BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Trynt Lloyd, Ross Bailes, Kyle Hardy and Ty Giles captured Crate Racin’ USA/DIRTcar 604 Late Models features on Thursday’s opening night of the Sunshine Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park.
604 Late Models Feature No. 1
Trynt Lloyd hasn’t missed his footing around Volusia since capturing the 604 Late Model track title in 2025.
The Jacksonville, Fla., native took full control from the drop of the green flag in the opening Pro Late Model by keeping his No. 2L Longhorn Chassis around the bottom of the half-mile track while Hayden Cardwell kept pressure on Lloyd through the 20 laps.
Through the first half of the $1,500-to-win chase, Lloyd stretched his lead to 2.1 seconds over Cardwell by Lap 10. Then, Cardwell began to chop the gap by arcing his No. 17c toward the middle lane of the corner.
While Lloyd kept to the bottom lane, Cardwell found momentum through the new racing line and cut three tenths off each lap. When the reigning champ was given the five-to-go signal, the Knoxville, Tenn., driver was within 0.8 seconds of the lead.
On the final lap, Cardwell was behind Lloyd’s back bumper entering Turn 1. Unlike the 602 Late Model Feature, Cardwell fell short of stealing the win as Lloyd drove to his first career wins in both Crate Racin’ USA Late Models and Sunshine Nationals.
“I’ve been trying to get a Crate Racin’ USA or Sunshine win, either one for a while,” Lloyd said. “I wasn’t where I needed to be right there. I’ve been good here all year, and we just need to find it. I knew that 17 would be good, and I didn’t know exactly how far he was, but I figured he’d be right there, and I guess we just managed to hang onto it.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[2]; 2. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[3]; 3. 8-Josh Henry[6]; 4. 23V-Matt Henderson[4]; 5. 7W-Justin Williams[1]; 6. 22S-Jeremy Steele[10]; 7. 7A-Corey Almond[5]; 8. 16S-Sam Seawright[17]; 9. 25C-Donnie Chappell[19]; 10. 15-Marty Massey[12]; 11. 125-Mark Underwood Jr[16]; 12. 18G-Ricky Greene[8]; 13. 43-Jarrett Edwards[24]; 14. 7T-Tyler Thomason[7]; 15. 17-Austin Storm[14]; 16. 17X-Brett Gray[13]; 17. 23S-Toby Sims[25]; 18. 18I-Jason Intoppa[15]; 19. 19P-Matthew Porter[18]; 20. 22T-Tim Clark[9]; 21. 6B-Hunter Boyd[22]; 22. 4M-Billy Boyd Jr[20]; 23. (DNF) 26B-Adam Bedenbaugh[11]; 24. (DNF) 91A-Matt Adams[23]; 25. (DNF) 3B-Billy Boyd Sr[21]
604 Late Models Feature No. 2
In the first trip back to Volusia in over two years for Ross Bailes, he has not missed a step from the get-go.
The Clover, S.C., driver started the third Feature from pole and took immediate command around the bottom through the first five laps as Pearson Williams, Daulton Wilson, and Wil Herrington kept Bailes in their sights.
As Bailes started to create significant distance on the cars behind him by driving through the middle lane, Wilson became the biggest opponent for the No. 09 as he kept a one-second interval in second place.
While Wilson kept his Big Frog Motorsports Late Model within distance, “Big Perm” was unable to gain extra ground around the half-mile track as Bailes drove to his second win in the event – his first since the 2023 edition of Sunshine Nationals.
“I wanted to get running,” Bailes said. “I’ve only driven this car twice, and at Charlotte, we were really good in Qualifying and didn’t tighten up enough for the feature. I was kinda worried about that tonight, but man, this thing was on a rail. It was really good.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 09-Ross Bailes[1]; 2. C02-Daulton Wilson[5]; 3. 5-Wil Herrington[8]; 4. 18X-Michael Page[15]; 5. 121-Pearson Williams[2]; 6. T99-Mario Gresham[3]; 7. 56-Christian Schneider[6]; 8. 15M-Mason Massey[7]; 9. 8W-Bubba Whitener[10]; 10. 257-Skylar Marlar[11]; 11. 26-Jack Brown[19]; 12. 94-Holden Allen[13]; 13. 24-Austin Bloodworth[9]; 14. 46-Deisel Jones[4]; 15. 44-Kam Boyd[20]; 16. 51-Mack McCarter[18]; 17. 13-Landon Mathews[16]; 18. 17J-John Winge[22]; 19. 07B-Baily Cardwell[21]; 20. 44P-Kole Platt[12]; 21. 36H-James Haynes[26]; 22. 131-Matt Herlong[17]; 23. 07-Ivedent Lloyd[14]; 24. 71C-Davy Cline[23]; 25. 3-Caleb Gay[24]; 26. 14-Cade Brookshire[25]
604 Late Model Feature No. 3
While Bubba Roling led the majority of the third 604 Late Model feature, Kyle Hardy left as the shining driver in victory lane.
