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Mefford & McKinney among Modified winners during February 2 action at Volusia

By Matt Skipper

BARBERVILLE, FL (February 2) - The second week of the 55th annual DIRTcar Nationals opened with a packed Monday slate of seven features for the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.

While Ricky Thornton, Jr. captured the Saturday makeup feature for his second golden gator trophy of the year, the opening quest toward the 2026 Big Gator Championship included a field of 97 UMP Modifieds on hand to complete through six feature races for the regularly scheduled program Monday night.

Feature 1

Every year during the DIRTcar Nationals, a new Modified driver takes their turn as the top gator wrangler. This year, Charlie Mefford is making a case for it to be him after back-to-back wins.

The 20-lap feature was led to green by Pierce McCarter, with Trent Young in second and Mefford in third.

As McCarter drove away, Mefford kept the pressure on Young for second. His lurking paid off on lap five when he stole the runner-up spot and then began his charge for the lead.

“Chargin’ Charlie” was 1.8 seconds behind McCarter when he moved into second. Nine laps later, he cut more than a second off the No. 71 car’s lead. On lap 16, McCarter’s line was hindered while trying to pass a slower car, but Mefford kept his foot in the gas and split them three-wide to charge into turns three and four and take the lead.

From there, Mefford was uncontested and picked up his sixth DIRTcar Nationals golden gator trophy. It’s also the fourth straight year he’s scored a win at Volusia Speedway Park.

“I was just driving the hell out of it really,” said Mefford, of Belton, KY. “That was the hardest I’ve ever driven a race car, just matted it to the floor… When I got to them, I knew I could get around them, leaving the corner because he was committed to that bottom.”

SUMMARY

Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[3]; 2. 71-Pierce McCarter[1]; 3. 8S-Kyle Strickler[5]; 4. 10Y-Trent Young[2]; 5. 66F-Cole Falloway[8]; 6. 15X-Justin Stone[12]; 7. 60F-Shannon Fisk[14]; 8. 99W-Wade Olmsted[11]; 9. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[15]; 10. 66-Adam Wright[7]; 11. 78-Rich Pratt[10]; 12. 21C-Drew Charlson[13]; 13. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[6]; 14. 54-Zachary Hawk[9]; 15. (DNS) 5CS-Curt Spalding; 16. (DNS) 72-Todd Neiheiser; 17. (DNS) 81K-Kyle Cole

Feature 2

Mike McKinney entered the DIRTcar Nationals with a new chassis, but growing pains plagued his debut with the car. He missed the opening night feature and then finished eighth the next time.

That all changed Monday night.

Trevor Neville led the way at the start of the feature, before Ricky Thornton, Jr. put the pressure on him on lap six. Side by side through turns three and four, Neville ran the middle while Thornton used the inside line. Thornton then went too low and hit the inside wall with his nose, stuffing the panel under his car.

That allowed McKinney to move into second and take his shot at Neville. The race was then nearly handed to him when Neville almost spun entering turn one.

After patiently building a run, McKinney was able to dive under Neville going into turn two on lap 12, stayed side by side with him down the backstretch, and powered ahead to the lead through turns three and four.

McKinney built a gap between he and Neville until a slower car killed his pace in the closing laps, allowing the No. 777 to catch back up to him.

But when McKinney found clean air again, he was gone. The second golden gator trophy of his career was placed on his hood when he pulled into victory lane.

“The track conditions were a little bit more like Illinois, so it was pretty familiar,” said McKinney of Plainfield, IL. “I won three races last year, and hell yeah, it’s been a while, so this feels pretty good.”

SUMMARY

Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[3]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[1]; 3. 45H-Kyle Hammer[9]; 4. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 5. 99H-Justin Haley[10]; 6. 01-Aidan Hinds[8]; 7. 35H-Michael Altobelli[11]; 8. 7J-Justin Allgaier[2]; 9. 114K-Evan Koehler[14]; 10. 60-Jim Manka[13]; 11. 29C-Joey Cotterman[15]; 12. 99-Cole Hilton[12]; 13. 5B-Bobby Bagley[7]; 14. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 15. 56-Chris Wilson[6]; 16. (DNS) 0K-Damian Kiefer

Feature 3

Kenny Wallace, who is driving for chassis builder Nick Hoffman again this year, rocketed around polesitter Jason Beaulieu on the initial start of the race, after Beaulieu washed up the track upon entrance, and then Wallace ran away with the lead.

