The late decision to race the DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals in the days leading up to the event is a choice that Ethan Wilson is happy to look back on.
The Fayetteville, NC driver had to fight with Florida and Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Model talents through the field for his first career win at Volusia Speedway Park.
The pilot of the No.00 Longhorn Chassis began his night from 10th place, with little passes able to be completed until a pileup on the front stretch played to Wilson’s favor - jumping from ninth place to sixth on the following drop of the green flag.
Wilson consistently ran in the top five for 10 laps until he passed Zack Carley and Mark Whitener for second place. Then, he ran multiple laps against Sam Seawright for the Feature lead.
Wilson and Seawright traded slide job moves with each other until Seawright pulled off the racetrack with a mechanical issue - boosting Wilson’s chances at the win.
Whitener, the former Sunshine Nationals winner, gave Wilson one final run for the win with wide divebombs to give his No.5 Late Model as much space to catch the North Carolinian. It was too little, too late for Whitener’s chances as Wilson gave the Longhorn Factory Team its first Late Model Palooza triumph.
“I was a little nervous, but I knew that I was really good,” Wilson said. “I had to hit my marks coming to the green and just do my job getting through the corners. The cars are great, this was my first time in this race car, so thanks to Steve Arpin, Matt Langston, and all the guys at Longhorn. That was the most fun I had in a race car in a really long time, the track was pretty badass.”
Whitener cemented the night in second, wishing he had a chance to restart the race on the high side of the track to see if his chase for the lead had gone in his favor.
“I don’t know if I went wrong or not,” Whitener said. “I just didn’t feel like I was in the racetrack like I was last night. I was quarter-throttle through the corner to keep the car straight and where I’ll pull up off the corner with (Ethan). I needed the top on the restart to where I could make some moves, but I was always stuck on the bottom. Congrats to Ethan and those guys, we’ll come home second.”
Zack Carley finished on the podium for his introductory trip to Volusia. It was never planned at first for the Freedom, NY driver to race, but was led to competing inside the thick of the southeast’s talent pool of competitors.
“It’s been a long trip,” Carley said. “We started at Golden Isles and they got rained out, so we sat around with nothing to do for seven days and this was a great way to cap it off. This (result) is killer, we’re racing against the best in the business so we passed half of the best in the business, so we love it.”
Powder Springs, GA driver Jake Rainey finished fourth, and Douglasville, TN native Michael Page completed the top-five finishers.
RECAP NOTES:
604 Late Model Quick Time: Skylar Marlar (16.651)
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Kaede Loudy, Layton Sullivan, Austin Yarborough, Mikey Kopka
Hard Charger of the Feature: Wil Herrington (+29)
Up Next: Volusia Speedway Park welcomes the biggest kickoff party in dirt racing with the 54th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, starting on Thursday, January 30, starring the American Sprint Car Series and DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVIsion – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
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