BARBERVILLE, Fla. — After being held out of victory lane for six years at Volusia Speedway Park, Larry Wight found his way back to the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals stage Saturday night.
The Phoenix, N.Y., driver took the lead from Stewart Friesen on a Lap-26 restart and never looked back to earn his fifth DIRTcar Nationals win, and first since Valentine’s Day in 2020.
“It definitely feels like it’s been a while,” Wight said. “We’ve been close a couple of times since (2020). We finally just had to get back to our old notes and old package. It was kind of one of those things that we went back to square one on the car.”
Peter Britten, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner, led the field to the green in the 50-lap, $7,500-to-win feature. However, his lead only lasted through Turn 1, as Britten’s No. 21a pushed up the track, forcing him to lose six positions by the time he reached the backstretch.
Britten’s misfortune gave the lead to Justin Stone, who moved ahead of Stewart Friesen as they entered Turn 3. The Middlebury, Vt., driver held the lead through the first 15 laps, holding off Friesen on three consecutive restarts until a caution came out for Richard Murtaugh on Lap 18.
When the race resumed, Stone went to the outside lane in Turns 1 and 2, but it left the middle open for Friesen, and the bottom open for Wight.
The three drivers battled three-wide through Turn 2 until Friesen’s momentum carried the No. 44 into the lead as they raced down the backstretch. Unfortunately for Stone, that wasn’t the only position he’d lose, as he jumped the cushion in Turn 3, costing him four positions.
Stone’s miscue gave Wight second and allowed him to set his sights on Friesen, who held the lead for the next seven laps until a caution for Matt Caprara gave Wight an opportunity on a Lap-26 restart.
That was the break that Wight needed. While Friesen took the outside on the restart, Wight used the bottom to his advantage. As the two drivers waged war in Turns 1 and 2, Wight slid in front of Friesen’s nose in the middle of the corner to take the lead away as they battled down the backstretch.
Despite three more cautions, Wight went back to the “Larry Lane” on the top of the racetrack and drove away to earn his 13th Super DIRTcar Series win, breaking a tie with Frank Cozze for 22nd on the series all-time wins list.
“We didn’t even touch the car,” Wight said. “It was the same car from Hot Laps to the Feature. Earlier in the night, we were probably a little underpowered. This isn’t our big killer motor; it’s our old faithful motor. We just had to let the track come to us and let those guys figure out how to run, and I had to go somewhere else.
“I could hit the bottom. I could hit the cushion and cut across. It just went anywhere I needed it to, and it was just a balanced, neutral car.”
Friesen settled for second, giving him a win and a second at Volusia this week, along with a 10th-place finish on Friday in NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series action at Daytona International Speedway.
Mat Williamson crossed the line third, enough to clinch his third Big Gator trophy in the last four years, tying Wight for the most all-time.
“This one means a lot more because there was four full nights of racing,” Williamson said. “The last one, everyone was jaw-jacking me, saying we weren’t going to win it if we didn’t race on Saturday night.
“It’s huge momentum-wise. Obviously, everyone in this trailer wanted to win tonight. The draw hurt us a little bit, and how the race played out, it was a little difficult. To leave here with two wins and a championship is obviously huge for our team. I think it was probably May before we won a race last year, so we’re a few months ahead of that, and hopefully we bang out a few more before that this year.”
The Big Gator trophy wasn’t the only accolade Williamson earned on Saturday. He also broke Jamie Mills’ 11-year-old track record at Volusia Speedway Park, laying down a 16.695-second lap.
“The track record means a lot,” Williamson said. “I was sitting in the stands for the first time all week, and Jamie Mills came down and sat next to me. He slapped me on the leg and said you bastard. That was a cool moment. I was happy to talk to him tonight because he was the previous record holder, and we don’t have many track records.”
Matt Sheppard crossed the line in fourth, and Felix Roy rounded out the top five after starting 21st.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight[6]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[3]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[8]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 5. 91-Felix Roy[21]; 6. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[4]; 7. 2-Jack Lehner[20]; 8. 16-Louden Reimert[7]; 9. 25-Erick Rudolph[13]; 10. 15X-Justin Stone[2]; 11. 6-Matt Stangle[9]; 12. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[12]; 13. 12-Darren Smith[11]; 14. 30-HJ Bunting[14]; 15. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[27]; 16. 33-Eddie Strada[17]; 17. 18V-Bobby Varin[15]; 18. 28-Michael Trautschold[19]; 19. 61L-Donovan Lussier[26]; 20. 22M-Richard Murtaugh[18]; 21. 165-Rex King Jr[22]; 22. (DNF) 70A-Alex Payne[16]; 23. (DNF) 3-Justin Haers[10]; 24. (DNF) 11-Matt Caprara[28]; 25. (DNF) 21A-Peter Britten[1]; 26. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[29]; 27. (DNF) 20-Rick Laubach[23]; 28. (DNF) 10C-Danny Creeden[25]; 29. (DNF) 58-Mike Gular[24]