Multiple cautions plagued Wallace’s march, including one for Beaulieu, who spun and was hit by another car. But no one could touch the Missouri native on the restarts.

Late in the race Chris Wilson started to reel Wallace in on a long run. A caution came out on lap 17, and when the race resumed, Wilson couldn’t keep pace with the blue No. 36.

Wallace went on to win his sixth DIRTcar Nationals victory, and first since 2024.

“I grew up a racer, and your race car has to handle,” Wallace said. “There’s a reason all three of these (cars in victory lane) are Elites, and this man right here, look here, this is Nick Hoffman. This is his dad, Darrell. Me and Darrell are about the same age. Because of Nick and his dad is the only reason I won.”

SUMMARY

Feature 3 (20 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[2]; 2. 17-Chris Wilson[5]; 3. 35-David Stremme[3]; 4. 7D-Brad DeYoung[9]; 5. 77D-George Dixon[6]; 6. 1H-Ben Harmon[13]; 7. 3S-Josh Sanford[11]; 8. 7-Evan Taylor[8]; 9. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[12]; 10. T9-Zack Tate[14]; 11. 70B-Ty Norder[10]; 12. 90-Jason Beaulieu[1]; 13. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[15]; 14. 25-Tyler Nicely[4]; 15. 52-Mikey Kopka[7]; 16. (DNS) 2K-Taylor Kuehl

Feature 4

Ray Bollinger opened DIRTcar UMP Modified Florida Speedweeks with a win at Hendry County Motorsports Park, and was poised to add another trophy to his collection at Volusia Speedway Park Monday night. But Treb Jacoby, in his DIRTcar Nationals debut, had other plans.

Bollinger led the first half of the 20-lap feature. Then came the second half.

After a restart on lap 11, Jacoby, running second, began cutting tenths out of Bollinger’s lead by running the top lane of the 1/2-mile track. That propelled him to drive around Bollinger for the lead with six laps to go.

However, a caution shortly after gave Bollinger one more shot to fight back. When the green flag flew again, Jacoby got out of shape in turn two, allowing Bollinger to pull even with him down the backstretch. The yellow No. 77 threw a slider at Jacoby into turn three and reclaimed the top spot. But the next lap, the roles reversed with Bollinger getting sideways in turns three and four, and Jacoby on the attack.

The two crossed the white flag about even at the line. Jacoby then beat Bollinger through the turn one and pulled away with his first DIRTcar Nationals win.

“To be honest, we weren’t even gonna come. This car was dirty from November,” Jacoby admitted in victory lane. “Thankfully, for the first time ever, I didn’t tear the car down to a bare frame in the off-season, so we kind of just loaded it back up, and we cleaned it yesterday. You know, I can’t believe it.”

SUMMARY

Feature 4 (20 Laps): 1. J82-Treb Jacoby[6]; 2. 77B-Ray Bollinger[1]; 3. 24-Zeke McKenzie[3]; 4. 05-Dave Wietholder[5]; 5. 46-Matt Crafton[12]; 6. X-Wyatt Scott[8]; 7. 155-Peyton Harlow[11]; 8. 88-Cody Thornhill[15]; 9. 43J-Jacob Hall[10]; 10. 3F-Rob Fuqua[14]; 11. 0-Glenn Styres[2]; 12. T23-Keith Tincher[16]; 13. 17C-Coleman Evans[9]; 14. (DNF) 5T-Jonathan Taylor[4]; 15. (DNF) 114B-Clayton Bryant[7]; 16. (DNF) 10X-Billy Uptegraff[13]

Feature 5

Mason Lobb and Mitch Thomas set the front row for the feature’s opening start, with Thomas using speed around the outside line of turns one and two to claim the lead ahead of Lobb.

