BARBERVILLE, Fla. — With a record 57 DIRTcar UMP Modifieds in the pits for the 11th annual Emil & Dale Reutimann Memorial, 20 drivers have now qualified for Saturday night’s main event at Volusia Speedway Park.
Four individual, 15-lap Showdown features hit the track Friday night, locking the top five finishers into the feature and taking the top two to the Saturday redraw.
Saturday’s program begins with the redraw to set the first four rows of the main event lineup, followed by Last Chance Showdown races and the 50-lap, $10,000-to-win Feature.
First Feature
While mechanical issues shut him down early one year ago, Ethan Dotson is back in victory lane at Volusia, and now has a solid chance for his second Reutimann Memorial title.
The 25-year-old from Bakersfield, Calif., put on a dominant display of speed and control Friday night, earning the Jim Passino Excavating & Hauling Fast Time Award for his lap in Qualifying before going on to lead every lap for the win in Vintage Custom Homes Showdown Feature #1.
“My car was really good, that helps,” Dotson said. “I just got cautions before I got to lapped traffic, so I didn’t really have to race anybody. The important one is tomorrow, so hopefully I don’t mess that up.”
The 2022 Reutimann Memorial winner was the favorite to repeat in last year’s program as well before terminal mechanical failure struck his car on the opening lap of his Showdown feature, ending his chances early. But for 2024, Dotson is driving for David Reutimann and the entire Reutimann family and is perfect through two rounds of competition heading into the $10,000-to-win main event on Saturday.
“David’s fired me three times, I think,” Dotson said jokingly. “I can’t tell if he’s joking or being serious, so I keep getting in the car and he doesn’t tell me to get back out. So, I’m just gonna keep doing that until they take the keys out of this thing, I guess.”
Kyle Hammer crossed the finish line second and will join Dotson in the redraw on Saturday. Ben Harmon, Clay Harris and Treb Jacoby completed the top five and have all transferred into the feature.
The finish:
Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 00D-Ethan Dotson[1]; 2. 45-Kyle Hammer[3]; 3. 1H-Ben Harmon[5]; 4. 21J-Clay Harris[2]; 5. J82-Treb Jacoby[6]; 6. 27G-Jason Garver[9]; 7. 3S-Josh Sanford[7]; 8. 99H-Cole Hilton[8]; 9. 25-Greg Belyea[12]; 10. 72M-Ricky Moxley[13]; 11. (DNF) 51-Dalton Lanich[4]; 12. (DNF) 192-Tim McLeod[10]; 13. (DNF) 34S-Garret Stewart[11]; 14. (DNF) 40-Shawn Reiss[14]; 15. (DNS) 99-Wade Olmsted
Second Feature
Maryland racer Glenn Elliott got his first win in his first appearance at Volusia Friday night, leading flag-to-flag for the win in Vintage Custom Homes Showdown feature two
Elliott started on the pole and led all 15 laps without much challenge from those behind him. He credited Pennsylvania Super Late Model talent Mason Zeigler for his assistance throughout the program, which he will take with him as he prepares for the redraw and main event on Saturday.
“It was a way different outcome today than what I thought it was gonna be last night,” Elliott said. “We were horrible when we unloaded, and I really didn’t know how to drive the track.
“I’ve gotta give thanks to Mason Zeigler. He kinda coached me along and showed me some pointers, so that helped me out tremendous.”
Brad Goff — who will also join Elliott in the redraw — Eric Moon, Seth Geary and Devon Dixon completed the top five and are all locked into Saturday’s main event.
