7/18/2020
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Payton Looney Captures First Career Show-Me 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway
WHEATLAND, MO (July 18, 2020) – Payton Looney became just the second driver from Missouri to win the Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 - Presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com on Saturday Night at Lucas Oil Speedway. The 26-year-old from Republic, Missouri earned $20,000 for his richest career win in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and Lucas Oil MLRA co-sanctioned event.
Looney and Shanon Buckingham swapped the lead back-and-forth in the early going. Looney led the first seven circuits of the race, until Buckingham forged ahead on lap eight. Buckingham was out in front until lap 22 when Looney passed him for the top spot. After the only caution of the race on lap 28 Looney pulled away from Buckingham and led the rest of the way to become the 14th different winner this year on the LOLMDS tour.
Kyle Strickler made up ground late on Looney using the top line of the track. Strickler got to within 1.67 seconds of Looney at the finish line. Buckingham came home in third. Chris Ferguson got around Ricky Thornton Jr. to claim the fourth finishing position. Thornton, Jr. rounded out the top five.
Looney was joined by his family in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the biggest win of his racing career before his home state fans. “I was fading really bad,” said Looney. “I was just kind of a sitting duck or whatever you want to call it. I guess I burned up my right rear. I don’t know I haven’t even looked at the tires yet. Once it cleaned up and I went to the bottom like that, I just can’t park like those other guys can. They can go in and get stopped and get going better than I can. I need to be able to use the racetrack and get momentum. That’s what I kind of did early on. I was just riding around out there, and then I saw Shanon get by me. It didn’t really change anything I was doing. I just kind of ran my race a little bit. Once that top kind of cleaned up I knew I could circle back by him.”
“My guy was giving me signals and I knew what kind of lead I had. I was content to ride around the bottom behind Bronson in the closing laps. It just all worked out. I have changed my mindset a lot this year. I have put a lot of pressure on myself. I have a beautiful wife and kids. There are always more races, but this one is special,” said Looney. He now joins the 1999 winner, Terry Phillips, as the only winners of the crown jewel event from the Show-Me State of Missouri.
Strickler’s late race heroics almost paid off, but he fell just short of the biggest win of his late model career. “First off, this in an absolutely amazing facility. This is the first time I have been here, and I am sure I will be back. I just needed a little more on the top. I think those guys up front with me burned it up a little too much. So much of this is patience. Being a modified guy, we don’t get too many 100-lap races. To bounce back after last night at Tri-City and the misfortune we had there feels good.”
Buckingham was impressive all race long. He stayed in the top three the entire distance, leading to the third-position payday. “I guess I am a little more of a finesse driver. When I first started racing, we didn’t have the money to tear stuff up and knock down the walls. My dad always said bring it home in one piece so you can race next week. I think I learned that way and I think I erred on the safety side too much. This track just suits me. I like the slick and I like momentum racing where the right foot makes the difference.”
The winner’s Capital Race Car is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored Atnip Express, Atnip Motorsports, Duvall Electric, and Swift Springs.
