OCALA, Fla. — Hudson O’Neal passed racelong leader Kyle Bronson on lap 14 and never looked back, capturing Thursday night’s Wieland Winter Nationals feature for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing at Ocala Speedway.
O’Neal, who started ninth, earned $10,000 for his second career victory at Ocala. Devin Moran finished second, followed by Bronson, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Tim McCreadie.
Despite a late-race caution with three laps remaining, O’Neal maintained control and crossed the finish line 0.924 seconds ahead of Moran.
The win marked O’Neal’s 36th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory and his sixth overall triumph of the season – a total that leads the nation. With the win, he also takes over the series points lead heading into Friday night’s $12,000-to-win main event.
“It got latched up pretty early, and I was a little nervous,” said the Martinsville, Indiana native. “I was trying to use the right front and not the right rear, keeping the right rear underneath me. I wanted to make sure I didn’t have a flat, especially as hard as I was going to have to run after that last caution to get away from them. It’s pretty awesome to get one here in the middle of the week. Hopefully, this is what’s to come for the rest of the week.
“It’s been a really good year so far, and I am very blessed in that aspect of life.”
Moran, the defending series champion, came home second after starting seventh.
“I was just holding on. I didn’t have much tire left,” Moran said. “Like I said last night, it doesn’t matter what the track conditions are here at Ocala — I love coming here. In three nights, I’ve got three podiums. We just need to work on our early program again. We were good early in the week, but we kind of made the wrong calls the last night or two. We’ll get back to our notebook and figure out what we can do the rest of the week.”
Bronson, who led the opening 13 laps, rounded out the podium despite battling handling issues.
“It’s definitely good to run well. We had a really good race car, but the bumper got knocked off on the left front when I hit the wall on the first lap,” Bronson said. “I think me and JD got tight there — maybe he clipped the right rear quarter panel. I’ll have to watch the video. Hopefully he’s OK. I want to thank my guys for not giving up on me. It’s been a tough road here.”
Wieland Winter Nationals Feature Finish (40 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 9 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $10,000
2 – 7 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $5,500
3 – 1 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $3,500
4 – 10 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $2,700
5 – 21 – 9 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – $2,500
6 – 4 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $2,400
7 – 17 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $2,200
8 – 15 – 99B – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – $2,100
9 – 12 – 22* – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $2,050
10 – 14 – 28 – Dennis Erb Jr – Carpentersville, IL – $2,000
11 – 22 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $1,600
12 – 13 – 9 – Michael Leach – Sun River, MT – $1,400
13 – 24 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $1,200
14 – 19 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $1,000
15 – 20 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $950
16 – 16 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $925
17 – 3 – 3S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $900
18 – 8 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $875
19 – 23 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $850
20 – 26 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – $125
21 – 18 – 19M – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $800
22 – 28 – 79 – Cory Hedgecock – Loudon, TN – $100
23 – 25 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $100
24 – 27 – C4 – Freddie Carpenter – Parkersburg, WV – $100
25 – 6 – 58V – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $800
26 – 5 – 13 – Dallon Murty – Chelsea, IA – $800
27 – 11 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $800
28 – 2 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $900