Devin Moran(99) and Brandon Overton are two of the drivers vying for the final Chase spot
The 2023 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series ‘Chase for the Championship’ will come down to one race among four driver on October 21st in the Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway in Rossberg, Ohio. Those four drivers, as was decided before the season began, will be those who rank the highest in the series standings following the penultimate race held at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
Following the Friday event at Ohio’s Raceway 7, the first and second place racers in the standings, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Hudson O’Neal, are locked into a spot among those final four. With a 145-point advantage over fourth place, third standing Jonathan Davenport is all but assured of going into the finale with a shot at the Lucas Oil title.
Thornton won the Great Lakes 50 at Raceway 7 ahead of Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, Tim McCreadie and Daulton Wilson.
The real drama lies in that one remaining Chase position going into Saturday night at PPMS.
Fourth standing Brandon Overton leads Devin Moran by 15 points and Tim McCreadie by 35 going into the Pittsburgher. That all-important fourth position in the standings is truly up for grabs as the series readies itself to crown a champion at Eldora. The driver who comes out on top among those final four will receive a payday valued at $200,000.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series gives the winner of each feature 200 points while second place receives 180. Third is awarded 170 with fourth getting 160. From fifth back, there is a drop-off of five points per position.
For the sake of example, should Moran win at PPMS and Overton finish second, Moran would earn the final spot by a margin of five points, Should Overton finish fifth, Moran would have to finish either first or second to get the spot. Under that same scenario of Overton finishing fifth, McCreadie would have to win the race in order to overcome Overton’s 35-point advantage.
Obviously, if Overton finishes ahead of both Moran and McCreadie, he will take the final ‘Chase for the Championship’ position.
Overton, who entered the Raceway 7 event with what seemed like a relatively comfortable lead over Moran and McCreadie, finished 13th in that feature after troubles early in the night set him back. Top-5 finishes by Moran and McCreadie allowed them to close the gap.
Moran looks forward to the challenge of making the final four at PPMS.
Tim McCreadie
“The pressure’s on, I love it,” he declared to FloRacing.com following his runner-up finish at Raceway 7. “I didn’t know how I was going to run here. I’ve been here a couple of times and I’ve sucked. I’ve just never been that good here. Obviously I wasn’t that good compared to Ricky tonight but we just squeezed out that second and we gave ourselves a shot.”
Moran concedes that right now Thornton has the car to beat but his Double Down Motorsports team is working hard. McCreadie’s fourth-place effort on Friday also kept him in the running for that final Chase position.
“That 20RT, he’s rolling, it’s going to be tight tomorrow because I think Timmy’s only 35 behind so I’m three positions and he’s five or six,” Moran explained. “We’ve just got to perform and see what we can do and try to get in this top-4. I love it, a lot of people don’t like it, and that’s fine too, everyone is allowed their own opinion. I’m a sports fanatic so everything always comes down to the final game and that’s what it’s going to be at Eldora.”
McCreadie remembered back to 2017 when he narrowly lost out on the championship to Josh Richards in the final race.
“Yeah, I was in one of these a few years ago for the whole thing as the leader so this time we have nothing to lose,” he recalled. “We’ll go in there and do our best and maybe somebody upstairs or something will go wrong. That point system owes me one. I think we went in up 40 a few years ago and had two flat tires and lost so hopefully this will be some luck our way and we can get in the show.”
The Pittsburgher will be contested on Saturday night at PPMS. FloRacing.com will have live coverage.
Please consider also reading:
Ricky Thornton Jr. continues season of dominance with Lucas Oil win at Raceway 7
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