Hardy started the 20-lap Feature in 10th as Roling’s No. 515 late model took the lead from the drop of the green flag.
Hardy made ground immediately by moving to eighth by Lap 3, fifth by Lap 7, then reached the podium at Lap 11. While Roling broke away with his pace at the helm, Hardy found himself pacing around the bottom of the track to reel the leader back.
On Lap 16, Hardy made his move by moving below Roling in Turns 1-2. The two drivers stayed side-by-side through Turns 3-4 until Hardy gained enough speed to clear the Capital Race Cars machine across the finish line to take the top spot.
Once Hardy felt the clean air on his No. 99 late model, the Winchester, Va., racer built the distance to Roling by 1.173 seconds as he earned his first Sunshine Nationals trophy.
“I honestly don’t know how we did it,” Hardy said. “I think we beat (Roling) on tires there. I’m glad we were able to be down here and get this car out after we destroyed it last week and rebuilt it. They started sliding out the bottom, and I really made sure I hit the bottom. Once my tires got heated up, this thing was awesome. I could run wide open.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 99-Kyle Hardy[10]; 2. 515-Bubba Roling[1]; 3. 2S-Layton Sullivan[16]; 4. 28W-David Williamson[3]; 5. 85-Corey North[2]; 6. G4-Trent Ivey[11]; 7. 25-Derrick Stewart[14]; 8. 87-Jake Rainey[25]; 9. 00W-Ethan Wilson[9]; 10. 2-Zack Carley[19]; 11. 31S-Tim Swartz[21]; 12. 1*-Mavrick Davidson[12]; 13. 9-Nick Johnson[4]; 14. 12C-Chase Giddens[15]; 15. 66-Jody Knowles[5]; 16. 57-Landen Zakalowski[18]; 17. 2P-Terry Poore[22]; 18. 118-Jared Delk[6]; 19. 18B-Todd Brewster[23]; 20. 4-Kale Green[26]; 21. 33-Gavin Johnson[24]; 22. 18-Josh Vinyard[20]; 23. 44O-Hayden Ownbey[7]; 24. K7-Keaton Smith[8]; 25. 67C-Gregory Carrico[17]; 26. 721-Blake Clouser[13]
604 Late Model Feature No. 4
Ty Giles brought a spark to Cody Overton’s squad when they needed it most by taking his first career Sunshine Nationals victory aboard the Factory 97 late model.
The 18-year-old Georgia native began the Feature by following polesitter Jimmy Thomas and second-place Koulten Herbert, then began to find a rhythm at a car length above the bottom to create extra speed entering the straightaways.
When a restart on Lap 11 brought the field back together, Giles used his line to overtake Harris for second place, then kept his car above 602 Late Model Feature winner Herbert for the lead exiting Turn 4.
Once Giles took the lead, he had to withstand a charge from Harris for the lead as Herbert dropped from the race for mechanical issues. On the final restart, with four laps remaining, Giles defended the lead from Harris to cross the checkered flag to complete Thursday’s racing program.
Before Thursday night, Giles had only seen Volusia as a member of Overton’s World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision crew. He left the night as a winner in his first time racing around the half-mile oval.
“I knew I had to slide Koulten or else I wouldn’t be able to get back by him,” Giles said. “The middle stuff was pretty good, and I just started rolling through the middle, and I’m really out of breath.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 97T-Ty Giles[4]; 2. 6-Clay Harris[8]; 3. 127-Austin Yarbrough[10]; 4. 67-Logan Bradford[6]; 5. 7N-Corey Neil Jr[3]; 6. 30-Curtis Glover[7]; 7. 51KC-Kyle Courtney[27]; 8. 4D-Trey Davis[26]; 9. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[1]; 10. 47-Ryan West[9]; 11. 00R-John Ruggiero Jr[5]; 12. 4F-Rye Faulk[20]; 13. 14AJ-AJ Miller[11]; 14. 96-Mikey Kopka[15]; 15. 28-Austin Leamon[23]; 16. 16G-Austin Gonzalez[13]; 17. 23D-Tim Damron[18]; 18. 14W-Jake Whitehead[21]; 19. 58-Trent McLeod[19]; 20. 7-Slate Jones[16]; 21. 59-Brandon Catto[25]; 22. 1A-David Showers Jr[17]; 23. 32K-Kimber Crooms[22]; 24. 611-Koulten Herbert[2]; 25. 54T-Tuck Trentham[14]; 26. 71-Nevin Gainey[12]; 27. (DNS) 41-Derike Bennett
