CLERMONT, Ind. – After losing a supermodified win at Lucas Oil Raceway last fall due to a fuel issue, Mike McVetta wasn’t going to be denied twice.
McVetta rallied from mechanical troubles during his heat race to win Saturday’s Midwest Supermodified Series feature at Lucas Oil Raceway, part of the inaugural Indy Summer Nationals.
The Ohio native came from ninth on the grid to pass race-long A.J. Lesiecki on lap six of the 30-lap main. He then drove off the reservation in the second half, taking a 6.92-second victory over Trent Stephens.
Aided by a lap-three red flag for oil cleanup, McVetta found himself second from ninth in just four laps around the .686-mile oval. Once he got to the race lead, there was no looking back, he noted.
“It feels good to make up for the driver error we had here last time,” said McVetta, who forgot to switch to his secondary fuel tank during the Fall Brawl in 2019 and lost a win as a result. “Man, this is cool. I’ve never won on Father’s Day weekend, so to get one for my dad really means a lot to me.
“I tell you, this crew give me such an unbelievable car,” McVetta added. “I don’t know how that car drove so good; it was still bent up from my heat race. It was bad fast, it has been bad fast since we unloaded yesterday. The guys just gave me such a great car. I just can’t thank them enough. We just busted up the A arms and right front spindle in that heat race when we got into a little squabble.
“We only had enough parts to fix one A arm, so the other is still bent up. But it turned pretty good.”
Stephens took second from Lesiecki on lap 21 and chased McVetta to the finish. Bobby Santos III, doing double duty in sprint cars and supermodifieds on the day, took third over Lesiecki and Danny Shirey.
The finish:
1. 22-Mike McVetta, 2. 19-Trent Stephens, 3. 1-Bobby Santos III, 4. 88-A.J. Lesiecki, 5. Danny Shirey, 6. 55-Rich Reid, 7. 30-Talon Stephens, 8. 64-Jim Paller, 9. 0z-Cord Ehrhart, 10. 7-Otto Sitterly, 11. 92-Larry Lehnert.