BARBERVILLE, Fla. — The DIRTcar Pro / Crate Racin’ USA (CRUSA) 604 Late Model division packed the Volusia Speedway Park pits with nearly 70 Chevrolet Performance Crate engine-powered machines Friday night and put on four entertaining qualifying features as part of the fifth annual DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals.
In the end, Dillon Brown, Richie Stephens, Austin Yarbrough and Brock Pinkerous emerged victorious and will head into Saturday’s finale with momentum as they chase the $10,000 grand prize in the 30-lap Feature.
Qualifying Feature No. 1 – Dillon Brown
A multi-time World Short Track Championship winner in Charlotte. A multi-time Crate Racin’ USA Feature winner. And now, Dillon Brown is a DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals Feature winner.
Brown, 31, of Gaffney, S.C., made the trip to Volusia for the inaugural running of Sunshine Nationals in 2020 but did not get the results he was looking for. He returned to the half-mile oval this week and immediately got what he was looking for, leading all 20 laps of the first Pro Late Model Qualifying Feature.
While he controlled the race from start to finish, Brown’s lead of over 3.5 seconds nearly evaporated in the closing stages after he caught lapped traffic.
“When I caught those guys, the car that I was gonna lap – he pulled to the bottom down the front straightaway like he was going to give me the top,” Brown said. “But when I arrived at the corner, he wanted the top again. It’s the dirty air running so fast here.
“The race track was just so narrow that when he moved across me, the air just moved my nose and up the racetrack I went, and I really thought I was in trouble. If I didn’t have that lead, I would’ve been in trouble.”
Fortunately, Brown had the racer’s instinct and devised a plan to stay out front, even with the traffic in front of him.
“I was in control of the race and I decided to stay in control of my pace,” Brown said. “Just do a really good job of pacing myself from the lapped car [in front of me] to those guys [behind me]. When my sticks would get two car [lengths], I’d catch the lapped car two cars. When my sticks got four cars, I’d catch back up to those guys. So, I just kept pacing myself.”
Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 6-Dillon Brown[1]; 2. 18-David Showers Jr[4]; 3. 4-Rye Faulk[2]; 4. 16-Caleb Gay[3]; 5. 17-Rob Pitcher[7]; 6. 119-Joe Belkey[8]; 7. 23-Cory Hedgecock[9]; 8. 35-Christian Augspurger[11]; 9. 18B-Mark Fleischer[16]; 10. 47E-Thomas Earl III[10]; 11. 9-Nick Johnson[13]; 12. 87C-Jarrod Carey[14]; 13. 39-Jake Rainey[17]; 14. 26-Derrick McGrew Jr[18]; 15. 11-Daniel Dial[15]; 16. (DNF) 7-Corey Neil Jr[5]; 17. (DNF) 1G-Ross Bailes[12]; 18. (DNF) 5R-Lucas Ruark[6]
Qualifying Feature No. 2 – Richie Stephens
As a past Sunshine Nationals entrant, Richie Stephens has made laps around Volusia before, and made his best ones Friday night en route to his first career Sunshine Nationals win at the half-mile oval.
The 41-year-old from Phenix City, Ala., started on the pole and took over the top spot after lap one leader Mark Whitener suffered mechanical failure only eight laps in. From there, Stephens held on, fending off pressure from Cole Exum and Matt Henderson in the final green-flag stretch to secure the win.
Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 00-Richie Stephens[1]; 2. 86-Cole Exum[4]; 3. 22-Matt Henderson[8]; 4. 18I-Clay Harris[7]; 5. 74-Jason Garver[12]; 6. 5-Dustin Carter[9]; 7. 39W-Brandon Wells[11]; 8. 515-Bubba Roling[5]; 9. 42-Steven Stratton Sr[15]; 10. 21X-Ryan French[16]; 11. 30-Steven Stratton JR[10]; 12. 31B-Brad Seagle[17]; 13. 5W-Mark Whitener[2]; 14. 31M-Tyler Millwood[3]; 15. 14-AJ Miller[13]; 16. C4-Freddie Carpenter[6]; 17. (DNS) 29S-Cameron Saunders
Qualifying Feature No. 3 – Austin Yarbrough
One year ago, Austin Yarbrough scored his first career Feature win in a Pro Late Model at the Sunshine Nationals. Fast forward to Friday night, and he does it again – this time, in thrilling fashion.
