PEVELY, Mo. — Treb Jacoby joked he was closing in on Nick Hoffman’s nearly 70-win record with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals after scoring his second Hell Tour win Friday night. Twenty-four hours later, he took another step closer.
“That was fun!” Jacoby belted out after parking his car in victory lane at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park for the second straight night during the World of Outlaws St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff.
He went toe-to-toe with World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision star Ethan Dotson and outdueled the likes of Kenny Wallace and Chase Holland to pick up his third Hell Tour win in seven and another win at his home track.
The O’Fallon, Mo., driver started third in the 25-lap feature but didn’t stay there long. Ethan Dotson ran away with the lead on the opening lap and brought Jacoby with him.
While Dotson cruised around the bottom, Jacoby navigated the aggressive character of the top lane and kept Dotson within reach. By Lap 5, he was close enough to push Dotson down the backstretch and used that proximity to dive under him going into Turn 1.
The two crossed lanes in the middle of the corner, with Jacoby drifting to the top while Dotson cranked his car back down the track to build momentum off Turn 2 and drive away from Jacoby down the backstretch.
Seeing the benefits the top lane provided for Jacoby, Dotson made that his new course around the top of the third-mile dirt track. He used it to his advantage, pulling ahead by over a second.
However, Dotson’s hopes of a victory were dashed when he hit a rut going into Turn 1, causing the rear of his car to bounce violently multiple times. When his car finally came to a rest, it had suffered too much suspension damage from the bounces to continue.
That put Jacoby in the lead with 16 laps remaining.
A couple of cautions brought the field back to Jacoby’s rear bumper, placing Wallace and Holland as his new challengers. But neither could keep up with him on the restarts as Jacoby ended the race with a more than 2.5-second lead over Wallace.
“I had an idea; I think I showed Ethan Dotson a little too early my cards. He stepped it up a notch, and I’m not going to lie, I said in my car, ‘Let’s get after it, Ethan, let’s race!” Jacoby said. “He got a little high over there, and it took him out. I was looking forward to [racing him]. I was going to drop my balls down a little lower every lap to run with him.
“But we finally found a line that was smooth under yellow. They had us navigating the tow truck and we were packing the racetrack in in the line I chose to run. So, I was kind of being defensive at the same time, trying to keep anybody from sliding me. I’m wore out. I don’t know what to say. I’m speechless. We finally won a Hell Tour race from outside of the front row.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. J82-Treb Jacoby[3]; 2. 36-Kenny Wallace[4]; 3. 51-Timmy Hill[7]; 4. 22-Josh Harris[9]; 5. 13-Charlie Mefford[8]; 6. 66-Cole Falloway[12]; 7. 28-Tom Smallwood[17]; 8. 98-Joshua Hawkins[11]; 9. 70-Josh Russell[24]; 10. 8A-Austin Holcombe[10]; 11. 10X-Jim Black[18]; 12. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[22]; 13. 75-Daniel Adam[13]; 14. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[15]; 15. 66W-Adam Wright[14]; 16. 94-Austin Rettig[26]; 17. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[19]; 18. 45S-Chandler Smith[23]; 19. 45H-Chase Holland[6]; 20. (DNF) 777-Trevor Neville[5]; 21. (DNF) 4G-Paul Schrempf Jr[21]; 22. (DNF) 5-Ethan Dotson[1]; 23. (DNF) 21-Randy Dickman[27]; 24. (DNF) 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[16]; 25. (DNF) 14-CJ Springer[20]; 26. (DNF) 14C-Rick Conoyer[2]; 27. (DNS) 24H-Mike Harrison; 28. (DNS) 4T-Jake Trebilcock
