LINCOLN, Ill. — Tyler Erb is back in his rhythm with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals late models.
The New Waverly, Texas, driver picked up his second Feature win of the season at Lincoln Speedway in a duel against Jason Feger for the night’s feature win.
Beginning the night at Lincoln with a win in his heat race, Erb rolled off from third place for the feature while Ryan Gustin and Feger led the field to the green flag with Feger claiming the point on the opening lap.
“Terbo” followed Feger’s line to pass Gustin for second place, then rode behind the “High Side Hustler” by consistently maintaining a half-second gap.
As lapped traffic began to play a hand in the second half of the feature, Erb waited for the moment Feger’s lead became vulnerable on the quarter-mile race track.
Erb’s chance for the top spot became available on Lap 26 as Feger lost momentum through Turns 3-4, which led to Erb reaching Feger’s door as the two drivers made contact at the finish line. Erb’s opportunity gave him the lead while Feger pulled off the track on Lap 27 due to the damage sustained.
While the Best Performance Motorsports No. 1 endured the challenges of Gustin and Cade Dillard for the win, Erb drove away to a one-second lead as his 17th career Hell Tour win ties him with Kevin Weaver for 11th on the all-time wins list.
“We’re back in the rhythm,” Erb said. “Jason’s really good here. He’s won (three years in a row), and, when he got crossed up in the cushion there, I was like, ‘Man, don’t hit him, don’t hit him,’ ‘Cause we’re really good buddies. And, I think when I got in it, I just got crooked, and he had a big run. So, it sucks that it did whatever there, but it was a good race.”
Leaving the second week of the Summer Nationals, Gustin earned the Week 2 championship for his first career weekly title with the tour after making his return to the tour for the first time since 2022.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[3]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[4]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[21]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[10]; 7. 75-Dillon McCowan[13]; 8. 60-Dan Ebert[17]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 10. 12-Ashton Winger[20]; 11. 14JR-Trey Mills[18]; 12. 28B-Carson Brown[16]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[14]; 14. 17A-Austin Howes[7]; 15. 38J-Jake Little[12]; 16. 15-Clay Stuckey[19]; 17. 29-Christian Hanger[15]; 18. 5-Mark Whitener[8]; 19. (DNF) 25F-Jason Feger[2]; 20. (DNF) 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 21. (DNF) 09-Michael Leach[22]; 22. (DNF) 49-Jake Timm[11]
