McCreadie had a solid qualifying run bringing it home in 5th in Group B. That put him in a third place starting spot in Heat 3. He stayed pat and started the feature in 10th. He started working his way forward right from the get go passing Daulton Wilson and Mark Whitener on the start. He had made his way past Brandon Sheppard and Dennis Erb Jr. just a few laps later to get to 6th.
He then got a front row seat to a wild battle between Hudson O’Neal and Bobby Pierce as the two threw sliders at each other. McCreadie was able to take advantage of one thrown by O’Neal that took the air off of Pierce and caused him to get on the binders and he motored on by him on the bottom. He would get McCreadie in short order working underneath him as well to move into 4th on lap 11.
His forward progress would be briefly paused due to a spin for Dustin Sorensen that drew a caution. While all of that was happening, Ryan Gustin was on cruise control had a nearly 3 second lead over second place running Chris Madden who had gapped Overton by over 2 second.
On the ensuing restart, McCreadie found himself in the middle of an amazing battle between himself, Overton, O’Neal, and Pierce. Both O’Neal and Pierce were able to get by him and Overton. However, Pierce slipped through 1 and 2 and slid all the way up the track collecting O’Neal in the middle of the track and putting him into the wall. That allowed McCreadie to get by both of them as well as Overton, who had to take evasive action to avoid Pierce coming back down the track while exiting turn 2.
Unfortunately, those spots would revert back to O’Neal and Pierce due to a caution involving a spin by Brent Larson that also involved Dustin Sorensen and Eli Johnson.
On the next restart, McCreadie stuck to the bottom coming out of turn 2 and drove right past O’Neal, Pierce, and Overton to move into third. By lap 15, he had tracked down Madden and simply drove around him on the bottom down the back stretch a lap later. A few laps later and he was on the rear of leader of Ryan Gustin. On lap 21, he struck with a monster run off of turn 2 and pulled to Gustin’s door as they dove into turn 3. He stayed on the bottom and completed the pass exiting off of 4.
McCreadie went into cruise control mode until a caution flew on lap 34 after Kyle Bronson had a right rear tire explode. While McCreadie was in cruise control, Sheppard tracked down Gustin and the two battled each other as they navigated lap traffic, with Sheppard eventually coming out on top on lap 27.
On the restart following the caution for Bronson, Gustin got a huge run coming out of turn 2 on the top side and kept that momentum heading through 3 and 4 and was able to get past McCreadie to lead the lap. However, McCreadie stayed at his door over the next two laps and went on to lead lap 36. He then expertly slid Gustin in turn 4, which effectively broke his momentum and allowed him to pull away.
There would be one more restart after a caution waved for Mark Whitener. McCreadie got a monster start and never looked back.
In victory lane, McCreadie was ecstatic, “When you’ve raced as long as I have, you want to make sure you get at least one. When you can get it done this early the rest is all cake and ice cream after that. That’s for sure. Hopefully, many, many more.”
“First night we’re off. Practice night was amazing. Testing here was amazing. Off the first night and just kind of went to work,” McCreadie said. “It’s all hard work. This place is different and you’ve got to build a balance. Last night I couldn’t steer on the bottom, couldn’t steer on the bottom even though I was there the whole time. And we worked on that tonight and the track kind of came to us. Felt like I was a sitting duck, but I moved back to the middle and I didn’t hear nobody so it must have been good.”
Brandon Sheppard, who finished second and also won the Sunshine Nationals championship, said, “We had a really fast race car all weekend. We were really contemplating putting a 3 on tonight. And we didn’t because we had been so good around the bottom and been so maneuverable in the race even with a soft tire on. The bottom never quits throwing crumbs on the track. So it never really hurts the tire on our car at least anyway.”
“Just super thankful to have a really good start to my Speedweeks especially after as bad as my Arizona was. I’m pretty embarrassed about that, but all in all we had some bad luck and hopefully we got it out of the wary early, early in January,” Sheppard added. “Now, we’re here and realistically probably could’ve should’ve would’ve been on the podium all three nights here this weekend. So just super happy and thankful where everything is at and how our car is. The boy’s been working really hard and it’s showing.”
Dennis Erb Jr, who finished third told DirtVision’s Ashton Smyth, “It’s really good to start off good here like this. We finished off strong last year, I think. Just everything is clicking pretty good right now. Just keep working hard here and keep this thing up front.”
Official Finishing Order
- Tim McCreadie
- Brandon Sheppard
- Dennis Erb Jr.
- Ryan Gustin
- Drake Troutman
- Bobby Pierce
- Ricky Thornton Jr.
- Brandon Overton
- Nick Hoffman
- Hudson O’Neal
- Chris Madden
- Daulton Wilson
- Tristan Chamberlain
- Donald McIntosh
- Mark Whitener
- Tyler Erb
- Jake Timm
- Dustin Sorensen
- Jordan Koehler
- Logan Zarin
- Kyle Bronson
- Cody Overton
- Trey Mills
- Josh Rice
- Allen Styck
- Eli Johnson
- Brent Larson
After the first three nights, Brandon Sheppard is currently the points leader albeit he has signaled he will race with the Lucas Oil Late Model Series in 2026. Nick Hoffman sits in second with Tim McCreadie just three points behind him in third.
The rest of the top 10 includes Dennis Erb Jr., Bobby Pierce, Tyler Erb, Ryan Gustin, Brandon Overton, Chris Madden, and Hudson O’Neal.
Drake Troutman, Ricky Thornton Jr., Max Blair, Kyle Strickler, and Dale McDowell finish out the top 15.
NEXT: Cory Hedgecock’s Team Reacts To Getting Wrecked By Bobby Pierce “Got Wiped Out By A Pierce Of Crap”
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