The finish:
Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 5E-Glenn Elliott[1]; 2. 41-Brad Goff[2]; 3. 07-Eric Moon[3]; 4. 7G-Seth Geary[7]; 5. 2-Devin Dixon[5]; 6. 64-Austin Sanders[6]; 7. 80-Paul Shead[10]; 8. 8-Cody Thornhill[8]; 9. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[9]; 10. (DNF) 99W-Chris Arnold[4]; 11. (DNF) G34-Rob Giffen[13]; 12. (DNF) 70H-Jim Britt[11]; 13. (DNF) N8-Nate Huffingham[14]; 14. (DNF) M12-Chris Meyer[12]
Third Feature
After winning at Volusia for the first time in February, Trevor Neville made a successful debut in the Reutimann Memorial Friday night with a win in Vintage Custom Homes Showdown Feature No. 3.
Neville, the 23-year-old breakout UMP Modified racer started his year with a win during Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals and has now backed it up, going to Victory Lane for the first time during the Reutimann Memorial.
Though he led every lap, Neville nearly lost the top spot to runner-up Mitch Thomas in the closing stage as Thomas got a great run off Turn 2 and poked his nose underneath Neville through Turns 3–4. Thomas stayed side-by-side with Neville through the corner, but was unable to take the same strength with him into Turn 1, and lost his chance to make the move.
“I had a guy on the backstretch giving me some signals, and I thought I was kinda checked-out,” Neville said. “All of a sudden, I looked down, and I saw a white nose and a white number, and I said, ‘Oh this ain’t good.’
“I used the lapped car to my advantage, and then I had a run off (Turn) 4, and I went down into 1 and I kinda squeezed him a little bit. I had him cleared, but I definitely took his lane away.”
While Neville and Thomas redraw on Saturday, Ashton Winger, Zac Oedewaldt and Rich Pratt made up the rest of the top five and have all transferred into the feature.
The finish:
Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 777-Trevor Neville[1]; 2. 97-Mitch Thomas[2]; 3. 33W-Ashton Winger[4]; 4. Z1-Zac Oedewaldt[5]; 5. 0-Rich Pratt[8]; 6. 60-Jim Manka[3]; 7. 23Z-Austin Self[6]; 8. M20-Mike Potosky[10]; 9. 12-Robert Gast[7]; 10. 3D-Makayla Tyrrell[11]; 11. 99B-Billy Uptegraff[9]; 12. 71A-Andrew Smith[12]; 13. 96-Matt Johnson[13]; 14. (DNS) 21X-Ivedent Lloyd
Fourth Feature
Right when it looked as if Mason Zeigler was going to be the fourth driver to lead a Showdown feature flag-to-flag, Kyle Strickler jumped on a late mistake from the Pennsylvanian and stole the win away on the final lap.
Zeigler grabbed the lead from the outside pole and appeared to be the car to beat, stretching a gap of over 1.5 seconds as the race neared the end.
But Strickler soon closed the gap, and with two laps left, Strickler was on Zeigler’s rear bumper, ready to pounce on any mistake.
“[Zeigler] was ripping around the top in (Turns) 3 and 4, and the ledge got pretty big over there, and I think he just caught it wrong and got over the top of it,” Strickler said. “I knew that was the time to go, and I was able to get by him and slide him into Turn 1. Once we got out in clean air, I knew we were pretty good.”
Now with the lead and less than a half-mile remaining, Strickler cruised back to the checkered flag with confidence, ready to avenge his loss from the 2021 Reutimann Memorial.
“Hopefully, we’ll have lady luck on our side — I was leading this by a mile a few years back and then broke a motor,” Strickler said. “This new Elite (Chassis) car is really good.”
The finish:
Feature 4 (15 Laps): 1. 8S-Kyle Strickler[1]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 3. 72-Todd Neiheiser[3]; 4. 35-Carder Miller[4]; 5. 21-Devin McLeod[7]; 6. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[5]; 7. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[10]; 8. 43A-Mark Anderson[6]; 9. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[8]; 10. 33-Kenny Mihalik[9]; 11. 2C-Ronnie Chance[12]; 12. 23-Kevin Dugger[11]; 13. 8T-Trevor Senterfitt[13]; 14. (DNS) 33M-Jeff Mathews