Michael Leach notched his first ever super late model win at Volusia Speedway Park on Wednesday night during the DIRTcar Nationals and he was ecstatic.
Leach qualified fourth and was the recipient of an invert that allowed him to start on the pole in the first of three features on the night. Leach took advantage of the opportunity and led every single lap except for the first one and held off Daulton Wilson and Ryan Gustin to capture the checkered flag.
In victory lane, Leach celebrated telling DirtVision’s Ashton Smyth, “This is everything. We’ve had such a bad start to the year. We’ve been busting our asses trying day in and day out. We’re like, ‘Oh, there’s always another day. There’s always another day.’ Well, today’s another day. I’m just so happy.”
“But, honestly, I didn’t know they inverted the top four. And usually I’m pretty calm, cool, and collected. But I was putting more tear offs on after I figured out we’re starting on the pole and I was kind of shaking a little bit. I’m not gonna lie,” he continued. “But this is awesome!”
After thanking his crew and his sponsors, Leach added, “I’m out of breath. I’m a little tight, not going to lie. That was the longest 20 laps of my life!”
Leach echoed those comments in a post-race interview with FloRacing’s Kevin Kovac, “It’s awesome. I’m telling you, I really don’t know what to say. I’m just so happy right now. We’ve been down. Not down in the dumps — like we’re all pretty positive most of the time — but we keep saying, ‘You know, tomorrow’s a new day, tomorrow’s a new day, tomorrow’s a new day.’ Well, a new day finally came.”
Additionally, he shared how he did face some nerves when he found out about the invert, “I’m telling you, actually, I was really nervous when I got told about the invert. But after about 30 seconds I was like, I don’t know I got it in my head-. I started rehearsing my victory lane speech, you know what I mean? I just put it in my head, like, ‘I’m gonna win this race.'”
While Leach shared he wasn’t down in the dumps, he did share that he received a pep talk from Longhorn Chassis Managing Partner Steve Arpin and Head of Engineering Kevin Rumley due to the struggles he’s gone through already this season. Those struggles include not making the show on Monday and Tuesday. He also failed to make features with the World of Outlaws during the Sunshine Nationals back in January. At Screven during The Winter Freeze, he missed the field on the Friday preliminary night as well. While he made the field on Saturday, he only finished 21st. His Wednesday night victory was only the second feature he’s made this year.
“No matter what, Arpin’s always like, ‘We’re gonna be good here. Everything’s fine. You’re okay,” Leach shared. “Like, even yesterday, he could tell I was down [in] the dumps, man. It’s been a tough start to the year. Like, absolutely. And him and Kevin Rumley both yesterday were like, ‘Dude, you gotta chill out a little bit, man. This is hard. This is tough. You know?”
Those pep talks appeared to work as Leach made it clear he’s as determined as ever to get back to victory lane and get even better, “You definitely get your ass kicked a whole lot more than you win. That’s what I would tell everybody — it’s not you win some, you lose some. I say you win some, you lose a lot. That’s the truth, man. Like if you win 10 percent of these Super Late Model races you’re a badass, like as badass as it gets. I don’t think any other sport is like that, if you win 10 percent of the time, you’re one of the best. It’s just so cutthroat and tough, but I’m all in.”
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