New track record holder Nevin Gainey appeared to have the field covered through the first half of the 20-lap event, maintaining a strong gap over Yarbrough, until a caution was thrown with 13 laps complete. Before the ensuing restart, that’s when Yarbrough devised his plan to go for the lead.
“The long caution really helped me get the top packed-in, and that was my only shot to beat [Gainey] – for him to get tight on the bottom and me pass him on the outside,” Yarbrough said. “That caution really played into our favor. He didn’t know that the top was going to be better.”
Yarbrough pinned the throttle at the drop of the green and took the high side into Turns 3-4 while Gainey stuck to the bottom. Charged with the high-side momentum, Yarbrough zoomed past Gainey to his outside and took the lead down the front-stretch. From there, Yarbrough held the field off for his second career victory at Volusia.
“I felt like my car was really good on long runs; [Gainey’s] would just fire-off really good,” Yarbrough said. “Honestly, I didn’t think the outside was gonna work. I tried it just because it was so packed-in. I tried and we were able to get out of here with a win.”
Feature 3 (20 Laps): 1. 127-Austin Yarbrough[2]; 2. 17G-Nevin Gainey[1]; 3. 08-Joey Love[3]; 4. 111-Demetrios Drellos[4]; 5. 2-Zack Carley[7]; 6. 21-Mario Gresham[12]; 7. 12-Johnny Collins[8]; 8. 20-Owen Osteen[6]; 9. 54T-Tuck Trentham[9]; 10. 66-Jody Knowles[16]; 11. 47-Dean Abbey[10]; 12. K7-Keaton Smith[14]; 13. 38-Nick Love[15]; 14. 71C-Davy Cline[13]; 15. (DNF) 80-Ben Scott[11]; 16. (DNF) 07B-Bailey Cardwell[5]; 17. (DNF) 1A-Ricky Haugen[17]
Qualifying Feature No. 4 – Brock Pinkerous
At only 13 years of age, Brock Pinkerous has already made his first mark on Volusia Speedway Park history, winning the fourth and final Pro Late Model Feature.
The teenage racer traveled from his home in Ellenville, N.Y., to get a taste of the sunshine and found it in his first Feature event, leading all 20 laps en route to his first CRUSA Feature win.
He took the lead at the drop of the green from third on the starting grid after polesitter Will Roland jumped to the high side in Turn 1, opening the door for Pinkerous to shoot into the lead underneath him.
From there, Pinkerous played defense, holding off big pressure from Roland and fellow Southeast Crate Late Model standout Riley Hickman the rest of the distance to secure the win.
“I knew they were back there, and I knew I was pulling away,” Pinkerous said. “When I caught the grip, I could hear them getting close. Other than that, yeah, they were on me a bit, but I wasn’t too worried.”
Feature 4 (20 Laps): 1. 555-Brock Pinkerous[3]; 2. 22R-Will Roland[1]; 3. 17H-Riley Hickman[5]; 4. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[10]; 5. 31-Lincoln Smith[6]; 6. 17J-John Winge[4]; 7. 131-Matt Herlong[9]; 8. 721-Ivedent Lloyd[11]; 9. K37-Drew Kennedy[12]; 10. 9C-Ches Chester[8]; 11. C10-Carl Currin[13]; 12. 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[16]; 13. 89-Von Casey[14]; 14. (DNF) 96-Josh Vinyard[15]; 15. (DNF) 44P-Kole Platt[7]; 16. (DNF) KB1-Kerry King[2]; 17. (DNF) 7S-Brian Smith[17]