BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Part of the three division late model card on Thursday night at Volusia Speedway Park, the 602 late models saw three feature events with Hayden Cardwell, Koulton Herbert and Richard Stephens claiming victories.
602 Late Model Feature No. 1
Six thousandths of a second. That’s how close the finish was to kick off feature racing at Volusia Speedway Park in 2026.
The 602 Late Models kicked things off during the first night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals with Jordan Lockhardt and Marty Massey leading the field to the green in the 15-lap prelim race.
Lockhardt held command for the majority of the event, leaving everyone behind him racing for second.
Massey had a strong hold of the runner-up position until he brought out a caution on Lap 11 due to a motor issue. His exit moved Luke Clements up to second and Dawson Lowe into the final podium spot. However, Hayden Cardwell, in fourth, was the one to watch on the restart.
When the race resumed, Cardwell jumped to the high side and found a new head of steam. While everyone else hugged the bottom, he passed Lowe for third off Turn 2 and then passed Clements for second off Turn 4. With two laps to go, he hunted down Lockhardt and gave him a challenge for the first time all night.
On the final lap, Cardwell drove as hard as he could into Turns 3 and 4, which allowed him to pull side by side with Lockhardt off Turn 4 and edge ahead of him by 0.006 seconds at the checkered flag.
It was his first Sunshine Nationals win and second big win of the week, as he won the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series event on Monday.
“I thought we were going to fire off better there from Lap 1, but didn’t really have the speed at the bottom at all,” Cardwell said. “I feel like everyone thought it was kind of one lane there on the bottom and said, ‘What the hell, man,’ we didn’t have much to lose there, so I stepped out of the groove there, and I thought it was really good. I think we were just a little too snug for the bottom. The outside opened up for us, and it was a crazy finish for sure.”
The finish:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[4]; 2. 7L-Jordan Lockhart[1]; 3. 51C-Luke Clements[3]; 4. 16-Dawson Lowe[5]; 5. 25W-Wiley McDaniel[6]; 6. 3-Grayson Ott[8]; 7. KO-Caylan Kettle[7]; 8. 149-Seth Speed[10]; 9. 28B-Jeff Queen[17]; 10. 44K-Troy Kidd[18]; 11. 15-Marty Massey[2]; 12. 55-Kyle Courtney[15]; 13. 32-Jack Mills[12]; 14. (DNS) 1M-Morghan Johnson; 15. (DNS) 5-Curtis Thomas; 16. (DNS) 48-Brody Yarbrough; 17. (DNS) C4-Devin Whatley; 18. (DNS) 71C-Davy Cline; 19. (DNS) KB-Kerry King
602 Late Model Feature No. 2
Koulten Herbert wanted less of a heart attack moment to end the second prelim feature of the night.
The Georgia driver took the lead from the outside pole at the start of the 15-lap feature and never looked back.
Behind him, polesitter John Marshall Pursley faded after the green flag, allowing Trent Ivey to move into second. The rest of the field went three wide, lap after lap, to settle the other positions.
Herbert’s stout pace was slowed when Braxton Faucett slowed on Lap 9, and the field was brought to his back bumper.
Ivey didn’t waste his opportunity to pounce on Herbert on the restart, diving underneath him going into Turn 1. However, Herbert was able to find the grip he needed through Turn 2 to pull ahead down the backstretch.
Ivey went from looking at the lead to fading to third after Chase Blackwell was able to take advantage of Ivey’s failed attempt and dart by him for second.
Blackwell had nothing for Herbert, though. The No. 611 set sail and pulled away to a 1.4-second lead.
“It’s a rocket ship right now,” Herbert said about his ride. “We got the right things on it, and I was able to do my job. My crew provided me a great, great race car. I have to thank Logan, Colby, and my dad. Cody Overton has been helping us this week. Bubba Roling. Everyone that has a hand on his. They made this thing really fast.”
The finish:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 611-Koulten Herbert[2]; 2. 6-Chase Blackwell[3]; 3. 28I-Trent Ivey[4]; 4. 21-Mario Gresham[9]; 5. 27-Tim Ryan[13]; 6. 11R-Hunter Robbins[7]; 7. 67-Logan Bradford[17]; 8. 51-Mack McCarter[10]; 9. 01-Ben Lanford[5]; 10. 17J-Griffin Jones[8]; 11. 53-Brandon Yates[14]; 12. 17B-Timmy Blackwell[6]; 13. 9-John Marshall Pursley[1]; 14. 111-Brennen Shirley[18]; 15. 88-Dustin Rollins[12]; 16. 23H-Kade Hunkapiller[19]; 17. 11S-Brad Kinchen[11]; 18. 86-Kody Jett[16]; 19. B17-Braxton Faucett[15]
602 Late Model Feature No. 3
Richard “Richie” Stephens came all the way from Arizona to try and score a win at the famed Volusia Speedway Park, but the field in prelim feature three didn’t make it easy on him.
He started on the pole in the 15-lap feature and had a clean launch ahead of the 19 cars behind him when the green flag flew for the first time. But he didn’t make it far around the half-mile until the race was slowed by a caution.
The trend continued the next couple of restarts, hindering Stephens from finding a rhythm.
When the race went caution-free for a handful of laps, Stephens started to build some momentum and pull away from second-place Matthew Kade. However, another caution flew on Lap 5, group everyone together again.
On the restart, Stephens pulled ahead again, while Wyatt Coffey got the jump on Kade to move into second. Behind them, Austin Leamon was on a march, up to fourth from 14th.
The field saw the yellow again on Lap 7 after a couple of cars tangled. When the race resumed, the green flag was shown to the 602 Late Models for the final time of the night.
Stephens continued to lead the field, followed by Coffey in second and then Leamon, who snuck into third on the restart. The top three remained that way to the Lap 11 caution, which ended the feature due to reaching the race’s time limit.
“I was just trying to survive man,” Stephens said. “I was trying to get a good rhythm. Trying to make everything happen and get going there. Tires get some heat in them and get going, and then the caution would come out.
“To be honest, we put everything on this car to test for the (Saturday) Feature tonight. We was better, but we have a long way to go to get better, though.”
The finish:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 00-Richard Stephens[1]; 2. 2-Wyatt Coffey[3]; 3. 28-Austin Leamon[14]; 4. 131-Matt Herlong[7]; 5. 7K-Matthew Kade[2]; 6. 1J-Jason Papp[5]; 7. T9-Brodie Thompson[13]; 8. 20-Kody Cook[8]; 9. 25-Brandon Lunsford[16]; 10. 11-Bart Studdard[6]; 11. 13-Devin Rooks[9]; 12. 14T-Tristen Kichen[11]; 13. (DNF) 1A-David Showers Sr[15]; 14. (DNF) 8-Zack Owens[12]; 15. (DNF) 10-Karli Bennett[4]; 16. (DNF) 51H-Tim Holston[10]; 17. (DNF) F17-Johnny Faucett[17]; 18. (DNF) 21M-Mayson Mossow[18]; 19. (DNF) 1-Hania Humphries[19]; 20. (DNF) 19-Sam Oakley[20]
