Hudson O’Neal held off a late charging Terbo Tyler Erb to win the second night of the DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park with the World of Outlaws Late Model Dirt Series.

O’Neal had a strong night to start. He qualified fourth in Group A and then went on to win his Heat race. He drew a 2 in the redraw and was able to start on the front row. He took advantage of it and was able to work his way around Brandon Overton on the first lap to claim the lead.

For nearly the rest of the race he was unchallenged. He did see his lead fall under a second when he started to get into lap traffic around lap 11. But he never even saw a nose from the raging battle for second between Chris Madden, Brandon Overton, and Brandon Sheppard. That battle would be cut short as Madden suffered some kind of mechanical issue on lap 19.

On the ensuing restart, O’Neal continued to pace the field, but some shuffling happened behind him with Brandon Overton falling back into sixth while Brandon Sheppard took second and Tyler Erb moved into third.

The field would be restacked again on lap 23 following a spin involving Jordan Koehler. Terbo tried to spook Huddy with a slide job through turns 1 and 2, but O’Neal got a good run across the top and began to gap Terbo, who claimed second from Sheppard.

Again, they would be slowed on lap 29. This time for Ricky Thornton Jr., who parked his car in the pits after he had faded from sixth to around 17th. 

On the final restart, O’Neal did what he had done the previous ones and shot out to gap Terbo and Tim McCreadie, who was able to snag third from Sheppard. However, on the final two laps, O’Neal got a little high in 1 and 2 and allowed Terbo to close. On the last lap, he got over the cushion and lost his momentum, which allowed Terbo to get by him for a second, but he was able to get a huge run down the back stretch and cleared him heading into 3 and 4. Terbo tried to make a move around the top, but O’Neal fended it off with a late slider and took home the checkers.

In victory lane, Hudson O’Neal admitted, “I about gave it away down here getting into 1. I got a little bit too high, got my left rear in the rough and it kinda jumped my right front up. Whenever I seen him leaving 2 I said, ‘Oh no!’ I knew I got a better run than him and I just tried my best not to miss the bottom. I wasn’t for sure where he was at.”

“This race track raced all over it,” he added. “I was really surprised whenever we took the green that we were able to roll down the middle as good as we were there, and then migrated to the bottom. Felt like it was moving everywhere and it was hard to keep up with. When races are like that they’re really, really fun. And it’s ever challenging.”

Terbo, who finished second, said, “It was getting hard to run the top of 1 and 2 and the beginning of the race he was running it so good and I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to wreck doing that.’ In 3 and 4 I kinda found a good line kinda following Madden and seeing what he’s doing. In hindsight I should have moved down when I slid Sheppy and all them. I should have kept trying to run the bottom of 1 and 2, but it was a good night. Last night was a good night after the heat. Everything’s going good. We’re feeling good. Got a great team.”

Tim McCreadie, who finished third after starting in 11th, assessed his race, “I just kind of got myself stuck in the infield there. Basically, I started there and there was always somebody out there and I just couldn’t clear them to be able to make a move. Finally, they got a little bit jammed up. The restart before I went on the outside, and I thought, ‘Oh! There’s something here.’ But I diamonded it, and got back down. And this time, I thought, ‘Well-.’ And I felt so much more balanced once I got out of the infield. And it was fun.”

Official Finishing Order

1. Hudson O’Neal
2. Tyler Erb
3. Tim McCreadie
4. Brandon Sheppard
5. Nick Hoffman
6. Max Blair
7. Kyle Strickler
8. Dale McDowell
9. Ryan Gustin
10. Bobby Pierce
11. Drake Troutman
12. Cody Overton
13. Brandon Overton
14. Dennis Erb Jr.
15. Tristan Chamberlain
16. Ethan Dotson
17. Josh Rice
18. Logan Zarin
19. Daulton Wilson
20. Jake Timm
21. Brent Larson
22. Trey Mills
23. Jordan Koehler
24. Blair Nothdurft
25. Dustin Sorensen
26. Ricky Thornton Jr.
27. Chris Madden
28. Eli Johnson

NEXT: Cory Hedgecock’s Team Reacts To Getting Wrecked By Bobby Pierce “Got Wiped Out By A Pierce Of Crap”