After the Checkers
Instant reaction, analysis of chaotic finale at GIS
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Trey Mills heads over the turn-two wall. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (March 7) — Instant reaction and analysis from Saturday’s Wieland Winternationals Round 4 at Golden Isles Speedway, a $25,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event won by Devin Moran (RaceWire):
MAYHEM: Mark it down — Saturday’s 50-lap feature stands as an early frontrunner for DirtonDirt Race of the Year. It was an absolutely wild affair with five leaders and the craziness, intense action, heartbreak and drama of an unforgettable race. Winner Devin Moran started 22nd and made his winning move on lap 47 by overtaking Max Blair, who started last (25th). Teenager Trey Mills saw his upset bid end in disastrous fashion on lap 42 when, as he furiously attempted to repel Hudson O’Neal, he got too high and was clipped by O’Neal, sending Mills into a rollover over the turn-two wall. Garrett Alberson and Clay Harris pitted for tire changes and rallied to place third and fourth. A wheel even flew off the right-front of Blair Nothdurft’s car on the first lap, bounded into the pit area and smashed into a garbage can. O’Neal’s crew chief Jason Durham summed up the madcap show: “You’ll have that in big-time auto racing from time to time.”
TEENAGE HEARTBREAK: Trey Mills captured the imagination of the Dirt Late Model world with the drive of his young racing life, coming oh-so-close to bringing him a first-ever national touring series victory. The 17-year-old perched his family-owned machine in the top groove from the outset and drove right from seventh and into the lead by lap 15. Pulling away from Brandon Overton on multiple restarts, when O’Neal rose to challenge after a lap-38 restart, Mills didn’t back down in trading haymaker sliders with the country’s winningest driver until lap 42. “I was just giving it everything I had and just overdrove it into turn one and caught the fence,” an uninjured Mills said surveying his wrecked machine amid a throng after the race. It was a bitter — and expensive — lesson in keeping his composure for the World of Outlaws rookie, but it was one he’ll take into a bright future.
FATHER TO BE: Devin Moran’s victory was stirring enough. It could have become even more amazing if the excitement of the moment had induced his wife, Lakia, to go into labor with the couple’s first child. I suggested to both Moran and Lakia, who watched from the infield just five days away from her due date, that a victory lane birth would have been unprecedented in the annals of big-time Dirt Late Model racing, but both weren’t keen on that happening. Moran said they’d much prefer for the baby to arrive once they’re back in Ohio, though he acknowledged that “we have a long 12-hour drive ahead of us tonight.”
MR. CONSISTENCY: How many observers would have predicted Max Blair to be the lone driver with a top-five finish in all four Winternationals features at Golden Isles? The 36-year-old had never recorded four consecutive top-fives in Lucas Oil Series action in his career. But he pulled off the feat — and in especially impressive fashion considering he never started better than 11th all week. Blair used provisional in Saturday’s feature field but calmly drove forward, reaching the lead following the Mills-O’Neal crash on lap 42. His car, however, seemed to fall off “about four laps after a restart” so he couldn’t hang on for his first-ever full-field Lucas Oil triumph. But a $10,000 runner-up finish was a good way to head home after nearly two months on the road.
NO BROOM NEEDED: The domination Jonathan Davenport demonstrated over the first three nights at Golden Isles — three victories worth a combined $29,000 while leading 107 of 120 feature laps — fizzled out in the big-money finale. Starting 10th after taking the green flag no worse than third in his victories, he absorbed opening-lap contact with Garrett Alberson and never ran higher than his starting spot before pitting on lap 28 because he thought he had a tire going down. J.D. quietly retired on lap 33 for a 19th-place finish, saving his equipment for another day.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Moran won once at all three Lucas Oil tracks: All-Tech, Ocala and Golden Isles. He previously won Lucas Oil features at three tracks during Speedweeks in 2022 (Golden Isles, Ocala, East Bay), a year he failed to win a race at a fourth host track, All-Tech.
