Devin Moran left All-Tech with all of his Mulligans in place
Whenever we begin something anew, we want to get off to as good of a start as we possibly can. Drivers who intend to follow the full schedule on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series certainly hoped to get off to a solid start this past Saturday night when they hit the track for the series opener and All-Tech Raceway in Lake City, FL, and some of them did. However, all is not lost for those who did not.
Following the rain out of the planned opener on Friday night, there are now nine races remaining in the LOLMDS portion of Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks. And every driver and team hopes to come out of those early events as high up in the overall standings as possible. But having nine good races in nine attempts would be a very tall order for even the best in the business.
Fortunately for those who got out of the gate slowly at All-Tech or who will stumble somewhere along the way at East Bay Raceway Park or Bubba Raceway Park before the Lucas Oil tour departs the Sunshine State, there is a possible reprieve. Drivers only have to count their best five races during SpeedWeeks toward the overall standings.
Amateur hackers who play golf often allow themselves a so-called “Mulligan” when playing a round. This refers to ignoring a bad shot that found its way into a pond or the woods and simply teeing up another ball and pretending as if that first missed shot never happened. Some drivers are already having to tee up one of their Mulligans after that first points-paying race.
In theory, the Lucas Oil Series is allowing for four Mulligans to be used in these first nine features, but no one wants to go through all of them too quickly. For those who have already used one, there is an added degree of pressure to perform well during these first few nights at East Bay.
Championship hopefuls such as four-time champion Earl Pearson, Jr., former champion Josh Richards, last year’s series runner-up Tim McCreadie, former Rookie of the Year Hudson O’Neal along with regulars Billy Moyer, Jr. and Stormy Scott were among those who found themselves well down in the running order when the checkered flag waved at All-Tech on Saturday evening.
Furthermore, 2021 rookie hopefuls Kyle Strickler and Ricky Thornton, Jr. had there troubles. Stickler finished 23rd while Thornton failed to even make the feature.
The likes of Devin Moran, series newcomer Mike Marlar, defending champion Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, former champion Jonathan Davenport, and Kyle Bronson earned top-10 finishes and left All-Tech with all of those mythical Mulligans still in hand.
“Any little thing can make you or break you,” Marlar said in his post-race interview at All-Tech with MavTV after an opening night third-place result. “Hopefully this year we can be consistently good and run up front all the time and try not to have those bad nights. That goes further than people think.”
The first nine series races allow for a driver to have a little inconsistency but there will be no Mulligans once they leave Florida.
While there is not yet reason to panic, the pressure to do well this week at East Bay has been amped up just that little bit more for some. Having two poor runs in the first two races would certainly be the beginning of digging a hole that no one wants to fall into.
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