Behind Thomas, Will Krup and Ray Kable applied pressure for Lobb’s position, with Krup taking second place on lap two from the outside.

As Kable began to make a move for third place on lap three, Lobb lost control in turn four, spinning to the bottom of the track and ending his chance to win.

On the ensuing restart, Krup kept his No. K9 Modified within striking distance of Thomas by maintaining the cushion as Thomas kept rolling his No. 97T to the bottom lane. While the two kept a half-second gap, Krup was unable to garner enough positive momentum to overmatch the Oakland, MD driver.

When the final caution waved with eight laps remaining, Krup used the restart as an opportunity to jump Thomas for the lead. When the green flag dropped, the Mt. Carmel, IL driver reached the inside of Thomas in turns one and two.

Despite Krup’s attempts to dominate the pace that Thomas established on the low lane, Thomas built a 1.7-second lead ahead of Krup as he led the charge to his third career golden gator trophy.

“Will, he’s won multiple of these, and he’s really good,” Thomas said. “He don’t make mistakes, and that’s usually where it goes wrong because I’m the one who makes the mistakes. But, we had a really good race there. I just knew I needed to get out front, getting clean air, and just try to check out.”

SUMMARY

Feature 5 (20 Laps): 1. 97-Mitch Thomas[2]; 2. K9-Will Krup[4]; 3. 17X-Richard Michael Jr[7]; 4. 12L-Lucas Lee[10]; 5. 28-Mason Lobb[1]; 6. 11D-Brian Diveley[12]; 7. 17T-Tyler Evans[5]; 8. 84-Ryan Toole[11]; 9. 1-Eric Kinney II[15]; 10. (DNF) 55-Blaze Melton[14]; 11. (DNF) 26-Adam Ogle[9]; 12. (DNF) 21B-Hunter Breland[3]; 13. (DNF) 99K-Ray Kable[6]; 14. (DNF) 43A-Mark Anderson[8]; 15. (DNF) 3G-Bryce Graber[13]; 16. (DNS) 11N-Gene Nicholas

Feature 6

Before Tristan Chamberlain rejoins the World of Outlaws Late Models for week three of the DIRTcar Nationals, he can add the label “DIRTcar Nationals Feature winner” to his résume.

As he sought more laps inside a race car at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” before the Super Late Models revisited the track from Feb. 9-14, Chamberlain left Monday night with added notes and a first step toward his first Modified Big Gator campaign.

The Martinsville, IN teenager started the 20-lap feature from the pole, as Brian Ruhlman sat to his outside. Ruhlman gained the first-turn advantage over Chamberlain by using the outside, but “Tricky Tristan” never allowed Ruhlman to gain clearance as his No. 72H worked to the lead on the bottom lane.

While driving through the clean air, Chamberlain developed a rhythm of entering the corner in the middle and rolling to the bottom while Ruhlman’s No. 49 machine stayed committed to the cushion for each lap.

With lap traffic staying out of Chamberlain’s preferred line, the 18-year-old racer widened the gap to Ruhlman by 7.4 seconds as he crossed the twin checkered flags for his first win at Volusia Speedway Park.

“One of the main reasons to bring the Modified is to get more laps here,” Chamberlain said. “Volusia is definitely a unique place, and I think it’s my third year here. So, [getting] as [many] laps as possible for the Late Model is what we’ve been looking for, and the car was really good tonight.”

SUMMARY

Feature 6 (20 Laps): 1. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[1]; 2. 49-Brian Ruhlman[2]; 3. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[3]; 4. 17W-Mikey Wilson[9]; 5. 27-Jason Garver[5]; 6. 28B-Jason Brookover[4]; 7. 51-Dalton Lanich[8]; 8. 11N-Gene Nicholas[17]; 9. 11-Dylan Drake[12]; 10. 25B-Greg Belyea[14]; 11. 14-Dalton Lane[11]; 12. 9-Ken Schrader[10]; 13. (DNF) 57-Charlie Sandercock[6]; 14. (DNF) 77-Jim Shipman[13]; 15. (DNF) 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[15]; 16. (DNS) 09-Michael Ledford; 17. (DNS) 81C-Christopher Cole