Completing the top ten were Rick Eckert, Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, Tanner English, and Chad Simpson.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 – Presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com
Saturday, July 18th, 2020
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, MO
Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Payton Looney / 15.537 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Chad Simpson / 15.629 seconds
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 15L-Payton Looney[1]; 2. 22F-Chris Ferguson[5]; 3. 00-Jesse Stovall[2]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[9]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 8. 50X-Kaeden Cornell[11]; 9. 93-Mason Oberkramer[8]; 10. 91P-Jason Papich[3]; 11. 59-Garrett Alberson[10]
FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[5]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 5. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 6. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 7. 57-Mike Marlar[7]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening[10]; 9. 9-Devin Moran[6]; 10. 1X-Aaron Marrant[9]; 11. (DNS) 53-Andrew Kosiski
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 2. 1C-Chad Simpson[1]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[6]; 5. 1V-Will Vaught[5]; 6. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[2]; 7. 3W-Brennon Willard[10]; 8. 32B-Cody Laney[9]; 9. 12C-Scott Crigler[11]; 10. 6H-Al Humphrey[12]; 11. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[7]; 12. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[8]
Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 50-Shanon Buckingham[1]; 2. 75-Terry Phillips[3]; 3. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[2]; 4. 0E-Rick Eckert[4]; 5. 14-Josh Richards[5]; 6. 91T-Tony Toste[10]; 7. 12D-Doug Drown[6]; 8. 15D-Justin Duty[8]; 9. 78S-Steve Stultz[11]; 10. 21F-Johnny Fennewald[9]; 11. 14M-Reid Millard[12]; 12. 71-Hudson O'Neal[7]
Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 5. 93-Mason Oberkramer[9]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[5]; 7. 57-Mike Marlar[6]; 8. 50X-Kaeden Cornell[7]; 9. 1X-Aaron Marrant[12]; 10. F15-Jeremy Conaway[15]; 11. 91P-Jason Papich[11]; 12. 59-Garrett Alberson[13]; 13. 9-Devin Moran[10]; 14. 16-Tyler Bruening[8]; 15. 53-Andrew Kosiski[14]
FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[3]; 3. 1V-Will Vaught[1]; 4. 32B-Cody Laney[7]; 5. 15D-Justin Duty[8]; 6. 12D-Doug Drown[6]; 7. 91T-Tony Toste[4]; 8. 78S-Steve Stultz[10]; 9. 21F-Johnny Fennewald[12]; 10. 12C-Scott Crigler[9]; 11. 3W-Brennon Willard[5]; 12. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[13]; 13. 14M-Reid Millard[14]; 14. 6H-Al Humphrey[11]; 15. (DNS) 71-Hudson O'Neal; 16. (DNS) 58-Jeremiah Hurst
Lucas Oil Feature Finish (100 Laps): 1. 15L-Payton Looney[1]; 2. 8-Kyle Strickler[3]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[4]; 4. 22F-Chris Ferguson[5]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 6. 0E-Rick Eckert[16]; 7. 20-Jimmy Owens[11]; 8. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 9. 81E-Tanner English[15]; 10. 1C-Chad Simpson[6]; 11. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[17]; 12. 49-Jonathan Davenport[21]; 13. 25-Shane Clanton[10]; 14. 14-Josh Richards[18]; 15. 40B-Kyle Bronson[24]; 16. 1ST-Johnny Scott[13]; 17. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[19]; 18. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[27]; 19. 39-Tim McCreadie[14]; 20. 16-Tyler Bruening[25]; 21. 75-Terry Phillips[8]; 22. 00-Jesse Stovall[9]; 23. 9-Devin Moran[23]; 24. 1V-Will Vaught[22]; 25. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[20]; 26. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[28]; 27. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[12]; 28. 2S-Stormy Scott[26]
Race Statistics
Entrants: 48
Lap Leaders: Payton Looney (Laps 1 – 7); Shanon Buckingham (Laps 8 – 20); Payton Looney (Laps 21 – 100)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Payton Looney
Margin of Victory: 1.677 seconds
Cautions: Tyler Bruening (Lap 28)
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: Devin Moran, Kyle Bronson
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: Tyler Bruening, Stormy Scott
Lucas Oil MLRA Provisionals: Jeremiah Hurst, Tony Jackson Jr.
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Payton Looney, Kyle Strickler, Shanon Buckingham
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Rick Eckert (Advanced 10 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jimmy Owens
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Payton Looney (87 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy Owens
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: Tanner English
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Capital Race Cars
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: JC Crockett (Shanon Buckingham)
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Shanon Buckingham (Lap #6 – 15.424 seconds)
STEEL-IT Tough Break of the Race: Devin Moran
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Payton Looney
Time of Race: 32 minutes 51 seconds
Submitted By: Jeremy Shields
