RPW Exclusive: Perrego Flirted With The Cushion All Night At Volusia Wednesday & Comes Up Second

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – BARBERVILLE, FL – On any dirt track, a driver can love the cushion, or absolutely hate it. Sometimes you live by it, and sometimes you’ll die by it.

In both instances, you could say that applied to Anthony Perrego Wednesday during night one of Super DIRTcar Series action for the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park.

Early on in the feature, Perrego was able to make moves and, due to leader Matt Sheppard’s misfortune with the turn two cushion (falling back to seventh), grabbed the top spot.

He then went to the bottom and was passed by Demetrios Drellos who grabbed the lead away by running the outside line.

Perrego settled in to second, looking for an opportunity to get back by the #111, and would get that chance when Drellos slowed to bring out a caution on lap nine.

At that point, Perrego began to run the outside as well and it appeared as if the driver of the Keizer Aluminum Wheels #4* may be on his way to a victory in the opener.

That was, however, until Anthony hopped the cushion in turns three and four just after the halfway mark. He held on to the lead but then began to search around the race track to see if the bottom might be better once again, but you could see that he was a tad hesitant to jump the cushion another time.

Perrego was able to fend off a serious challenge from Erick Rudolph and hold onto the top spot until the weaning laps of the feature. That’s when Sheppard regained his composure and drove back by and ultimately to victory lane for the 500th time in his career.

Rudolph would work his way around Perrego for the runner-up spot and, while only briefly, so did Jimmy Phelps for third. However, both of those drivers were more comfortable on the lower lane so Perrego went back to the outside.

By the end of the feature event, the #4* Bicknell had returned the favor to both Phelps and Rudolph, regaining the second position.

How difficult was it to run the cushion on Wednesday night?

“It was pretty treacherous down in turns three and four,” Perrego said. “You kind of would get stuck in it and not be able to get out.”

When Perrego hopped the cushion just passed the halfway mark, he thought for sure his chances of winning were going to be over.

“I must have had a pretty decent lead at that point,” he said. “I thought for sure I was going to get freight-trained when I hopped the cushion.”

Perrego believed it was his night on Wednesday at Volusia. Even with his customary smile, you could see the dejection that he wasn’t standing in victory lane.

“It’s kind of disappointing to be that good that early,” he said. “I think everyone was struggling with the same kind of problem where you just couldn’t steer. You’d get out of the groove and were just stuck in no-man’s land.”

Third place finisher Erick Rudolph was quick all feature long and drove his #25 from tenth starting spot to a fine podium finish.

At one point, the Ransomville, NY driver got to the runner-up spot. It seemed like Rudolph was able to put his car wherever he wanted to make moves as he drove to the front.

“It seemed like when I had to run the top, I could run the top, especially down in turns three and four,” Rudolph said. “In turns one and two, we could go all over. I had a very versatile car tonight.”

Advancing seven positions on a tricky Volusia surface has Rudolph excited early on in his 2024 DIRTcar Nationals bid.

“I’m really happy with how the first night went,” he said. “We’ve now got something to build off of and I don’t suspect the track to be too much different the next couple of days.”

After choosing to go to a backup Halmar #44 after placing fifth in his heat race, Stewart Friesen drove from the tail (26th starting spot) of the main event field to place ninth in the running order.

Friesen was able to utilize some late race traffic to gain positions and show that making the change was the right move. One has to wonder if the Sprakers, NY driver might have been contending for the win if not starting so far back.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, a driver who looked like he might be on his way to a victory at Volusia was Demetrios Drellos.

Drellos made the redraw and fired from third in the 30-lap main event. He was able to grab the lead, as stated, from Perrego on lap four and was turning some amazing laps.

Unfortunately, we’ll never know if he could have held on as the negative terminal unscrewed from the battery in his machine and the #111 lost all power.

Drellos was credited with 27th at the finish.