WAVERLY, Ohio — The Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series Fueled by VP Racing Fuels would make its final appearance of the 2024 season on Saturday evening at Atomic Speedway for the 21st Annual Iron-Man Classic. Seth Daniels became the third different leader of the race when he took the lead on lap 34 and scored his biggest career win and the $5,000 payday.
Daniels, who started in the eighth position, saw the win come in car number s21 in the 21st edition of the Iron-Man Classic on Sept. 21. Â
The win for Daniels, 25 years of age, was his first career Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Fueled by VP Racing Fuels and made him the 12th different winner in sixteen series events so far in the 2024 season. Daniels drives the Jason Wilson-owned Rocket Chassis.
At the drop of the green flag on the 21st Annual Iron-Man Classic Valvoline A-Main, R.J. Conley would grab the race lead, with Ryan Missler, Rod Conley, Clint Keenan, and Caiden Black giving chase. The front five would remain the same until lap four when Keenan would slow in Turn Three.
The restart would not see a full lap completed as Zach Hill would slow on the backchute. R.J. Conley would maintain the lead on the restart, with Rod Conley taking the second position from Missler, while David Webb would go from fourth after restarting seventh, with Black staying in fifth.
The caution would wave again on lap 9 for debris and the restart would also see the caution reappear for more debris in Turn Four. Kenneth Howell would slow on the back chute on the restart and draw another caution. This restart would see R.J. Conley and Rod Conley run first and second, while Webb would get past Missler for third, with Black still running fifth. The brothers Conley would begin to duel for the race lead, going side-by-side, with Rod taking the lead on lap eleven, only to have R.J. reclaim the top spot on the next circuit on lap 12, with Black getting by Missler for fourth on the same lap.
The brother duo of R.J. Conley and Rod Conley would continue to battle for the race lead, with Rod grabbing the lead again on lap 16 as the pair began lapping slower traffic. The caution would fly again on lap 18 when second place R.J. Conley would slow on back chute and would pit and return to action.
The restart would see Rod Conley stay out front, with Webb now second, Black third, with eighth starting Seth Daniels going to fourth by Missler. Conley would pull out to a two-second advantage over Webb, but a caution for Miles Cook, Jr., who slowed in Turn One, would negate Conley’s lead. This restart saw Rod Conley continue to lead, with Webb still second, Daniels would go to third, followed by Missler and fifteenth-place starter Shane Bailey.
Daniels would work past Webb for second on lap 25, while Black may his way back into the top five after taking fifth from Bailey on lap 26. With Daniels now in second, he would set his sights on Conley would close to within 0.300 seconds of Conley when the final caution waved on lap 32 for Bill Lewis, who slid over the banking in Turn Two.
Conley and Daniels would both get a good restart, with Daniels challenging Conley for the top spot and taking the lead of the event on lap thirty-four. Daniels would begin to drive away from Conley at that point, while Missler and Black would work past Webb for third and fourth on lap thirty-eight, shuffling Webb back to fifth.
Daniels would build his lead to over two seconds and grab his first career series victory, with Conley finishing second, followed by Missler, Black, and Webb. Shane Bailey would wind up sixth, Devin Shiels seventh, R.J. Conley would recover to finish eighth, with Brad Rickels and Jacob Stuhr, who started seventeenth, complete the top ten finishers.
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