(July 4, 2024) West Memphis, AR – Lucas Lee was on the verge of clinching his first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature win since 2022 on Thursday night at Riverside International Speedway. However, fate had other plans.
Lee, 36, from Paris, TN, had been leading the race since Lap 5 and maintained a comfortable lead until Lap 21, when his left-rear tire went flat following contact with another car as he spun to avoid Greg Belyea, who had looped around in Turns 3 and 4. This incident handed the lead to Trevor Neville, who capitalized on the opportunity to secure his third Summit Modified Nationals win of the season.
Neville’s Reaction
“I feel awful for Lucas,” said Neville, from Mackinaw, IL. “That’s not how I want to win a race. It’s honestly hard to do an interview and take claim for that win when it was somebody else’s like that, so I feel awful.”
Early Race Dynamics
Starting from the outside pole, Neville took the initial lead by utilizing the high side of the 1/4-mile oval. He maintained this position until a caution was called on Lap 5. On the restart, Lee pulled even with Neville through Turns 1 and 2 and managed to take the lead by sliding down low in Turn 3 and moving up in Turn 4 to cross the start/finish line first.
While Lee widened the gap between himself and Neville after taking the lead, Neville remained patient on the high side, holding onto second place. When Lee’s tire issue struck, Neville was perfectly positioned to take over and claim his third win of the Summit Modified season.
“The banking on here is pretty extreme,” Neville said. “It was kind of like home at Fairbury. So, I figured I’d just keep the momentum up and I didn’t have enough side bite or forward drive to try to run the bottom.”
Looking Ahead
Week 4 of the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals competition continues on Friday, July 5, at Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY. Tickets will be available at the gate on race day. If you can’t attend in person, you can stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (25 Laps):
- Trevor Neville [2]
- Charlie Mefford [8]
- Mike McKinney [7]
- Austin Rettig [16]
- Zeke McKenzie [4]
- Ken Schrader [14]
- Dalton Lane [19]
- Cole Hilton [3]
- Shane Mendoza [18]
- Colby Richardson [12]
- Austin Wayne Self [5]
- Clay Caldwell [17]
- Dennis Kimbrough [10]
- Brandon Poppenheimer [9]
- Jack Walker [22]
- Greg Belyea [23]
- Lucas Lee [1]
- CJ Davison [20]
- Zachary Hawk [6]
- Dillon Knight [11]
- Blake Bass [15]
- Johnny Gustavus [21]
- Damian Kiefer [13]
