Hudson O’Neal of Hope scored his first win for Rocket 1 Racing when the 22-year-old racer went to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series winner’s circle on Thursday during the 47th annual Wieland Winternationals presented by Lucas Oil at East Bay Raceway Park.

Max Blair came home in second to equal his best career LOLMDS finish. Dennis Erb Jr. was third with 12th-place starter Garrett Smith coming home in fourth. Tim McCreadie completed the top five.

O’Neal grabbed the lead at the start of the race with Erb in second, followed by current LOLMDS championship points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. Thornton took second on Lap 3 from Erb. Thornton then ran behind O’Neal until he broke coming off of a Lap 10 restart, ending his night.

Blair, who started fifth, then moved into second place after Thornton left the race. Blair then kept pace with O’Neal until the final lap when he closed the gap, ending up just .363 seconds behind his fellow third-generation racer at the checkers.

O’Neal, in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 19th time in career and for the third time in his career at East Bay Raceway Park, breathed a sigh of relief to get his first win of 2023 for his new team.

“I can’t begin to talk about it,” he said. “The worst part is that I know we have had it in us the whole trip and just little things just don’t fall our way. I was able to get the lead from the jump there, and I knew it was the best place I could possibly be with the way the racetrack was moving around. It’s just better to be up front. I knew if I could just maintain a gap and get ahead of them before I caught lapped traffic. With those lapped cars, it was tense. I kept waiting for someone to blast around the outside.”

Gustin notches first Lucas Oil win

For the second night in a row, a new winner emerged with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series when Ryan Gustin picked up his first career series win. The 32-year-old Iowa native scored the win in the 47th annual Wieland Winternationals presented by Lucas Oil at East Bay Raceway Park on Wednesday.

Gustin’s win followed that of Ashton Winger’s on Tuesday night as first-time winners with the series. Tyler Erb, who won Monday night’s race, finished second, followed by Kyle Bronson, Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport.

Gustin grabbed the lead at the start of the 40-lap race with Bronson and Erb in tow. After a Lap 6 restart from a caution, Gustin still held the point with Erb and Bronson keeping him within their sights. Erb yielded the second spot to Bronson on the eighth lap as Gustin was starting to pull away. A timely caution flew on Lap 15 as Gustin was about to pick up the tail end of the field.

On the restart, Gustin still led Bronson and Erb at the halfway mark of the race as another caution came out with 21 laps scored. The restart saw Bronson slide underneath Gustin for the lead on Lap 22, but exiting Turn 2 on the 23rd lap, Gustin powered back around Bronson on the outside to regain the top spot.

The trio of drivers then caught traffic as Erb gained the second spot on Lap 36. The final caution with two laps to go allowed both Erb and Bronson to have one last shot at Gustin, but he held his line to pick up his first LOLMDS victory.

Gustin’s win enabled him to become the 88th different winner in LOLMDS history and the seventh different winner in nine races thus far in 2023.

“This is awesome,” he said. “Once Kyle got underneath me there, man, I thought I just messed this up. Luckily, we had a good enough car under us to roll through the middle and got back by him. We got to the lapped cars, and I felt like it started to clean up, and those cars were dirtying it up, so I had to get back down to the bottom.

“I just wanted to win this for my guys. They have been working their tails off. The only reason we are standing here tonight is because of them,” he said. “Our car is really, really good when you can roll the middle like that. Just like that B-main the other night, everybody was circling around the bottom, and we were just able to move out and run through there better. I think we have a team that can contend every night. We’ve got a great race car, a great owner and a great crew chief. I am just the lucky one who gets to drive it. I love East Bay.”

Winger gets first Lucas Oil victory

Ashton Winger picked up his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win on Jan. 7 during the 47th annual Wieland Winternationals presented by Lucas Oil at East Bay Raceway Park. With the win, Winger becomes the 87th different driver to win an LOLMDS event in series history.

The 23-year-old Georgia native went to the lead at the start of the 30-lap main event, and just for a brief time when Kyle Bronson got by him in Turn No. 2, he officially led every lap after he got back by Bronson at the scoring loop.

For the second night in a row, Hudson O’Neal finished second with Brandon Sheppard coming home in third. The rest of the top five were Brandon Overton and Dennis Erb Jr.

Winger took the lead at the start with O’Neal moving into the second spot. Bronson was the car on the move early in the race. After starting in fifth, Bronson moved past O’Neal for second on Lap 6. There were back-to-back cautions that cleared traffic for Winger after he was about to pick up the tail end of the field.

After a Lap 8 restart, Bronson kept the pressure on Winger, and after Winger slipped in Turn 2, Bronson was able to take a brief lead, but by the time the two drivers crossed the line, Winger was still in front. Bronson continued to hold the second spot until Sheppard was able to get him with 10 laps to go. Bronson, while running third, slowed coming off of Turn 2 on Lap 24, forcing the final caution of the race.

On the restart after Bronson had exited the race, O’Neal and Sheppard got Winger in their sightlines, but Winger was able to pull away in the waning laps to secure the victory.

“It’s awesome to win in front of these people,” Winger said in Lucas Oil Victory Lane as he became the sixth different winner in eight races so far in 2023.

“I felt like we’ve been really close this year. We were really close here last year,” he said. “It’s hard not to get emotional. My mom and dad gave up everything for me to be here. I know it’s only $5,000 to win, but to beat these guys, Hudson and Sheppy are two of the best in country. I felt like when I got into a rhythm, I was pretty good there, but the race track was treacherous, and the longer and longer it went, I don’t know what was going to happen. Like I said, I got into a rhythm, and then on those restarts, I messed up really bad there that one time and Kyle got by me, and going into 3 and 4, I pretty much held it to the floor to get the lead back.”

James Essex writes a motorsports notebook for The Tribune. Send comments to [email protected].