Night #4 of the 50th DIRTcar Nationals was all about appreciation for each and every one of the 96 UMP Modified drivers signed-in for competition; everyone got to form-up in the four-wide salute to the fans and race a 15-lap Feature for $700-to-win and a chance to stand in Victory Lane, front and center on the DIRTVision cameras.
Each race was lined up by the overall event points standings going into the evening, inverting both the top-10 starters in each race and the order the Features ran in. When all was said and done, four brand-new faces and one repeat winner from last year stood in Victory Lane, collecting their Volusia Gator trophies as DIRTcar Nationals Feature victors.
Feature #1 – David Reutimann
David Reutimann’s first DIRTcar Nationals victory came on Friday last year in the quad-Feature night, setting the stage for his second act as Friday night’s only repeat winner of the five Features contested.
“We’re not in the race we need to be in, but it’s a far cry from dropping out nine laps into the Feature because we were terrible last night,” Reutimann said in Victory Lane. “Track’s a little bit different; they’ve done a great job. Track’s got a little moisture in it, so it was fun.”
Reutimann started 15th on the grid and advanced through the field rapidly, using the wrecks and restarts to his advantage to gain his first chunks of position. By Lap 3, he had already cracked the top-five and was hot on the trail of the leaders.
Reutimann finally reached the back of leader Taylor Cook as they got the two-to-go signal, and that’s when he pulled the trigger. A great run down the backstretch set Reutimann up for the pass on the high side coming out of Turn 4, which he executed perfectly to take the lead and the eventual win for his second career Volusia Gator trophy.
Crossing the stripe third was none other than the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, making his DIRTcar Nationals debut in a UMP Modified. Starting dead-last 19th place on the grid, Logano avoided multiple wrecks in front of him and made several clean passes under green-flag conditions to grab the final podium spot in what was a very impressive first competitive start in a UMP Modified.
“I only got one gear, and it was to go,” Logano told DIRTVision pit reporter Chase Raudman in his post-race interview. “It was a good time, I finished third, that’s great, and learned a little bit. Got a little bit of damage to fix, and we’ll come back at it tomorrow night.”
DIRTcar Feature #1 (15 Laps) 1. OOD-David Reutimann [15]; 2. 21-Taylor Cook [1]; 3. 15L-Joey Logano [19]; 4. OO-Buzzie Reutimann [17]; 5. 11-Jesse Rupe [2]; 6. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt [18]; 7. 25P-Robert Poole [6]; 8. 62E-Kim Edington [8]; 9. 22J-John Baker [3]; 10. O2-Chris Cook [11]; 11. 89W-Rick Weitekamp [5]; 12. 4-Craig Shaw [13]; 13. 40-Shawn Reiss [16]; 14. 88B-Chris Bolyard [9]; 15. 27C-Billy Cevaal [12]; 16. M41-Steve Maisel [7]; 17. 27G-Jason Garver [4]; 18. 27-Tom Wakefield [10]; 19. 7F-Bryan Foy [14]
Courtesy of Speed51
