BROWNSTOWN, Ill. — It was only a matter of time before Tyler Nicely got his first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals feature win of the season. Nicely had finished runner-up in the first two races of Week 2 and finally broke through Friday night at Brownstown Bullring.
The 2023 Summit Modified champion didn’t compete on the Hell Tour in Week 1 but decided to join the second week as part of his pick-and-choose schedule.
“This year I decided I really didn’t want to chase any points, just go race when I want to and have fun,” Nicely said. “My crew guy Austin, he’s been itching to go run a whole week and picked this week.”
Although Nicely came out on top, Trevor Neville led the field around in the opening laps, trying to make it back-to-back wins after his triumph at Spoon River Speedway on Thursday. Neville took the lead at the drop of the green flag and created a sizeable gap between himself and the field. Then came a caution on lap 16.
The caution period restacked the field and allowed Nicely to make a run for the lead. Neville got a good jump on the restart and led the next two laps but Nicely was making a charge around the top side.
With a big run out of turn two on lap 18, Nicely zoomed past Neville down the backstretch and sealed the pass on the high baking on turns three and four. Once Nicely got the lead, he led the rest of the way with no challenge from his competition.
“When we got that caution out we were both kind of running the same speed around the bottom,” Nicely said. “I done had my mind made up that I was going to the top on the restart and just try to get some momentum.
“My stick guy told me the guy in third was making a little bit of time up there so it just helped me know there was stuff up there and Trevor left us a lane and was able to get by him.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[3]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[2]; 3. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 4. 22-Josh Harris[1]; 5. 36-Kenny Wallace[7]; 6. 66-Cole Falloway[6]; 7. 10Y-Trent Young[5]; 8. 18L-Michael Long[12]; 9. 24-Zeke McKenzie[8]; 10. 12L-Lucas Lee[18]; 11. 95-Rick Salter[16]; 12. 14C-Rick Conoyer[17]; 13. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[14]; 14. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[11]; 15. 58R-Ryan Hamilton[13]; 16. 13-Charlie Mefford[15]; 17. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[10]; 18. 14-Dalton Lane[19]; 19. 72-Todd Neiheiser[9]; 20. 27-Michael Turner[22]; 21. 25B-Greg Belyea[23]; 22. 21T-Talen Beard[21]; 23. 59R-Jacob Rexing[20]