WHEATLAND, Mo. — Bobby Pierce flew under the radar the first two nights of Show-Me 100 weekend, with so-so finishes by his own lofty standards. Not even the 28-year-old Dirt Late Model star felt overly confident heading into the big-money finale.

"I think we were all down in the dumps," Pierce said. "I think we had a few believers on our team. I know I was pretty negative. We sucked all weekend. We just couldn't hit on anything."

Pierce and his Longhorn chassis roared to life in a big way as the 33rd annual Show-Me 100 presented by Missouri Division of Tourism concluded Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.

The Oakwood, Ill., driver earned $75,000 for his second Show-Me 100 triumph. Pierce took the lead on lap 69 and clung to it the rest of the way, holding off last year’s winner Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., in the late stages.

Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., winner of Thursday and Friday’s $10,000 preliminary features, settled for third while Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, and 15th-starting Daulton Wilson of Fayetteville, N.C., rounded out the top five.

After finishing seventh and 10th in preliminaries features, Pierce found his groove — the high groove — over the last half of the 100-lap race as he advanced from an eighth starting position. Using the cushion as the final 57 laps ran caution-free, Pierce blazed to the front.

"It was a really, really fun track. I was waiting for that track all weekend," Pierce said. "I know with the possibility of rain they would take it easy with track prep. Man, that was a lot of fun. Congrats to J.D. in second and Hudson third. That was a fun race."

Asked in victory lane if he felt after two so-so nights if he was confident of his chances, Pierce laughed.

"Did any of you guys think we'd win tonight?" a jubilant Pierce asked his crew members in victory lane. "The track really came around and you could drive it different lines. That's what I was waiting on. I have to give a huge thanks to the (crew) guys. They worked hard all week and this win goes out to them.”

It was a tale of two races, with the first half plagued by cautions and the second half a blur with Pierce finding the fastest way around.

"This is an awesome facility and the race track was awesome tonight," Pierce said. "I know a lot of times people go both ways on that, but tonight it was bad-ass. It's great this pays $75,000-to-win. A few years back it was ($30,000). To see it come to this, hats off to Lucas Oil."

The race had five changes among three drivers — Pierce, Davenport and O'Neal. Davenport had regained the lead from O'Neal on lap 48 before the event's seventh caution slowed the three laps past halfway.

Davenport cleared off to a 1.5-second lead by lap 60 as the race started to settle in, but O’Neal and Pierce began to narrow the gap. Pierce found speed on the high side, often his preferred place to be, and went around Davenport out of turn four for the lead on lap 69.

The 2017 Show-Me 100 winner maintained a modest lead over Davenport, though O’Neal slipped to two seconds behind the leader at that point. Pierce’s margin was two lengths over Davenport on lap 78 when he lost a bit of momentum in turn two, but quickly got going again Davenport before could close in.

It was a two-car race at that point and Pierce was picking his way through slower cars a bit better than Davenport and opened a 2.1-second lead by lap 87. Pierce held on from there, prevailing by 2.055 seconds for his second Show-Me 100 victory and denying Davenport a second straight and third overall.

"It was really tough. The line moved a lot until the very end," Davenport said. "Hats off to the track prep crew. Lucas Oil Speedway is awesome when it moves around like that. I just wish it would have made that last change and pushed that cushion over the top.

"Obviously I didn't set up to run around the cushion. Everybody knows I'm more middle to bottom. We really made big gains today. When we could run around the middle or bottom we were really good there. Bobby got rolling on the top there like we know he does.

"Just the way it goes. Bobby did a good job. Hudson did a good job. My guys did an awesome job. I should have just been a little more aggressive earlier in the lapped traffic."

O’Neal and Davenport broke away from the pack early, with Ricky Thornton Jr. five seconds behind in third, just nine laps in. That’s when the first caution flew as Tyler Stevens slowed to a halt on the track.

Justin Wells, the two-time and defending track champion, advanced to third on the restart but meanwhile it was more of the same as O’Neal and Davenport were off and running away out front.

Davenport moved other the high side as he challenged for the lead with lapped cars coming into play. Davenport then made a dive low into turn three and came away with the lead coming to the start-finish line on lap 20.

Behind those two, the eighth-starting Pierce caught and passed Wells for third on lap 33. The action slowed for the second caution on lap 34 for Dalton Imhoff’s spin in turn two. Davenport had a 2.2-second lead over O’Neal at that point with Pierce, Wells and Carson Ferguson completing the top five.

Davenport took advantage of clean air and a clear track ahead to open a 2.5-second lead over O’Neal by lap 40, with Ferguson climbing to third ahead of Pierce and Brandon Overton. One lap later, caution flew for debris on the track as Davenport’s lead was 2.7 seconds.

Only two laps were able to be completed before the fourth caution, again for debris. But Ferguson slipped, allowing Overton to climb to third with Pierce fourth and Ferguson back to fifth.

O’Neal used the high side to take the lead away from Davenport on lap 45, but Davenport snatched it back on lap 48. Pierce was back to third at the midway point, setting the stage for his eventual move to the front.

After winning twice earlier in the week, O'Neal was philosophical after being denied the sweep and a second Show-Me 100 win of his own.

"We just missed it a little bit," O'Neal said. "All in all, it was a great race. Congrats to Bobby and J.D. We had a great week. We can't hang our heads over a third, especially after the week we've had with two wins. We'll take it."

Notes: Pierce notched his 22nd career Lucas Oil victory. … The national tour paid out $16,000 in bonus money for the Sunoco Road to Wheatland program, including $2,500 to points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. The top 15 drivers in series points picked up bonus cash. …First-time Show-Me 100 starters: Donald McIntosh, Dan Ebert, Cole Wells, Dalton Imhoff, Clay Stuckey and Tyler Kuykendall. … Thornton had problems in hot laps and changed driveshafts before the 100-lapper. … Aaron Marrant was leading the first consolation when his car lost power with three laps remaining, but he got a provisional starting spot for the main event. … Clay Stuckey spun late in the second consy but also received a provisional. … Ryan Johnson started on the pole of the Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge for non-qualifiers, but spun on the first lap and retired. … Rain hit overnight following Friday’s program, but Saturday’s program ran without incident on a weekend that opened with a sketchy forecast.