Josh Richards earned $10,000 for his win
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series took its turn at the Bristol Motor Speedway for the first of two nights on the famed high banks. After a high speed night of action, it was Josh Richards who claimed the win on the now dirt covered NASCAR track. The Shinnston, WV driver earned $10,000 for his victory in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
A total of 29 cars were signed in for competition.
Josh Richards topped the charts in Group A qualifying when he posted a lap of 15.475 seconds around the half-mile clay over to better the times of Rick Eckert, Ryan Gustin, Cade Dillard and Parker Martin Jr.
Kyle Strickler established a new Dirt Late Model track record when he toured the facility in only 15.083 seconds to beat out Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Chris Madden and Brandon Sheppard.
Josh Richards claimed the first heat of the night ahead of Ryan Gustin, Parker Martin Jr., and Jonathan Davenport while Rick Eckert bested Cade Dillard, Darrell Lanigan, and Jared Landers in the second preliminary.
It was Jimmy Owens who defeated Brandon Sheppard, Shane Clanton, and Devin Moran in the third heat just before Chris Madden took the fourth and final heat by beating out Scott Bloomquist, Ricky Weiss, and Kyle Bronson.
WoO Late Models points leader Kyle Bronson crossed the finish line first in the third heat race but was too light at the scales following that race and was disqualified. He would be forced to race in the Last Chance Showdown to earn a starting position in the feature.
Tyler Bruening, Ricky Thornton Jr., Ross Robinson, Brandon Overton, Ross Bailes, and Boom Briggs transferred to the main event via the Last Chance Showdown.
The WoO Late Models redraw set the first eight positions on the starting grid as Jimmy Owens, Josh Richards, Chris Madden, Rick Eckert, Brandon Sheppard, Ryan Gustin, Scott Bloomquist and Cade Dillard.
At the start of the 40-lap feature it was Owens who bolted to the early lead ahead of Richards, Madden, Eckert and Gustin. Gustin slipped by Eckert for fourth on the third circuit.
Owens found himself in slower traffic by lap 6 as he pulled away from his pursuers. Further back, Sheppard entered the top-5 when he passed by Gustin as the cars set a torrid pace around the track.
Richards and Madden began to close in on Owens as they fought with each other for the second spot on lap 10. However, the wide open pace took its toll on lap 16 when the Owens car suffered a broken wheel. Strickler, who had just been lapped by the leader, ran over the errant wheel and was launched into the outside wall destroying a brand new race car.
The Owens issue lifted Richards to the lead.
On the lap 16 restart, Madden slipped high and dropped from second to fifth. In the meantime, Sheppard took advantage of the situation as he blasted into third.
Fifth running Dillard slammed into the turn one outside wall on lap 18 to bring out another caution. Madden returned to second on the lap 18 restart just before another yellow flag was waved for an incident involving Ricky Weiss and Brent Larson.
By the lap 30 mark, Richards and Madden had pulled away from the rest of the pack as those drivers looked to settle the issue among themselves.
A lap 37 caution for the slowing car of Weiss set up a late race dash to the finish.
Richards left the drivers behind him to battle for position as he sailed under the checkered flag to score the win. It was his 78th career WoO Late Models victory.
“I never thought I’d win a race at Bristol,” Richards quipped in victory lane. “Anyone who saw my asphalt career, it wasn’t very good. I know Jimmy had a really fast car and it was kind of getting a little hairy out there in lapped traffic. I couldn’t steer as good as I wanted to. I knew Madden had a really good car and I was just trying to hold him off.”
See more photos from this race by checking out “Photos from Friday night’s WoO Late Models event at Bristol“
Feature Finish: 1. Josh Richards, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Rick Eckert, 5. Brandon Overton, 6. Ryan Gustin, 7. Darrell Lanigan, 8. Kyle Bronson, 9. Ricky Thornton Jr., 10. Devin Moran, 11. Jonathan Davenport, 12. Tyler Bruening, 13. Dennis Erb Jr., 14. Scott Bloomquist, 15. Ross Bailes, 16. Ricky Weiss, 17. Shane Clanton, 18. Boom Briggs, 19. Parker Martin Jr. 20. Jared Landers, 21. Brent Larson, 22. Cade Dillard, 23. Jimmy Owens, 24. Kyle Strickler, 25. Ross Robinson
