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O’Neal breaks through for win Feb. 10 at Volusia and Nothdurft nets a 13th-place finish

By Spence Smithback

BARBERVILLE, FL (February 10) - It doesn’t matter what car he’s driving – when Hudson O’Neal rolls onto the track at Volusia Speedway Park, he’s going to be in contention.

Three weeks after wheeling the No. 6 to victory lane in the Friday portion of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, O’Neal returned to Volusia in February in his primary ride, the No. 71. Following a sixth-place run on Monday, the “New Deal” led all 25 laps of Tuesday’s DIRTcar Late Model Feature to become the second winner of the week at the DIRTcar Nationals.

“It’s so awesome to be able to get back in the 71 car, to come down to a fresh start to Speedweeks and be able to get us a win on the second night is pretty awesome,” O’Neal said. “We knew that it was going to be a little bit of a tire game. We were lucky to be able to get out to the lead there early. It started to lane up down in [turns] one and two especially, and we were just lucky to have good track position.”

Of those WISSOTA-region drivers on hand, Blair Nothdurft started from the front row and finished 13th. No one else qualified for the A-main.

The Martinsville, IN driver became the first repeat winner of 2026 at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” in the fifth Super Late Model race hosted at the track this year. Not only is O’Neal now a five-time Volusia winner dating back to his first triumph in 2023, he has now won at the track with three different teams in Rocket1 Racing, Rumley and SSI.

O’Neal sits second in the Big Gator standings with two nights in the books, 15 points shy of Cody Overton, who finished runner-up for the second night in a row. Ryan Gustin filled the last spot on the podium in third, while Brandon Sheppard and Tim McCreadie rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

DIRTcar Late Models:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 97-Cody Overton[5]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[7]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[9]; 6. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 7. 9-Nick Hoffman[6]; 8. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 9. 44-Chris Madden[11]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce[17]; 11. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 13. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 14. 22*-Drake Troutman[19]; 15. 93-Carson Ferguson[14]; 16. 1-Tyler Erb[21]; 17. 76-Brandon Overton[18]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[22]; 19. 111-Max Blair[24]; 20. 24-Tyler Wyant[13]; 21. 1Z-Logan Zarin[23]; 22. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[15]; 23. 13-Dallon Murty[20]; 24. 74X-Ethan Dotson[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 3. 24-Tyler Wyant[3]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[5]; 5. 388-Jackson Hise[7]; 6. 11-Austin Smith[2]; 7. 19-Dustin Sorensen[6]; 8. 8-Matthew Larson[9]; 9. 49-Jake Timm[8]; 10. 14R-Reid Millard[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[1]; 2. 58V-Daulton Wilson[6]; 3. 93-Carson Ferguson[5]; 4. 97D-Cade Dillard[2]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 6. 09-Michael Leach[7]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[8]; 8. T1-Todd Morrow[4]; 9. 8S-Kyle Strickler[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 9M-Tim McCreadie[1]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 4. 13-Dallon Murty[6]; 5. B1-Brent Larson[5]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 7. 114-Jordan Koehler[7]; 8. 55E-Eli Johnson[9]; 9. J4-John Garvin Jr[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[7]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 3. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 4. 16S-Sam Seawright[3]; 5. 14-Trey Mills[8]; 6. 1Z-Logan Zarin[9]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 8. 77-Preston Luckman[5]; 9. 31-Tyler Millwood[10]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cody Overton[1]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[7]; 5. 111-Max Blair[5]; 6. 49M-Luke Morey[6]; 7. 11R-Josh Rice[4]; 8. 114K-Evan Koehler[8]; 9. 0-Max McLaughlin[9]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[5]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[3]; 5. 17-Austin Howes[7]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[6]; 7. 5-Mark Whitener[4]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[8]; 9. 19M-Brenden Smith[9]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22*-Drake Troutman[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[7]; 4. 11-Austin Smith[5]; 5. 388-Jackson Hise[3]; 6. 97D-Cade Dillard[2]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[8]; 8. 09-Michael Leach[6]; 9. T1-Todd Morrow[10]; 10. 8-Matthew Larson[9]; 11. 14R-Reid Millard[13]; 12. 49-Jake Timm[11]; 13. 8S-Kyle Strickler[12]

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 13-Dallon Murty[1]; 2. 1Z-Logan Zarin[6]; 3. 14-Trey Mills[4]; 4. 114-Jordan Koehler[7]; 5. 16S-Sam Seawright[2]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[5]; 7. 31-Tyler Millwood[12]; 8. 77-Preston Luckman[10]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 10. 55E-Eli Johnson[9]; 11. B1-Brent Larson[3]; 12. J4-John Garvin Jr[11]; 13. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[13]

Last Chance Showdown 3 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 111-Max Blair[3]; 3. 60-Dan Ebert[6]; 4. 11R-Josh Rice[7]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[1]; 6. 5-Mark Whitener[8]; 7. 49M-Luke Morey[5]; 8. 19M-Brenden Smith[12]; 9. 114K-Evan Koehler[9]; 10. 17-Austin Howes[4]; 11. 81-Jason Riggs[10]; 12. 0-Max McLaughlin[11]