What won the race: Overcoming multiple restarts and repelling race-long challenges from Brandon Sheppard, polesitter Mike Spatola of Manhattan, Ill., led all 40 laps in winning Sunday's $10,000 Road to the Dome presented by Rural King at Coles County Speedway. Spatola beat Sheppard to the line by 0.542 of a second for his second career five-figure payday and fourth overall win of the season.

Quotable: “When you’re out there leading and you got Sheppy behind you, he’s the best in the business and you give him that many restarts to figure out how to get by you,” Spatola said, later adding “thanks to Sheppy. He helped me on the setup a lot and then he definitely raced me clean. I seen him down there and I think most guys out here racing would’ve probably just drove over my left front and got them $10,000 there.”

Key notes: Coles County hosted its inaugural Late Model event, with its eighth-mile confines meant to serve as a warmup for the Dec. 4-6 Gateway Dirt Nationals inside The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Mo. ... Sunday marks Spatola's first special event victory since winning a $5,000 prelim in last year's Gateway Dirt Nationals. ... It's his fourth feature triumph this season after weekly victories at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway and Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway. ... Spatola's last five-figure payday came Sept. 2, 2022, in MARS action at Farmer City. ... Second-starting Brandon Sheppard pressured Spatola the entire way, briefly taking the lead on lap 31 before the move was negated by a debris caution. ... Jason Feger challenged Sheppard late before settling for third. ... Besides the lap-31 debris caution, four incidents slowed the action: lap eight for Trevor Gundaker's first turn-three spin (he spun again on lap 33 before retiring); lap 27 when Daniel Adam slowed from ninth; and on a lap-33 restart attempt when Bob Gardner and Jason Wagner spun battling for eighth. ... Gardner finished eighth, the last driver on the lead lap, while Wagner, of East Peoria, Ill., fresh off clinching the Peoria (Ill.) Speedway track title, retired and was credited with 11th. ... Seventh-running Steve Sheppard Jr. blew a left-rear tire and pulled off under green on lap 27. ... The feature lasted 21 minutes with 10 starters running at the checkers.

On the move: Gordy Gundaker of St. Charles, Mo., started 15th and finished seventh.

Winner's sponsors: Spatola’s Rocket Chassis is powered by a Pro Power Racing Engine and sponsored by Lake Norman Mechanical, T&S Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration, Illinois State Rifle Association, B&D Chemical, Big Daddy Scrap, Steve’s Performance, V.R. Haag Consulting, County Chevrolet, Integra Racing Shocks, Allstar Performance, Night Owl Design and Fast Lane Wraps.

Current weather: Clear, 73°F

Car count: 15

Fast qualifier: Trevor Gundaker

Time: 10.369 seconds

Polesitter: Mike Spatola

Dash winner: Mike Spatola

Heat race winners: Brandon Sheppard, Chris Ferguson, Steve Sheppard Jr.