Story By: NICK GRAZIANO / DIRTCAR – BARBERVILLE, FL – Tim McCreadie captured his second-straight Late Model feature event win & $5,000 in one of the three main events during the final night of DIRTcar Late Models during the 2023 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Wednesday.
Brandon Overton & Chris Madden also claimed victories.
The 52 drivers in the field drew numbers to determine which Feature they would be in. Then, Qualifying and a redraw set the field for each.
Overton started the night by setting Quick Time for Feature #1 and McCreadie set Quick Time for Feature #2. There was no change in the starting lineup after the re-draw for both Features. Then, Madden set the quickest lap in Feature #3 but the #4 pill was drawn, inverting the top-four qualifiers.
After picking up his first golden gator trophy of the week Tuesday night, McCreadie tried to pick up where he left off at the start of the second DIRTcar Late Model Feature of the night.
The multi-time national touring series Late Model champion was the first car into Turn 1, but Daulton Wilson had no interest in letting him run away with another win. Running the top lane of the track, Wilson worked his way around McCreadie for the lead off Turn 2 on Lap 2.
Wilson gapped McCreadie’s #39 Longhorn Chassis by a few car lengths before getting caught in lap traffic on Lap 9. While stuck behind Kyle Strickler, McCreadie mastered the bottom lane like he did Tuesday night and snuck under Wilson off Turn 4 to reclaim the lead.
The Watertown, NY driver pulled away from the pack until he found himself having to navigate heavy traffic with five laps to go. That allowed Wilson and third-place Devin Moran to put themselves within striking distance.
However, with Wilson and Moran wagging war for second in the closing laps, McCreadie was able to pull away without a challenge and score his second straight DIRTcar Nationals Feature win of the week, extending his Big Gator championship points lead.
“[Wilson] drove right by me and drove off and I thought, ‘damn,’ we’re going to run second,” McCreadie said. “Lap traffic kind of held him up and allowed me to get by. Then, they held me up and I figured he’d be right there. One lap car got me over the cushion. We were lucky after that.”
Feature 2 Results (20 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 5. 10-Mike Norris[7]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola[6]; 7. 99G-Hunt Gossum[14]; 8. 114-Jordan Koehler[9]; 9. 11-Gordy Gundaker[15]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[11]; 11. 11B-Stacy Boles[5]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[16]; 13. 17SS-Brenden Smith[12]; 14. 8S-Kyle Strickler[17]; 15. 12D-Doug Drown[10]; 16. 25B-Mike Benedum[8]; 17. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[13]