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Mefford finds victory lane January 30 at Volusia; Wisconsin’s Czarneski scored 21st

By Matt Skipper

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 30) - During the last three years, Charlie Mefford has pieced together his ideal driving style around Volusia Speedway Park.

The Belton, KY native earned his fifth DIRTcar Nationals win on Friday in the UMP Modifieds, as he wheeled around the middle lane of the slick half-mile track in preparation for hunting his first career Big Gator championship later in the week.

Kenny Wallace brought the field of 24 Modifieds to the opening green flag, with Thursday winner Ricky Thornton Jr. to the outside. Using the bottom lane to gain momentum, Wallace got clear of the lead and protected the inside line as Thornton attempted to create speed on the cushion.

Through the early stages, Wallace grew the gap to Thornton by 1.6 seconds as Mefford experimented with different lanes in third place until the first caution waved on lap six.

Following the restart, the St. Louis, MO driver escaped the pack as Thornton faced a position battle from Mefford. “Chargin’ Charlie” used the bottom lane of turns three and four to gain clearance of the reigning Late Model Big Gator champion on lap eight.

As Wallace kept the No. 36 Modified glued to the low lane and jumped to a 1.6-second lead, Mefford found speed in the middle groove and cut the lead to 0.2 seconds when the caution was displayed once again on lap 13.

Mefford rode the middle lane to reach the right-rear of “The Herminator” at the exit of turn two following the restart, then outgassed Wallace through turns three and four to take the lead. Trevor Neville noticed Mefford’s success and passed Wallace for second place in turns three and four through the middle on lap 14.

Secure in the top spot, the 19-year-old flew to a 3.6-second advantage over Neville in the final six circuits around the Barberville, FL grounds to capture the twin checkered flags at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” for a fourth consecutive year.

“Those first six or seven laps, we were all following Kenny,” Mefford said. “Ricky went to the top, and I was like, ‘Man, I got to try the middle,’ and I kept a lot of momentum through the center of the corner like [Scott Bloomquist] would. I drove by [Thornton], and then the caution came, so I knew I had to capitalize then. If it wasn’t for that caution, I don’t know if I could have gotten by [Wallace].”

There was a noticeable absence of Midwestern Modified drivers for the 2026 version of Florida Speedweeks, with just one on hand. Wisconsin’s Cole Czarneski, who typically races IMCA races during the regular season, qualified for the feature. He started 12th and finished 21st.

SUMMARY

UMP Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[3]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[6]; 3. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 4. 25-Tyler Nicely[13]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 6. 35A-Michael Altobelli[11]; 7. K9-Will Krup[5]; 8. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 9. 66-Cole Falloway[16]; 10. 35-David Stremme[7]; 11. 99H-Justin Haley[10]; 12. 97-Mitch Thomas[8]; 13. 45H-Kyle Hammer[22]; 14. 99-Cole Hilton[14]; 15. 114K-Evan Koehler[17]; 16. 43A-Mark Anderson[18]; 17. 77D-George Dixon[9]; 18. 56-Chris Wilson[15]; 19. 51-Dalton Lanich[21]; 20. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[23]; 21. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[12]; 22. 12L-Lucas Lee[19]; 23. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[20]; 24. 05-Dave Wietholder[24]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[2]; 2. 77D-George Dixon[1]; 3. 114K-Evan Koehler[3]; 4. 51-Dalton Lanich[5]; 5. 71-Pierce McCarter[8]; 6. 17X-Richard Michael Jr[6]; 7. 28B-Jason Brookover[4]; 8. 26-Adam Ogle[9]; 9. 14-Dalton Lane[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[1]; 2. 35A-Michael Altobelli[5]; 3. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[2]; 4. 15X-Justin Stone[4]; 5. 28-Mason Lobb[6]; 6. 7G-Seth Geary[8]; 7. 72-Todd Neiheiser[3]; 8. 11D-Brian Diveley[9]; 9. 10X-Billy Uptegraff[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. K9-Will Krup[2]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[1]; 3. 12L-Lucas Lee[4]; 4. 77B-Ray Bollinger[6]; 5. 9-Ken Schrader[8]; 6. X-Wyatt Scott[7]; 7. 17W-Mikey Wilson[5]; 8. 3G-Bryce Graber[9]; 9. (DNF) 114-Jordan Koehler[3]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 35-David Stremme[1]; 2. 56-Chris Wilson[4]; 3. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[3]; 4. 0-Glenn Styres[2]; 5. 09-Michael Ledford[7]; 6. 17-Chris Wilson[6]; 7. 25CS-Curt Spalding[5]; 8. 60-Jim Manka[8]; 9. 29C-Joey Cotterman[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 99H-Justin Haley[5]; 3. 45H-Kyle Hammer[2]; 4. 1H-Ben Harmon[4]; 5. 57-Charlie Sandercock[3]; 6. 52-Mikey Kopka[7]; 7. 24-Zeke McKenzie[6]; 8. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[9]; 9. 15H-Gator Hise[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[1]; 2. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[4]; 3. 43A-Mark Anderson[2]; 4. 17C-Coleman Evans[5]; 5. 27-Jason Garver[7]; 6. 3-Josh Sanford[3]; 7. 2ONE-Tim Czarneski[8]; 8. 90-Jason Beaulieu[6]; 9. 11-Dylan Drake[9]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 777-Trevor Neville[1]; 2. 99-Cole Hilton[4]; 3. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[3]; 4. 155-Peyton Harlow[5]; 5. 1-Eric Kinney II[7]; 6. 21B-Hunter Breland[6]; 7. T23-Keith Tincher[9]; 8. (DNF) 5B-Bobby Bagley[2]; 9. (DNF) 3F-Rob Fuqua[8]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Mitch Thomas[2]; 2. 66-Cole Falloway[1]; 3. 05-Dave Wietholder[3]; 4. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[6]; 5. 17T-Tyler Evans[4]; 6. 7-Brad DeYoung[5]; 7. T9-Zack Tate[8]; 8. 99W-Wade Olmsted[7]