(June 23, 2024) Lincoln, IL – After multiple near-wins in Week 2 of the Hell Tour, Jason Feger finally clinched his first DIRTcar Summer Nationals Feature win of the season at Lincoln Speedway. The 46-year-old from Bloomington, IL, had been consistently placing in the top five, including three runner-up finishes. His perseverance paid off with his 27th career tour victory, taking the lead early from polesitter Kye Blight and holding off Tyler Erb, who had secured three wins in Week 2.
Feger expressed relief and satisfaction after the win: “I thought we would’ve had several wins by now as good as a year as we were having and we had just lost handle on the car. We’ve been working hard trying to get our setup back and baseline back. We found some stuff the last few nights that have made the car wake back up. It takes off a certain type of pressure and now we can just focus on winning and not getting the first win. It’s a weird deal. It’s a different mentality.”
Securing the Week 2 Championship
This victory not only marked Feger’s first win of the 2024 Summer Nationals but also earned him the $10,000 points fund check as the Week 2 champion—an honor he had also secured with a win at Lincoln the previous year.
“In any points battle, consistency is the name of the game,” Feger said. “I’ve lost plenty of them like [Erb] did this week. He had a tough week and probably would’ve won the points if it wasn’t for the Spoon River and Quincy incident. There are just so many variables that are out of people’s control in this sport, and unfortunately in the points game a lot of times that bites you and sometimes it can benefit me. If you do this stuff long enough, you’ll be on both ends of the spectrum.”
The Race Unfolds
After winning his Heat Race and redrawing second, Feger started on the outside pole in the main event but initially lost the runner-up spot to Erb while Blight led the field. A caution on Lap 7 changed the dynamics, and on the restart, Feger capitalized on his position, using the banking through Turns 1 and 2 to get by Erb and then Blight for the lead.
Once in the lead, Feger faced relentless challenges from Erb, who made several attempts to overtake him. A caution on Lap 26 provided Erb one last opportunity, but Feger maintained his lead and crossed the finish line first at Lincoln for the third consecutive year.
Rivalries and Respect
Despite on-track tensions, Feger emphasized there were no hard feelings between him and Erb. “I’ve known [Erb] for a long time and he’s a great guy,” Feger noted. “One thing about him is that he’s a hard worker, a hard racer, and you know he’s going to race you hard. He’s always going to give you everything he has. I’ve always respected that about him. We had a racing deal the other night and talked about it the next day and everything is all good. You need those friendly rivalries to push each other to be better regardless of who wins.”
Upcoming Events
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals will take a break on Monday and return to action on Tuesday, June 25, at Springfield Raceway. Tickets will be available at the gate, and for those unable to attend in person, every lap will be streamed live on DIRTVision.
Feature (30 Laps):
- Jason Feger[2]
- Tyler Erb[3]
- Ryan Unzicker[9]
- Jake Little[13]
- Tanner English[4]
- Billy Moyer Sr[6]
- Kye Blight[1]
- Frank Heckenast Jr[15]
- Tyler Clem[7]
- Dillon McCowan[11]
- Dakota Ewing[17]
- Clayton Stuckey[12]
- Will Roland[19]
- Daryn Klein[14]
- Myles Moos[16]
- David Payne[21]
- Mark Voigt[20]
- Daniel Adam[10]
- Thomas Hunziker[22]
- Garrett Smith[8]
- Kayden Clatt[18]
- Max McLaughlin[5]
