WHEATLAND, Mo. — The defending Big Buck 50 champ served notice Friday night that he’s going to be tough to dethrone.
Peyton Taylor won his heat race and then took Dash 1 – for the heat-race winners – earning him the pole for Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win Street Stocks main event at the seventh annual Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Taylor drove from the tail of the field to take the lead midway through Dash 1 and went on to win by 6.9 seconds over runner-up Heath Philpot.
Taylor drove to victory in the 2019 Big Buck 50 a year ago, taking over the lead just past the midway point from David Hendrix. He will go for a repeat on Saturday in what he says will be his final Street Stock race before moving to Modified racing full time.
Taylor quickly moved forward as attrition took its toll, with half the eight-car field out of the race by lap four. Philpot beat out Richie Tosh and T.J. Herndon in a tight battle for second to earn the outside front-row position to start the big race on Saturday.
In Dash 2, Toby Ott took over the lead on lap six from Hendrix and took the victory. That earned Ott, 2017 and 2019 Lucas Oil Speedway track champion, starting position No. 8 in the main event.
Hendrix, meanwhile, will start ninth as he will be looking to improve upon his runner-up finish a year ago.
Kyle Slader was scheduled to start in Dash 1 but was unable to make it due to mechanical issues. He will start the feature 16th.
The top two from each of Friday night’s eight heats locked themselves into the Big Buck 50 feature.
Larry Jones captured the $1,000-to-win Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature victory, leading the final 23 of 25 laps.
Jones had failed to finish in the top five during any regular season feature, but has numerous wins during his lengthy career. He was in top form on Night One of the Lucas Cattle Company ULMA Late Model doubleheader.
Chad Richwine was reeling Jones in, pulling to within two car lengths with five laps remaining. But Richwine clipped the tractor tire guarding the inside of turn four, completing lap 22, and rolled to a stop.
That left Jones needing to navigate a restart with three laps to go. The veteran from El Dorado Springs did just that and beat runner-up Justin Russell at the checkers by 1.3 seconds.
“I didn’t have any more, I had it on the floor,” Jones said of the final laps. “If they’re gonna get me they’re gonna have to get me because I had her wide open. She had no more.
“I needed that one,” Jones added. “I’d like to thank all my sponsors. Without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Lucas Cattle Company ULMA points leader Cole Henson wound up third and padded his points lead entering Saturday’s season finale. Johnny Fennewald finished fourth and Dalton Imhoff fifth.