Hudson O’Neal of Hope won his first World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model race during the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals finale on Feb. 18 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida, and became the 100th different winner in World of Outlaws CASE Late Model history.

“It’s cool,” O’Neal said. “I came really close to winning these World of Outlaws races and for some reason never can seal the deal on them. To do it in the fashion we did and to be able to do it, it’s cool. It’s just more to do with Mark (Richards, owner of Rocket1 Racing) and the history that he has with the Outlaws. It’s special. This is a day I’ll never forget, I promise you.”

O’Neal’s space in Victory Lane was shared with Tim McCreadie, who clinched the 2023 Big Gator championship with his fourth-place finish. The Watertown, New York, driver put together finishes of second, first, first, third and fourth to lock up his second Big Gator trophy.

Like O’Neal, McCreadie also made history by becoming the first driver in the event’s history to win two Big Gator titles in two divisions. His first came with the Super DIRTcar Series in 2018.

“It’s pretty cool,” McCreadie said. “Not a lot of guys go out and venture to do something different. My whole career is about, ‘Hey, let’s go try and do something and have some fun with it and see if I’m good enough to overcome not knowing what to do with a different type of race car.’ Hasn’t always worked out, but to come down here (at Volusia Speedway Park) and get a couple of these (Big Gator trophies) with all these fans here, that’s pretty cool.”

When the 50-lap, $20,000-to-win feature initially lined up, the easy bet seemed to be on McCreadie, who drew the pole. O’Neal, buried in 23rd after transferring in through a Last Chance Showdown, seemed far out of reach for a successful takeoff.

At the drop of the green flag, McCreadie launched ahead of the field, while outside pole sitter Chris Madden slid back to fourth in the first corner, moving Brian Shirley into second and Brandon Overton in third.

The first caution of the night came at Lap 3 for a slowed Mason Ziegler. In that short amount of time, O’Neal was already up to 12th place.

Once the race resumed, McCreadie left Shirley and Overton to argue over second place. Six laps later, he found the back of the field. The straightaway lead he had over Shirley was cut to a few car lengths in two laps.

Finally close enough to make a move, Shirley dove under McCreadie into Turn 1 on Lap 19, nosing ahead of him by the center of the corner. However, the No. 39 had the better run around the top of the track and gapped Shirley’s No. 8 car by a car length off of Turn 2.

By the halfway point of the race, Madden had found his groove again and moved into second. A caution on Lap 29 for Mike Spatola stopping in Turn 4 brought the current series points leader to McCreadie’s rear bumper.

At this point, the firing of the thrusters on O’Neal’s machine could be heard as he sat fourth in line on the restart.

Shirley and Madden waged a war for second before Shirley began to master the top and try to run down McCreadie for the lead. However, again, he failed. That opened the door for “The Mailman” Devin Moran to make his trek forward, bringing “Huddy” with him.

While McCreadie was caught behind Jimmy Owens, Moran dove underneath the former Outlaw champion and snuck ahead of him to claim the lead on Lap 42. After another circuit around, O’Neal also worked his way underneath McCreadie to take second.

Staying within reach of Moran, O’Neal moved to the top of the track, while Moran hugged the bottom. When Moran had to wait on the throttle exiting Turn 4 with a lap car ahead of him, O’Neal hit the hyperdrive and blasted around the outside of the No. 99 to take the lead on Lap 45.

Moran tried to keep pace, but O’Neal ran a perfect trajectory to the checkered flag.

“To be honest, we took the green, and I rode the middle and I felt like I could steer a little bit better than everybody could,” O’Neal said. “I started rolling around there and catching that middle and started driving by some guys stacked up on the bottom and the first caution came out (three) laps in, and I looked up and I’m running 12th. I thought, ‘Oh man, starting 12th is a whole lot better than starting (23rd),’ and we had a lot of laps left.

“There for a while, I was passing them, and I stalled out about fourth or so there, and I just thought, ‘I don’t know if I have anything for them or not,’” he added. “I used my stuff up hard trying to get there. I don’t know, man, sometimes things just workout. Tonight, was one of those nights.”

In addition to the milestone marks of O’Neal’s triumph, he won the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award, rocketing his way from 23rd to first, and became the fourth different driver to win for Rocket1 Racing.

O’Neal wins East Bay finale

O’Neal backed up his first win for Rocket1 when he won the 47th annual Wieland Winternationals presented by Lucas Oil at East Bay Raceway Park on Feb. 10.

O’Neal, who led every lap in the Feb. 10 race, went wire to wire for his fourth career victory at the “Clay by the Bay.” The scheduled Feb. 11 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at East Bay was rained out.

Daulton Wilson made a valiant charge in the final laps to finish second after he had cut more than a second off of O’Neal’s lead until he got into the fourth turn wall, which hurt his chances of challenging O’Neal.

Ashton Winger, a first-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series winner on Feb. 7, came from ninth to finish in third. Devin Moran, who challenged O’Neal for the lead for a few laps, was fourth, and current LOLMDS championship points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. crossed the line in fifth.

O’Neal jumped to lead with fellow front row starter Garrett Smith falling in line behind him. Smith stayed in second with Feb. 8 winner Ryan Gustin holding down the third spot. Gustin then moved past Smith for second right before Smith got sideways in Turn 2 as two other drivers made heavy contact with him, forcing a caution flag.

O’Neal still had the lead on a Lap 19 restart as Moran started to flex his muscle, overhauling Gustin for second on Lap 20. Moran then started to put the heat on O’Neal, and by the halfway mark, Moran could get a run on O’Neal but could not quite ever clear him for the lead.

After coming close to taking the lead, Moran fell to third after a Lap 32 restart as Wilson picked up the spot. From there, Wilson cut a second off of O’Neal’s lead within a few laps, but contact with the wall ended his bid for the win as he had to hold Winger for second at the finish.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 20th time in his career, O’Neal became the third three-time winner on the series this year, joining Thornton and Brandon Overton.

“That was 50 laps of getting it on,” O’Neal said. “The race track was in great shape tonight. We were way more maneuverable tonight to get around those lapped cars. Hats off to the East Bay crew. They got the race track way better. We could race all over it. I could see Devin several times underneath me there before the last caution. I knew I needed to get up on the wheel and go because I knew he was.

“Our confidence level is sky high right now, no doubt,” he added. “To be able to win like we did last night in a little bit slower conditions than we had tonight, you can have a bad fast race track and still be able to hang on. We just have to continue to qualify good and heat race good and stay up front, and when you start on the front row of these features, it makes everything easier.”

Indiana Icebreaker set at Brownstown

The Indiana Icebreaker is scheduled for March 18 at Brownstown Speedway. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned race will pay $15,000 to win.

Ricky Thornton Jr. is the current points leader, followed by O’Neal, Brandon Overton, Tim McCreadie and Devin Moran.

In 2023, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will pay an industry-record $200,000 to win the championship out of a more than $1 million points fund.

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