-side with polesitter Rusty Schlenk going into Turns 1 and 2. Down the backstretch Schlenk, Erb and Tanner English were three-wide and coming out of Turn 4 all three were side-by-side again with Erb crossing the start\/finish line first to take the lead.<\/p>\n Schlenk (91), Erb (1) and English (96) going three-wide. (Tyler Carr Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cAt the drop of the green they spun the tires and I drove in between them,\u201d Erb said. \u201cThen Rusty bummed the cushion, and it was still kind of crumby and greasy so I turned and left pretty good and then in (Turns) 1 and 2 kind of same thing, I just bummed in there with [Schlenk] and when he came out of sight I just started easing up and felt him on my quarter panel and drove off.\u201d<\/p>\n Once he got by Schlenk, Erb began to set the pace around the 1\/4-mile oval and was over a second ahead of second-place English with 10 laps-to-go. On Lap 23, Erb started to hit lapped traffic, allowing English to get closer on the high side, but he never got close enough to challenge Erb as he drove the Best Performance Motorsports No. 1 away and finished over a half-second ahead of English.<\/p>\n English (96) challenging Erb (1) near the end of the race. (Tyler Carr Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI knew at some point the top would be good,\u201d Erb said. \u201cThe way the shape of the track is, you can kind of see who\u2019s behind you, so in traffic I moved up and I feel like I could\u2019ve drove a lot harder and I just didn\u2019t feel the need to.<\/p>\n \u201cTanner is a good racer. If he would\u2019ve showed me a nose we would\u2019ve raced hard, and I don\u2019t know what would\u2019ve happened but it didn\u2019t get to that and it was a good night.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with his runner-up finish, English took home the Week 4 points title after winning twice and finishing in the top-five four times during the week. Before the week began, it had been two years since English had won a Hell Tour<\/em> race, and this week, he proved he can still win at the highest level.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve definitely been struggling and we turned it around,\u201d English said. \u201cReally last week was when we turned it around but this week, we really capitalized on it. We had some really good competition and I think we\u2019ve all stepped our game up and everybody is getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n UP NEXT<\/strong><\/p>\n The fifth and final week of competition in the 39th DIRTcar Summer Nationals begins Tuesday, July 9, with a visit to Shadyhill Speedway in Medaryville, IN, racing alongside the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals.<\/p>\n Tickets for all five events in Week 5 will be on sale at each track on race day. If you can\u2019t make it to the track to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision<\/a>.<\/p>\n