Clay Harris was having a breakout run in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series opener at All-Tech Raceway, but it came to an end when he smacked the wall in the middle of turns 1 and 2 bringing his night to an end.

Harris started the race in fourth, but initially slipped back to fifth, but began moving forward working his way past Justin Weaver and Devin Moran to get into third just three laps into the race. He then tracked down Hudson O’Neal and hounded him for about five laps before he eventually got past him a quarter through the race. However, the two would swap the position the next couple of laps as lap traffic played havoc on Harris. Nevertheless, he finally completed the pass and began to pull away right before the night’s first caution for Chris Madden.

Following a wreck involving Dillon McCowan and Jackson Hise, Brandon Sheppard was able to work his way past both O’Neal and Harris on the restart and even got Brandon Overton down the back stretch. That put Harris to third. He would remain there following cautions for Justin Weaver and debris off of Dan Ebert’s car. 

At the halfway mark, Harris was able to zip around Overton coming off of turn 2 and easily cleared him down the back stretch. He then began making ground on Sheppard running around the top of 1 and 2. Unfortunately, as Sheppard began navigating the back of the field, Harris got into the wall in the middle of turns 1 and 2 and then got sucked into it ending his night. He eventually finished the night in 22nd.

Harris explained what happened in an interview with FloRacing’s Kyle McFadden, “The track was really demanding there. Got up on the wheel. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was trying as hard as hard as I could. Once I got to second and I was riding there. I was pretty good at the bottom of 3 and 4 and really good on the high side in 1 and 2. Couldn’t run the bottom of 1 and 2. I was just driving as hard as I could. I didn’t want to run second. I was trying to run down Sheppard. I think I was there for a little while.”

“I think I was slowly clicking them off there for a little while, but I just got to a point where I missed the corner. I entered like a tire width too low and it just four wheel slid to the wall. I couldn’t get back in the gas fast enough to get it sideways. It was already too tight. I hit it with the right front then the right rear or vice versa.”

As for what kind of damage he sustained, he shared, “And it knocked the steering rack out, the lower spindle, the J-bar. I didn’t get the rear end, thank God. We got it back together almost. It didn’t take us long.”

On Facebook, Harris also shared, “Good speed all night but not exactly the result we wanted…That’s the way this racing goes sometimes. Smacked the wall in turn one and two while running 2nd with a few laps to go. Strong car all night!”

NEXT: Ricky Thornton Jr. Addresses Opening Night Struggles At All-Tech Raceway