WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — Lucas Lee looked to be en route to his first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals feature win since 2022 Thursday night at Riverside Int’l Speedway. And then, pop.
Lee, 36, had been leading since lap five and was almost two seconds ahead of the field when on lap 21, Lee’s left-rear tire went flat after contact with another car in spinning to avoid Greg Belyea, who had looped around in turns three and four.
Trevor Neville, who had been chasing Lee throughout the race, inherited the lead and led the rest of the way to bank his third Summit Modified Nationals win of the season.
“I feel awful for Lucas,” Neville said. “That’s not how I want to win a race. It’s honestly hard to do an interview and take claim for that win when it was somebody else’s like that, so I feel awful.”
From the outside pole, Neville took the lead on the first lap using the high side of the quarter-mile oval and he stayed out front until a caution was thrown on lap five. On the restart, Lee got even with Neville with in turns one and two and down the backstretch and then made his move. Lee dove down low in Turn 3 and slid up in front of Neville in turn four to take the lead at the start/finish line.
While Lee created a sizeable gap between himself and Neville after taking the lead, Neville stayed patient on the high side to hold on to his second-place spot. When Lee’s tire went flat, Neville was there to take advantage for his third win of the Summit Modified season.
“The banking on here is pretty extreme,” Neville said. “It was kind of like home at Fairbury. So, I figured I’d just keep the momentum up and I didn’t have enough side bite or forward drive to try to run the bottom.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 777-Trevor Neville[2]; 2. 13-Charlie Mefford[8]; 3. 96M-Mike McKinney[7]; 4. 94-Austin Rettig[16]; 5. 24-Zeke McKenzie[4]; 6. 9-Ken Schrader[14]; 7. 14-Dalton Lane[19]; 8. 9D9-Cole Hilton[3]; 9. 88-Shane Mendoza[18]; 10. 29-Colby Richardson[12]; 11. 23Z-Austin Wayne Self[5]; 12. 18-Clay Caldwell[17]; 13. 5-Dennis Kimbrough[10]; 14. 99P-Brandon Poppenheimer[9]; 15. 07-Jack Walker[22]; 16. 25-Greg Belyea[23]; 17. 12L-Lucas Lee[1]; 18. 52-CJ Davison[20]; 19. 54-Zachary Hawk[6]; 20. 6-Dillon Knight[11]; 21. 60-Blake Bass[15]; 22. 177-Johnny Gustavus[21]; 23. 0K-Damian Kiefer[13]