KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Hudson O’Neal charged from his 15th starting position to win the 21st Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals presented by All Makes Collision Center on Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway.
The Martinsville, Indiana driver earned an event record $75,000 for his 34th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win.
In a race with nine lead changes among three drivers, O’Neal finally took the lead for good on lap 57 and then led the last 18 laps to win by 8.368 seconds over Ricky Thornton Jr., Devin Moran, Brandon Sheppard and Daulton Wilson.
Jonathan Davenport and Moran swapped the lead during the first 54 laps of the race, until O’Neal became the third different leader on lap 55. Moran led lap 56, and O’Neal took the lead for the second time on lap 57, then pulled away to dominate the rest of the race.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane, O’Neal becomes the 16th different winner in 21 editions of the crown jewel event. O’Neal and his father Don are the first father-son duo to win the race, with Don having won it in 2011.
“I’m tired, man. Riding around that berm was so demanding; it got really rough down there, and I kept telling myself to just breathe,” O’Neal said. “Hats off to my guys—whenever you destroy a race car like that, it definitely hurts. I put a lot of effort into that car to make it to the World 100; it was the car we planned to finish our championship with.
“That was definitely a morale killer a little bit, but we were able to unload the car the next day, and the guys worked hard to get it ready. To come back and have good speed last night was great—we had a mechanical failure, and to come from 15th is just so awesome.”
Thornton was the only driver in the top three finishers who did not lead a lap and came in second after passing Moran in the final four laps.
“I went much tighter than I did last night; the track never really slowed down like it usually does here. I don’t know if it was easier to run around the bottom berm; overall, I’m happy with second,” Thornton said. “Obviously, Hud was a lot better than all of us; he drove to the front and won by over 8 seconds or whatever it was. Congrats to him. I feel like any time it gets around a berm like that on the bottom, I remember, like at Pittsburgh a few years back, he wore us all out running below the berm. So again, congrats to him for tonight; after flipping on night one, it didn’t scare him at all.”
Moran finished third after leading 21 laps.
“We just got that bottom to start chunking out a little, and when it did, my nose was just too low, and it kept bouncing and bouncing. I couldn’t circle that bottom,” Moran said. “Overall, we’ll take it. I really felt like we had a really good car for a long part of that race. I could move all around, and JD was having an awesome race. It was so fun to race with him, but obviously Hudson was the best car tonight. At the end, he did a great job — my guys said he was a second faster per lap at the end of the race.”
The finish:
Feature (75 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal (15); 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr (4); 3. 99-Devin Moran (1); 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard (9); 5. 18D-Daulton Wilson (7); 6. 3S-Brian Shirley (10); 7. 58-Garrett Alberson (3); 8. 60-Dan Ebert (21); 9. 01-Tyler Erb (5); 10. 79-Donald McIntosh (14); 11. 25-Chad Simpson (26); 12. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr (27); 13. 19M-Joseph Joiner (13); 14. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck (17); 15. 15-Clay Stuckey (30); 16. 76N-Blair Nothdurft (20); 17. 99S-Jesse Sobbing (23); 18. 49-Jonathan Davenport (2); 19. 93L-Cory Lawler (22); 20. 93-Carson Ferguson (12); 21. 1XM-Aaron Marrant (11); 22. 75-Daniel Adam (28); 23. 6-Clay Harris (24); 24. 19R-Ryan Gustin (19); 25. 32-Bobby Pierce (8); 26. 51B-Brandon Carpenter (32); 27. 99X-Dallon Murty (29); 28. 32S-Chris Simpson (16); 29. 04-Tad Pospisil (31); 30. 6J-Jake Neal (25); 31. 76-Brandon Overton (6); 32. 18C-Chase Junghans (18).
