Ethan Wilson Scores $10K Crate Racin’ USA’s 604 Winner Shootout Series Win At Sunshine Nationals

Story By: CODY EARLEY / CRATE RACIN’ USA – BARBERSVILLE, FL – Ethan Wilson, from Fayetteville, North Carolina, picked up his first-ever Rogers-Dabbs Performance Parts Crate Racin’ USA Winter Shootout Series win at Volusia Speedway Park on Saturday night. Wilson took home the $10,000 prize after a thrilling battle for the lead, holding off Mark Whitener in the final laps.
Wilson, visibly excited after his victory, shared his thoughts: “I was a little nervous, but I knew I was really good. I had to hit my marks coming to the green and just do my job getting through the corners. The cars are great, this was my first time in this race car, so thanks to Steve Arpin, Matt Langston, and all the guys at Longhorn. That was the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a really long time!”
A packed field of 36 drivers took the green flag for the 30-lap main event on Saturday night at Volusia. The race was filled with action and a series of early cautions. On the opening lap, a major incident occurred when Wyatt Boyd of Lancaster, KY, got sideways coming out of turn four, collecting multiple cars including Chase Giddens and Austin Yarbrough. This brought out the red flag, freezing the field.
After the restart, Hayden Cardwell jumped out to an early lead, but the race was again slowed by a caution on lap 2 when Jamie Maurice slowed at the top of turn four. Cardwell continued to lead after the restart, but his momentum was again interrupted with another caution on lap 12, this time for Boyd’s slowing car on the back straightaway.
The action picked up when Sam Seawright of Fort Payne, AL, took the lead on lap 13, holding off Cardwell for the next several laps. However, the race took another turn on lap 22 when Toby Sims of St. Augustine, FL, slowed off turn four, stacking the field behind him.
As the final laps approached, Seawright remained in the lead, but Wilson and Whitener were closing in fast. Wilson applied constant pressure and, with just nine laps to go, made his move to take the lead from Seawright. Whitener quickly followed suit, moving into second as Wilson pulled away.
A caution with just two laps to go, caused by an engine failure from Hayden Cardwell, set up a final dash to the finish. Wilson, Whitener, and a strong pack of competitors—including Zack Carley, Jake Rainey, Michael Page, and Wil Herrington—raced to the checkered flag, but it was Wilson who held on for his first career Winter Shootout Series win.
In addition to the thrilling victory, the night also saw notable performances, including Will Herrington’s impressive +29 position gain, moving from 35th to 6th, earning him the ATC Bolts & Fasteners Hard Charger Award. Kole Platt set a new track record with a fast time of 16.786 seconds, earning him the STAKT by CV Racing Products Fastest Qualifier honor.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 00-Ethan Wilson[10]; 2. 5-Mark Whitener[13]; 3. 2C-Zack Carley[21]; 4. 28-Jake Rainey[14]; 5. 18X-Michael Page[27]; 6. 86-Wil Herrington[35]; 7. 49-Mario Gresham[22]; 8. 7-Corey Neil Jr[15]; 9. 111-Demetrios Drellos[6]; 10. 99-Kyle Hardy[11]; 11. 16S-Sam Seawright[3]; 12. 31S-Tim Swartz[32]; 13. 126-Kaede Loudy[17]; 14. 16-Caleb Gay[30]; 15. 721-Mikey Kopka[20]; 16. 67S-Garret Stewart[28]; 17. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[33]; 18. 44P-Kole Platt[1]; 19. 52-Cody Karl[29]; 20. 4G-Kale Green[26]; 21. 611-Koulten Herbert[34]; 22. 24-Payton Stevenson[36]; 23. (DNF) 07-Hayden Cardwell[2]; 24. (DNF) 2S-Layton Sullivan[19]; 25. (DNF) 00M-Monte Skinner[31]; 26. (DNF) 6-Dillon Brown[5]; 27. (DNF) 21-Nathan Bray[23]; 28. (DNF) 7T-Tyler Thomason[9]; 29. (DNF) 7J-Dalton Jacobs[4]; 30. (DNF) 35-Christian Augspurger[24]; 31. (DNF) 23-Toby Sims[7]; 32. (DNF) 69-Wyatt Boyd[12]; 33. (DNF) 17C-Jamie Maurice[8]; 34. (DNF) 12C-Chase Giddens[16]; 35. (DNF) 18B-Austin Yarbrough[18]; 36. (DNF) 515-Bubba Roling[25]
Car Count: 69 cars
Lap Leaders:
Sam Seawright-13
Ethan Wilson=9
Hayden Cardwell-8
ATC Bolts & Fasteners – Hard Charger:
Will Herrington (+29) 35th to 6th
STAKT by CV Racing Products – Fastest Qualifier:
