A two-year winless drought is tough on anyone, but for Ryan Unzicker, it felt like an eternity.

The El Paso, IL native put that to an end Friday night at Crystal Motor Speedway with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, leading all 40 laps to pick up the $10,000 check and his first Series win since Spoon River Speedway in 2024.

“I’m pumped to be back in Victory Lane; it has been way too long,” Unzicker said. “Momentum is huge; you have to have confidence in racing. We had great momentum up until two weeks ago, and then I decided to park the equipment and regroup. I was scared to have the momentum lost, but we picked right back up where we left off, and just having that little bit of a break felt good.”

The main event kicked off with Unzicker launching to the lead from the pole, leaving outside polesitter Devin Shiels to battle with points leader Tanner English for second.

English took second rolling the bottom in Turns 1 and 2 and then tried to put pressure on Unzicker, but the No. 24 machine was stronger around the middle lane in Turns 3 and 4.

Lap traffic became a factor on Lap 8, giving English an opportunity to chip into Unzicker’s 1.3-second advantage. But a caution one lap later for a spun Mitch McGrath helped put Unzicker back in clean air once the race resumed.

The No. 24 built another impressive lead until lap traffic returned on Lap 21, giving English another opportunity to close. However, Unzicker never allowed him the opportunity. He led every lap to the checkered flag, becoming the third different winner in the Series’ three appearances at the Crystal, MI oval.

He is also now tied with Jeep Van Wormer for 13th on the overall wins list.

“Starting on the front row is a big point of it. Last night, I felt like if we started on the front row, we had a good shot for the win,” Unzicker said. “The track was definitely challenging tonight, and just finding a smooth line was difficult. I feel like my car all year long has been accepting to a little bit of choppy and a little bit of rough, and it just feels really good right now when it’s like that.

“I knew we had a good car; I knew we had a chance, and it’s just one of those deals where you hope you make the right decisions. We put on a hard tire, and a lot of them went on with threes (NLMT tire). I don’t know if that hurt them, but mine felt really good after we fired after five laps.”

English maintained second, extending his Week 5 points lead – currently 50 points ahead of Luke Morey – Frank Heckenast Jr. finished third, Shiels finished fourth, and Morey rounded out the top five.

UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals head to Ohio’s Oakshade Raceway for the Birthday Race on Saturday, July 11.

How can you watch the DIRTcar Summer Nationals if you’re not at the track? Every race is live on DIRTVision.

RESULTS
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 24-Ryan Unzicker[1]; 2. 96-Tanner English[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 4. 51-Devin Shiels[2]; 5. 49-Luke Morey[6]; 6. 4-Travis Stemler[11]; 7. 42-Chad Finley[7]; 8. 16S-Sam Seawright[9]; 9. 6M-Dona Marcoullier[15]; 10. 07-Rylee Knoll[13]; 11. 74-Mitch McGrath[8]; 12. 27-Eric Spangler[12]; 13. 21B-Rich Bell[14]; 14. 18-Brenten Deyoung[18]; 15. 18B-Chase Burda[16]; 16. 30-Mark Voigt[19]; 17. 06-Jake Rendel[22]; 18. 32-Chad Roush[20]; 19. 57V-Mason VanderVeen[17]; 20. M14-Brandon Thirlby[4]; 21. 21N-Logan Nickerson[10]; 22. 41-Mike Vandermark Jr[21]

This article was republished with permission from the Summer Nationals. The original article can be found here: https://dirtcarsummernationals.com/recaps/ryan-unzicker-returns-to-summer-nationals-victory-lane-at-crystal/

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