(July 6, 2024) Zanesville, OH – Hometown driver Devin Moran thrilled the capacity crowd at Muskingum County Speedway, leading all 60 laps to win the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Freedom 60. The victory, worth $20,000, marked Moran’s fourth series win of the season and his first at the track since 2013. The win was especially meaningful as the track is promoted by his father, Hall-of-Famer Donnie Moran, and his family.
Fierce Competition
While the stats show Moran led all 60 laps, he faced intense challenges from several drivers. Tim McCreadie, who started on the front row alongside Moran, held the second spot for the first nine laps until Tyler Carpenter moved past him on lap ten. Carpenter kept Moran in his sights until a lap 30 restart allowed McCreadie and Ricky Thornton Jr. to overtake him.
Thornton, coming from fifth, eventually secured second place on lap 41, with Max Blair also making a strong push. Despite the pressure, Moran expertly navigated heavy traffic in the final 25 laps to pull away and secure the win.
Celebrating Victory
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 12th time in his career, Moran climbed from his #99 car to the cheers of the massive crowd. “Man, this is just awesome. All the glory to God and these great race fans. I love coming here! We only get to come here once or twice a year. It was an awesome night and I’m glad to be back in victory lane with the Lucas Oil guys. It took a while to get around those guys in the back. Our car was so good. I just want to give my car owner, Roger Sellers, a huge shoutout as he drove all the way up from Tennessee to be here tonight. Thanks to my dad, my mom and my whole family they put on a great event tonight.”
Thornton’s Strong Finish
Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second and maintained his series points lead heading into next week’s races in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. “I needed to win the heat race to be able to stand where Devin is tonight. I felt like I was pretty decent there. It’s tough to start fifth and pass here. It was so top dominant there forever. I just never got myself in a good enough position and then I got a couple of lucky restarts there and I thought I could run him [Moran] down and the lapped cars were racing harder than I was for the lead. It was one of those deals, we’ll take second and head on down the road.”
Blair’s Consistency
Max Blair secured third place, rounding out the Big River Steel Podium for the second year in a row at Muskingum County. “This track races like Eriez, Pa and like a lot of tracks back home. I am much more familiar and comfortable with tracks like this. That was a lot of fun. I thought I was going to have Ricky there for a long time, I think we raced about 20 laps side-by-side and we never touched. This crowd was awesome tonight especially on the Fourth of July weekend, because it’s tough, there is so much racing going on everywhere so for the crowd to be this good that is pretty cool.”
Upcoming Events
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series continues its tour with upcoming races in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. For more information and tickets, visit the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series website. If you can’t attend, watch every lap live on MAVTV.
Feature Results (60 Laps)
- Devin Moran [1]
- Ricky Thornton Jr. [5]
- Max Blair [7]
- Jonathan Davenport [6]
- Matt Cosner [8]
- Tim McCreadie [2]
- Tyler Carpenter [4]
- Spencer Hughes [15]
- Daulton Wilson [22]
- Hudson O’Neal [12]
- Colten Burdette [11]
- Todd Brennan [25]
- Carson Ferguson [14]
- Jimmy Owens [20]
- Mike Marlar [18]
- Tripp Gerald [17]
- Cory Lawler [21]
- Clay Harris [15]
- Brenden Smith [19]
- Nathon Loney [24]
- Garrett Alberson [3]
- Ross Robinson [16]
- Anthony Kinkade [26]
- Boom Briggs [23]
- Drake Troutman [10]
- James Dennis [9]
