WHEATLAND, Mo. — Hudson O’Neal returned to Lucas Oil Speedway on Thursday night and came home with his third consecutive win at the “Diamond of Dirt Tracks,” clinching the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing Cowboy Classic to kick off the 33rd annual Show-Me 100 weekend.
O’Neal, who collected $27,000 in winnings by sweeping the Spring Shootout in April, took the lead on lap 33 and went on to win his 30th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event by 1.335 seconds over Devin Moran, who started in 12th position.
Garrett Alberson, who led the first 32 laps of the race, rounded out the podium in third. Ricky Thornton Jr. finished fourth, while Jonathan Davenport placed fifth.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the first time this season, the 2021 Show-Me 100 Champion started in third place, fell back to sixth at one point, but recovered to secure his fourth win overall in 2025, taking the lead with 12 laps remaining in the 45-lap main event.
“I got to second there right before one of those restarts and the top was still pretty dominate and I was like man I need to get to the top down here in one and two and I’ll be danged if I didn’t drive off in there and run right over the banking and fell to fifth or sixth,” O’Neal said. “I didn’t know if I was going to win it, but I was determined to run in the top three, and now I had to battle to get back there. The restarts just fell our way, we got some good breaks right through there and were able to show how good our race car was down there on the bottom. This place put on a heck of a show tonight. We raced all over it.”
Moran, who started on the outside of row six, was in the thick of things near the end of the race and came home in second at the finish.
“It definitely wasn’t as easy as it might have looked, you know, I feel like we were horrible all night, just awful qualifying, and in the heat, everybody worked really hard, and we had a lot better car in the feature,” Moran said. “I was trying to make that top in three and four work a little bit more, to get that little bit of a run that I could underneath of them, but it just didn’t work out. The car just kept getting better and better as the race went on.”
Alberson, once again, was denied his first series win of the season.
“I guess maybe I should have protected that bottom a little bit longer or something. It’s so hard to judge the pace of these things, it really is. I mean Hudson, Devin, Ricky, and Davenport, these guys are so good and playing off of your weaknesses and stuff like that. I just have to get better at it. The car is really great, and it’s a great place to start the weekend at.”
The finish:
- 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[9]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[15]; 8. 1-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 9. 98-Justin Wells[16]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 11. 79-Donald McIntosh[22]; 12. 11-Gordy Gundaker[14]; 13. 18D-Daulton Wilson[23]; 14. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[20]; 15. 157-Mike Marlar[8]; 16. 60-Dan Ebert[24]; 17. 19M-Spencer Hughes[21]; 18. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[11]; 19. 8-Dillon McCowan[13]; 20. 15-Clay Stuckey[19]; 21. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[18]; 22. 2T-Tyler Stevens[17]; 23. 16-Tyler Bruening[6]; 24. 76-Brandon Overton[4]
