It wasn’t a fluke

An array of drivers have caught lightning in a bottle and snagged their first national tour victories, many who never do it again. Dillon McCowan of Urbana, Mo., made sure he’s not on that list.

One night after his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory at Lucas Oil Speedway, the 22-year-old driver from Urbana, Mo., completed a weekend sweep at his home track in Wheatland, Mo., with a whopping $25,000 CMH Diamond Nationals victory. It came less than 24 hours after his previous richest triumph of $15,000 in Friday’s Tribute to Forrest Lucas.

“I guess it wasn't a fluke deal,” an ecstatic McCowan said in victory lane.

Playing to cheers from the home crowd, he struggled to put into words what it all meant.

"You know, I thought my whole life on what I would say last night,” McCowan said. “I didn't really have time to prepare a speech for tonight.

"I just wanted to make the show. That was all. I said, 'Maybe if we run top-10, that'll be a good cap on the weekend after last night.' ”

McCowan started fifth in the 50-lapper and contended all the way. He challenged Brandon Overton from the second spot, briefly slipped back to third when Jonathan Davenport led lap 19, but then got rolling again to overtake Overton on the 35th lap for a lead he’d never give up.

“He drove the heck out of that thing,” said runner-up Garrett Alberson, who chased McCowan in the final laps.

"I wanna win worse than anybody,” the third-finishing Overton said, “but how you gonna be upset Dillon McCowan wins, you know what I mean? That is badass, to see the excitement on his dad's face and all them, how pumped up they are. I've been there. I lived that same little dream, you know what I mean?”

McCowan thought back to his late grandfather, A.D. McCowan, a renowned race team owner who supported standout drivers including Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray and Tony Roper on their way to NASCAR careers. Dillon never got to drive for his grandfather, who died in 2022 at the age of 84, but he’s reached a level that would make him proud.

"I could have never dreamed we'd be standing out here in front of all these fans again. This is the most amazing weekend of my life,” McCowan said. “I made a grand a promise to my grandpa that I'd be winning Late Model races one day when I was — I don't know, I guess knee-high to a grasshopper — but I'm glad we got to fulfill that promise.” — Staff reports

Happy birthday boy

Ryan Unzicker turned 45 on Thursday but fell one spot short of celebrating a birthday victory. Twenty-four hours later he finished the job.

Making a masterful debut Friday at Crystal Motor Speedway, Unzicker led the Michigan track’s 40-lap DIRTcar Summer Nationals feature from start-to-finish for a $10,000 payday that snapped the El Paso, Ill., driver’s two-year checkered flag drought on the Hell Tour.

There was no doubt that Unzicker was in a great mood after earning the 15th Summer Nationals triumph of his career but first since June 20, 2024, at Spoon River Speedway in Banner, Ill.

“Yeah, that feels real good,” Unzicker said in victory lane. “After losing those last couple $10,000s we were leading — and we lost them both to Jason (Feger) — this one feels really good.

“It feels really dang good,” he repeated. “I don’t know what else to say really. I’m not sure where this leaves us for tomorrow, but I think we're gonna go to Oakshade” Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio.

Unzicker has enjoyed a strong 2026 campaign — he’s leading the MARS Championship Series points with two wins on the regional tour — but two near-misses on the Summer Nationals gnaw at him. He ceded the lead late and finished second to Bloomington, Ill.’s Feger on June 12 at Coles County Speedway in Mattoon, Ill., and June 19 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, which had him stressing as he set the pace at Crystal while being pursued by Tanner English of Benton, Ky.

“I had kind of nightmares with three or four to go,” Unzicker said. “I couldn't see (son) Brody, my stick guy, and I was just kind of hanging on there, just kinda trying to find my line, you know, and the bottom was pretty good there. Then when I was passing lapped traffic I found a little bit in the middle. I had a (hard-compound) 4 on (the right-rear) tonight and it was accepting that little bit of middle area there.

“Just glad to get ‘er done finally. A lot of hard work goes into racing, no matter if it’s my team or any team out here. It takes it all. It takes all my sponsors, it takes my crew, all you guys buying merchandise online and here at the track. All of it means the world.”

“We’ve been really good all year,” he continued. “Tanner obviously has showed a lot of speed (while heading for the ’26 series championship). I don’t know if we beat him by a lot or a little, I’m not sure, but it felt really damn good out there.”

Unzicker was a Summer Nationals stalwart for a good decade, running the entire Hell Tour religiously from 2009-17. He finished as high as second in the points standings (2014) and never lower than fifth through his years as a regular.

While Unzicker has become selective in his Summer Nationals appearances, he remains a top contender whenever he races. Friday was his fifth Hell Tour start of ’26 and his performance record now shows one win, three runner-up finishes and a fourth. — DIRTVision and staff reports

Making his mark

Tanner English of Benton, Ky., was essentially handed 2026’s overall DIRTcar Summer Nationals points title when Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill. — the only driver still mathematically alive — headed home before Thursday’s series stop at Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, Mich.

It was a liberating turn of events for English, who had not hidden his desire to capture the Hell Tour championship for the first time in his career. He entered Thursday’s action free of points-chasing pressure and, perhaps unsurprisingly, powered to a $5,000 victory in the 40-lap feature.

“I think we got that (overall) deal wrapped up since Jason’s gone, which is a big weight off our shoulders,” English said after his fourth triumph of the Summer Nationals campaign. “But we still got work to do, and we’re gonna try to win every race from here on out.

“That’s the goal,” he continued. “I feel like now I can do a little bit more different things and try some stuff and get out of my comfort zone. Just try to get better even more and get this thing dialed in even more.”

Thanks to his superb consistency on this year’s Summer Nationals (Thursday marked his 18th top-five finish in 20 starts) and a hot streak over the past couple weeks (nine podium finishes in the last 10 races), English entered Thursday’s program leading the overall standings by a healthy 128 points over Feger. It would have taken a major collapse for the 33-year-old English to cede the $10,000 prize for the overall title, but that was taken off the table with Feger’s decision to skip Butler and this weekend’s series-closing tripleheader at Crystal (Mich.) Motor Speedway, Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio, and Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio.

English happily accepted Feger’s departure, which continued a Summer Nationals that he could scarcely have envisioned going much better.

“It’s a pretty cool deal,” English said. “It’s just amazing when things start falling your way, they just fall your way. It’s been a great year and I can't thank everybody enough.”

English also noted that “it’s cool to be out here doing something different than everybody else is doing,” referring to the AK Race Car he’s now running. He’s become comfortable in the Austin Kirkpatrick-designed chassis that's gaining attention in the Dirt Late Model world.

“That’s kind of been my whole career,” English said. “I just feel like I’m better like that, and I’m better doing my own thing and not listening to everybody and all the noise.”

The 48-year-old Feger, meanwhile, addressed his decision to end his Summer Nationals action four races from the series’s conclusion in a video he posted to his Facebook page. Remarking that there “seems to be a lot of people wound up about us pulling off tour,” he asserted that he never committed to doing the entire schedule and defending his 2025 overall championship.

“It’s just time to get regrouped and refocused and focus on the big money the second half of the year,” Feger said. “That’s what I felt was best for my program and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Feger, who plans to race this weekend at his home state’s Farmer City Raceway and Fairbury Speedway, tipped his helmet to English.

“Tanner’s been phenomenal and he deserves that championship,” said Feger, who won five features and is locked into a second-place finish in the overall standings. — DIRTVision and staff reports