#44 Kole Platt – 16.786 (New Track Record)
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 126-Kaede Loudy[2]; 2. 2C-Zack Carley[3]; 3. 515-Bubba Roling[1]; 4. 52-Cody Karl[10]; 5. 39W-Brandon Wells[4]; 6. 57-Landon Zakalowski[13]; 7. 8-Matthew Larson[11]; 8. 131-Matt Herlong[7]; 9. 18I-Jason Intoppa[12]; 10. 1X-Ethan Whitis[14]; 11. (DNF) 86-Wil Herrington[5]; 12. (DNF) 71C-Davy Cline[9]; 13. (DNS) 44-Kam Boyd; 14. (DNS) 2-Trynt Lloyd
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2S-Layton Sullivan[1]; 2. 21-Nathan Bray[2]; 3. 18X-Michael Page[5]; 4. 00M-Monte Skinner[6]; 5. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[4]; 6. 30-Curtis Glover[9]; 7. 119-Joe Belkey[8]; 8. 15-Marty Massey[3]; 9. B2-Brian Booze[11]; 10. 42-Steven Stratton Sr[10]; 11. 87C-Jarrod Carey[7]; 12. 24-Payton Stevenson[12]; 13. 28L-Austin Leamon[13]
Last Chance Showdown 3 (10 Laps): 1. 18B-Austin Yarbrough[1]; 2. 49-Mario Gresham[2]; 3. 4G-Kale Green[3]; 4. 16-Caleb Gay[8]; 5. 7A-Corey Almond[7]; 6. 23M-Beckham Malone[6]; 7. D8-Dustin Linville[12]; 8. 67-Gregory Carrico[4]; 9. 20-Owen Osteen[9]; 10. 14AJ-AJ Miller[13]; 11. 18C-Miles Cook II[11]; 12. 16W-Wesley Scott[5]; 13. 59-Brian Wooldridge[10]
Last Chance Showdown 4 (10 Laps): 1. 721-Mikey Kopka[2]; 2. 35-Christian Augspurger[4]; 3. 67S-Garret Stewart[5]; 4. 31S-Tim Swartz[7]; 5. 19X-Mark Page[9]; 6. 18-David Showers Jr[10]; 7. 3-Luke Bennett[11]; 8. 94-Holden Allen[8]; 9. (DNF) 89-Timmie Harrelson[1]; 10. (DNF) 611-Koulten Herbert[3]; 11. (DNF) 54T-Tuck Trentham[6]; 12. (DNF) 257-Skylar Marlar[12]; 13. (DNS) 17-Rob Pitcher
Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 6-Dillon Brown, 00:16.852[6]; 2. 7J-Dalton Jacobs, 00:16.999[32]; 3. 23-Toby Sims, 00:17.091[30]; 4. 07-Hayden Cardwell, 00:17.132[21]; 5. 28-Jake Rainey, 00:17.141[25]; 6. 7T-Tyler Thomason, 00:17.159[26]; 7. 12C-Chase Giddens, 00:17.171[10]; 8. 7-Corey Neil Jr, 00:17.206[23]; 9. 515-Bubba Roling, 00:17.281[17]; 10. 2S-Layton Sullivan, 00:17.297[7]; 11. 126-Kaede Loudy, 00:17.308[12]; 12. 21-Nathan Bray, 00:17.311[28]; 13. 2C-Zack Carley, 00:17.320[16]; 14. 15-Marty Massey, 00:17.363[15]; 15. 39W-Brandon Wells, 00:17.424[24]; 16. USA1-Jimmy Thomas, 00:17.445[22]; 17. 86-Wil Herrington, 00:17.460[8]; 18. 18X-Michael Page, 00:17.477[1]; 19. 44-Kam Boyd, 00:17.477[13]; 20. 00M-Monte Skinner, 00:17.480[35]; 21. 131-Matt Herlong, 00:17.480[18]; 22. 87C-Jarrod Carey, 00:17.508[29]; 23. 2-Trynt Lloyd, 00:17.524[5]; 24. 119-Joe Belkey, 00:17.538[31]; 25. 71C-Davy Cline, 00:17.560[33]; 26. 30-Curtis Glover, 00:17.595[11]; 27. 52-Cody Karl, 00:17.664[20]; 28. 42-Steven Stratton Sr, 00:17.674[2]; 29. 8-Matthew Larson, 00:17.732[19]; 30. B2-Brian Booze, 00:17.771[9]; 31. 18I-Jason Intoppa, 00:17.780[34]; 32. 24-Payton Stevenson, 00:17.811[27]; 33. 57-Landon Zakalowski, 00:17.898[3]; 34. 28L-Austin Leamon, 00:17.914[14]; 35. 1X-Ethan Whitis, 00:18.612[4]
Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 44P-Kole Platt, 00:16.786[25]; 2. 16S-Sam Seawright, 00:16.815[12]; 3. 17C-Jamie Maurice, 00:16.839[32]; 4. 111-Demetrios Drellos, 00:16.886[22]; 5. 00-Ethan Wilson, 00:16.896[33]; 6. 5-Mark Whitener, 00:16.904[13]; 7. 69-Wyatt Boyd, 00:16.931[30]; 8. 99-Kyle Hardy, 00:16.947[28]; 9. 18B-Austin Yarbrough, 00:16.959[17]; 10. 89-Timmie Harrelson, 00:16.997[4]; 11. 49-Mario Gresham, 00:17.015[27]; 12. 721-Mikey Kopka, 00:17.016[23]; 13. 4G-Kale Green, 00:17.033[29]; 14. 611-Koulten Herbert, 00:17.038[11]; 15. 67-Gregory Carrico, 00:17.042[3]; 16. 35-Christian Augspurger, 00:17.060[31]; 17. 16W-Wesley Scott, 00:17.088[21]; 18. 67S-Garret Stewart, 00:17.108[8]; 19. 23M-Beckham Malone, 00:17.114[18]; 20. 54T-Tuck Trentham, 00:17.133[10]; 21. 7A-Corey Almond, 00:17.147[14]; 22. 31S-Tim Swartz, 00:17.160[19]; 23. 16-Caleb Gay, 00:17.197[6]; 24. 94-Holden Allen, 00:17.271[24]; 25. 20-Owen Osteen, 00:17.375[34]; 26. 19X-Mark Page, 00:17.395[9]; 27. 59-Brian Wooldridge, 00:17.456[1]; 28. 18-David Showers Jr, 00:17.508[2]; 29. 18C-Miles Cook II, 00:17.544[15]; 30. 3-Luke Bennett, 00:17.664[16]; 31. D8-Dustin Linville, 00:17.691[26]; 32. (DQ) 257-Skylar Marlar, 00:16.651[20]; 33. (DNS) 17-Rob Pitcher; 34. (DNS) 14AJ-AJ Miller