FULTON, Mo. — Dillon McCowan used some late race heroics and trackside experience to overtake Earl Pearson Jr. late in the going to capture his first career Lucas Oil MLRA win on Friday at the Callaway Raceway.
A total of 32 drivers checked in for the MLRA’s first ever stop at Callaway, and they left fans with a great first showing from start to finish. Derrick Stewart started off the night by grabbing his first career Fast Time Award with a Group “B” lap time of 14.522. Heat race victories were recorded by Chris Simpson, Earl Pearson Jr., Stewart and Kyle Beard.
Qualifying issues left Pearson starting in the eighth and final position on the grid, but the Jacksonville, Fla. driver raced his way all the way to the win, capturing the nights Swift Springs “Move of the Race” in the process.
The 30-lap feature would find Simpson starting on the pole alongside of fellow Iowan Stewart. Simpson would take control from the drop of the green, until lap nine when Pearson used a consistent low line to take the lead away from Simpson as the duo worked off the exit of turn two.
Pearson quickly found the backside of the 24-car field and had to navigate lapped traffic during the balance of the feature, all the while trying to keep Simpson and sixth-starting McCowan in his rearview mirror. As the laps began to count down, McCowan continued to apply pressure on the top line of the speedway, pulling up alongside of the Lucas No. 46 of Pearson multiple times in turns three and four before having his run brought to a halt by lapped traffic multiple times.
The top two of Pearson and McCowan finally found clean race track with just under five laps to go, and with three laps to go McCowan took advantage of a clean race track to drive by Pearson exiting turn four to grab the lead for the first time. McCowan would lead the final three circuits and go on to capture the $5,000-to-win main event.
The victory marks the first career Lucas Oil MLRA win for the series defending Sunoco Race Fuel Rookie of the Year winner.
Pearson held on for his second MLRA runner-up finish of the year while Simpson completed the podium trio. Gordy Gundaker would grab his second top five of the year in fourth while Stewart hung on for a fifth-place run, his best to date under the MLRA banner.
Current point leader Chad Simpson finished in eighth, which allowed the points chase to tighten. Chris Simpson returns to second, only 15 points out of the championship lead while Gundaker is now just 20 back of the four-time series champion Chad Simpson.
“It was definitely a hard-fought battle,” McCowan said. “That lapped traffic played a big big factor in it. It was breaking his run, but it was also breaking my run at the same time. I don’t know if I call it a quick feature because it felt like an eternity in there the way we was running around there.”
The caution-free 30 lapper went at a lightning pace, taking only 8:03 to run start to finish.
“I was getting a run on the top there and I knew he was going to be glued to the bottom because it was definitely the fast way around the track,” continued McCowan. “I would just get a good run and I’d hook it good through one and two and we would catch him down the back stretch and then I would have to whoa it up. Once we finally got clear of them (lapped traffic) I was like it’s either going to be wreckers or checkers now, I didn’t lift.”
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 32-Chris Simpson[1]; 4. 43-Derrick Stewart[2]; 5. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[5]; 6. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[10]; 7. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[7]; 8. 25-Chad Simpson[14]; 9. 86B-Kyle Beard[4]; 10. 22H-Dustin Hodges[11]; 11. 78S-Steve Stultz[9]; 12. 29S-Tyler Stevens[15]; 13. 25J-Tony Jackson Jr[13]; 14. 11-Jeff Herzog[12]; 15. 14W-Dustin Walker[19]; 16. 93-Mason Oberkramer[17]; 17. 50C-Kayden Clatt[18]; 18. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[20]; 19. 88M-Chance Mann[21]; 20. 3W-Brennon Willard[23]; 21. 17A-Austin Howes[16]; 22. 26G-Glen Powell[24]; 23. 00B-Matt Becker[8]; 24. 33F-Rickey Frankel[22]