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Taking Zak Blackwood’s seat while he fights aftereffects of spring eye surgery, fellow Columbus, Ind., racer, Devin Gilpin (pictured) is expected to make several starts in the Jeremy Blackwood-owned No. 93 entry while Gilpin’s regular equipment has been sidelined by mechanical issues.

“I want to thank Zak and (father) Jeremy for the opportunity to race their car,” the 35-year-old Gilpin said in a team release. “They have good equipment and we plan to race it until my equipment is back up and running.”

Gilpin, a six-time Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway champ, will debut Blackwood’s car at Saturday’s Jackson County 4-H Fair Race at Brownstown and plans to run it in next month’s Sunoco North-South 100 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., along with home-state Northern Allstars Late Model Series events at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis and Brownstown.

“The doctor said it would be a few more months before I was completely healed to be able to race again this year,” Zak Blackwood said. “Devin’s grandpa (Don Fleetwood) called me to see if we could do something for Devin since his equipment is down. I talked with my dad and we said the car has just been sitting here, and we haven’t been racing and we have marketing partners to take of, so we agreed to put Devin behind the wheel.”

Blackwood has made two starts this season May 29-30 while Gilpin, fifth in Northern Allstars points, has made 10 winless starts and hasn’t posted a Super Late Model victory since Aug. 30, 2025, at Brownstown. — James Essex