MEDARYVILLE, Ind. — Never give up.
While Curt Spalding dealt with troubles that saw him swap out haulers, and questioned his and son Tyler Spalding’s arrival at Shadyhill Speedway on Tuesday, the driver left with his third career DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals trophy in hand.
Nick Allen and Spalding led the field to the opening green flag, with Allen securing the top spot on the bottom before a multi-car pileup on Lap 2 involved several drivers inside the top-10.
Allen held the lead on the restart, while Spalding stayed glued to his back bumper throughout the first half of the 25-lap feature.
Spalding stayed within striking distance of Allen’s No. 21a, but could not find any room to create an opportunity for a pass around him as third-place runner Tyler Nicely placed heat on Spalding’s No. 5 Lethal Chassis.
A caution with three laps to go gave Spalding one last chance at snagging the win away from Allen. Spalding carried more speed into the restart than Allen, as the two went side-by-side for the lead.
Spalding slid under Allen through Turns 1-2 to take the race lead while Allen lost a right rear tire that took him out of the feature.
Spalding nailed the restart over Nicely by jumping out to a one-second lead as he scored his first Summit Modified Nationals win of 2025 at the Indiana race track, and his first since Fairbury Speedway in 2021.
“Well, I was pretty frustrated,” Spalding said. “The first couple of restarts, I had Nick (Allen) beat. But, that’s what you call never giving up. I just kept dialing breaks, and that was my only shot, right? He knew I wasn’t gonna go in there and blast him out or anything like that. We just dragged race down in there, and we got it done.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 5CS-Curt Spalding[2]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[3]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville[4]; 4. 4-Michael Ledford[6]; 5. 7-Brad Deyoung[8]; 6. 27-Beau DeYoung[10]; 7. 28M-Frank Marshall[15]; 8. 9R-Garrett Rons[20]; 9. 28-Mason Lobb[17]; 10. 757-Bradley Jameson[9]; 11. 25B-Greg Belyea[14]; 12. 51T-Tim Walter[21]; 13. (DNF) 21A-Nick Allen[1]; 14. (DNF) 23B-Ethan Boomsma[13]; 15. (DNF) 1TS-Tyler Spalding[5]; 16. (DNF) 14-Dalton Lane[22]; 17. (DNF) 0-Garrett Jameson[7]; 18. (DNF) 75-Daniel Adam[11]; 19. (DNF) 15-Chris Kittle[12]; 20. (DNF) 25S-Jake Straka[16]; 21. (DNF) 35-David Stremme[18]; 22. (DNS) 45H-Chase Holland
