MILTON, Fla. — Dale Howard continued his mastery of Southern Raceway with his second straight United Sprint Car Series Presented By Hoosier Racing Tire win on Saturday night in the 30-lap Battle At The Beach Finale, Round 5 of the USCS Winter Heat Series.
Dating back to Feb. 15, Howard has led 60 straight laps of USCS competition at Southern Raceway.
Howard held off a hard charging Davie Franek in lapped traffic to take the win. In looking for his second USCS win at Southern Raceway in eight days, Franek, who won on February 14, had to settle for second with Mark Smith finishing third. Matt Covington took the fourth spot and Chris Martin was fifth.
“I knew Davie was there late in the race and the lapped cars were tough to get around,” Howard said.
“You had to catch them just right to get around without slowing down to their speed. Davie is a tough competitor and I’m glad he raced me clean.”
The two straight wins, combined with a string of top five finishes to copen the 2025 USCS National Tour, brought a big smile to Howard’s face, as he looked at the big picture in a first-time run for the USCS National Championship. Howard said the best may be yet to come.
“We’re running for the USCS National Championship for the first time this season, and we’re off to a good start,” Howard said. “I’m looking forward to going to Hattiesburg Speedway next weekend, as that’s one of my favorite tracks.”
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee and 2021 USCS National champion Danny Smith finished sixth and Jason Martin took the seventh spot. Lance Moss drove to an eighth-place finish and Lane Whittington started 13th and came back from an early race caution flag to finish ninth and earn the Wilwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger of the Race Award. Corbin Gurley rounded out the top 10.
In preliminary action, Howard won the six-lap Hoosier Racing Tire Speed Dash to earn the Pole Position for the Feature Race. The three eight-lap Heat Races were won by Covington in the Engler Machine & Tool First Heat, Moss in the Butlerbuilt Second Heat and Mark Smith in the Schoenfeld Headers Third Heat.
At the start of the race, before the 20 drivers from 13 different states and one province of Canada could complete one lap, Covington stalled on the front straightaway to bring out the caution flag. The complete restart saw Howard take the lead followed by Franek, Danny Smith, Mark Smith and Covington.
Mark Smith passed Danny Smith for the third spot on lap two with an inside move coming off the second turn. Covington passed Danny Smith for fourth on lap eight. The second of three caution flags in the race came out on lap nine when Shelby Kelly stalled on the front straightaway.
Howard led Franek, Mark Smith, Covington and Danny Smith down for the restart. Chris Martin moved up to the top five on lap 14, getting by Danny Smith. The final caution flag of the race came out on lap 18 for debris on the backstretch. By lap 22, Howard caught lapped traffic and Franek closed in on the leader.
Franek closed to within a car length with two laps to go as the lead duo closed in on the lapped car of National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee and 16-time USCS National Champion Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN. Howard worked to the inside of Gray in turn three on lap 29 to give himself a little breathing room.
Franek got a run coming off the fourth turn on the last lap, but Howard was able to hang on for a .259 second margin of victory going under the checkered flag to complete the 30-lap distance in 14 minutes and 15.898 seconds.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 47-Dale Howard[1]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek[4]; 3. 43-Mark Smith[3]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 44-Chris Martin[7]; 6. 4-Danny Smith[2]; 7. 36-Jason Martin[10]; 8. 23-Lance Moss[5]; 9. 9-Lane Whittington[13]; 10. 12-Corbin Gurley[11]; 11. 13V-Van Gurley Jr[9]; 12. 77T-Tyeller Powless[15]; 13. 10-Terry Gray[16]; 14. 16G-Austyn Gossel[8]; 15. 28-Jeff Willingham[14]; 16. 51-Shelby Kelly[12]; 17. (DNF) 77-Kyle Mabry[17]; 18. (DNS) 94-Steve Diamond Jr; 19. (DNS) 21-Butch David; 20. (DNS) 57-John Robicheaux
