By Colby Trotter

After winning the first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals race of the season, Mike McKinney struggled to find his rhythm on the Hell Tour. However, he found it this week.

He scored his second win of the week Saturday night at Highland Speedway, only a couple days after winning at Macon Speedway on Thursday.

“Kind of got our butts kicked last week and just went home and got to work,” McKinney said. “We come out here to win and nothing else is acceptable. We know we can do it. We know we can run like this. Went back to the basics on some things and got a little more comfortable and it’s really paid off this week.”

After setting overall Quick Time and winning his Heat, McKinney drew the outside pole and lined up next to Kenny Wallace for the 25-lap Feature. At the drop of the green, Wallace beat McKinney to the start/finish line on Lap 1 and led the next few circuits with McKinney right behind him.

On Lap 3, McKinney got by Wallace on the outside just before the start/finish line and then a caution came out the next lap. On the restart, Wallace got the jump on McKinney and then pulled out the shield.

Wallace hugged the bottom of the track, while McKinney ran a lane higher. The two stayed nose-to-tail lap after lap, but eventually the top lane prevailed. Wallace couldn’t hold off McKinney any longer as the No. 96M powered around the outside off Turn 4 and officially took the lead on Lap 16.

Once in the lead, McKinney drove to the victory unchallenged.

“Did it once and felt like once we got some laps going, I’d be able to do it again,” McKinney said of passing Wallace. “Was able to find some grip right there through the middle … felt good to find that and kind of stood there the rest of the race and it worked out really good.”

With the victory, McKinney now sits 65 points behind Trevor Neville, who finished fifth, in the championship standings.

UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals will conclude Week 3 at Red Hill Speedway in Sumner, IL, on Sunday, June 30, accompanying the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models. Tickets will be available at the gate. The pit gate opens at 3 p.m. (CT) and the grandstands open at 5 p.m.

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every lap live on DIRTVision.

RESULTS
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[2]; 2. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[5]; 3. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 4. 24H-Mike Harrison[4]; 5. 777-Trevor Neville[9]; 6. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[8]; 7. 14-Dalton Lane[15]; 8. 67-Austin Seets[6]; 9. 14C-Rick Conoyer[13]; 10. 95-Rick Salter[18]; 11. E55-Chad Sellers[12]; 12. 58R-Ryan Hamilton[7]; 13. 787-Cody Zobrist[11]; 14. 87Z-Zeb Moake[21]; 15. 18S-Jarrett Stryker[17]; 16. 6-Jeremy Pate[3]; 17. 16E-Todd Eyman[19]; 18. 54-Zachary Hawk[10]; 19. 121-Deece Schwartz[20]; 20. 21T-Talen Beard[22]; 21. 3-Ryan Eilers[16]; 22. 128-Zach Schantz[14]

Last Chance Showdown (8 Laps): 1. 18S-Jarrett Stryker[1]; 2. 95-Rick Salter[3]; 3. 87Z-Zeb Moake[5]; 4. 21T-Talen Beard[4]; 5. 88L-Rob Lee[7]; 6. 66M-Jordan Meadows[2]; 7. 63E-Bret Eilerman[9]; 8. 52JR-Cole Knebel[11]; 9. 63V-Cody Ventimiglia[8]; 10. 27E-Tory Ernst[13]; 11. 5X-Matt Santel[12]; 12. 6G-Ashton Gaffner[16]; 13. 16E-Todd Eyman[15]; 14. 00M-Brennan Meadows[14]; 15. 121-Deece Schwartz[6]; 16. (DNS) 10-Bryan Leach

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24H-Mike Harrison[1]; 2. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[2]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville[3]; 4. 14C-Rick Conoyer[5]; 5. 18S-Jarrett Stryker[6]; 6. 87Z-Zeb Moake[4]; 7. 63E-Bret Eilerman[7]; 8. 27E-Tory Ernst[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Jeremy Pate[1]; 2. 58R-Ryan Hamilton[2]; 3. 787-Cody Zobrist[3]; 4. 14-Dalton Lane[5]; 5. 95-Rick Salter[4]; 6. 88L-Rob Lee[6]; 7. 52JR-Cole Knebel[7]; 8. 16E-Todd Eyman[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[1]; 2. 67-Austin Seets[3]; 3. 54-Zachary Hawk[2]; 4. 128-Zach Schantz[4]; 5. 66M-Jordan Meadows[5]; 6. 121-Deece Schwartz[6]; 7. 10-Bryan Leach[7]; 8. 00M-Brennan Meadows[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 2. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[2]; 3. E55-Chad Sellers[4]; 4. 3-Ryan Eilers[5]; 5. 21T-Talen Beard[8]; 6. 63V-Cody Ventimiglia[6]; 7. 5X-Matt Santel[3]; 8. 6G-Ashton Gaffner[7]

Qualifying A (3 Laps): 1. 24H-Mike Harrison, 00:14.483[10]; 2. 6-Jeremy Pate, 00:14.586[5]; 3. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr, 00:14.658[13]; 4. 58R-Ryan Hamilton, 00:14.689[8]; 5. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:14.725[11]; 6. 787-Cody Zobrist, 00:14.784[14]; 7. 87Z-Zeb Moake, 00:14.837[4]; 8. 95-Rick Salter, 00:14.843[6]; 9. 14C-Rick Conoyer, 00:14.976[7]; 10. 14-Dalton Lane, 00:14.989[9]; 11. 18S-Jarrett Stryker, 00:15.000[12]; 12. 88L-Rob Lee, 00:15.377[15]; 13. 63E-Bret Eilerman, 00:15.588[3]; 14. 52JR-Cole Knebel, 00:15.817[1]; 15. 27E-Tory Ernst, 00:16.600[2]; 16. 16E-Todd Eyman, 00:17.530[16]

Qualifying B (3 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney, 00:13.753[7]; 2. 36-Kenny Wallace, 00:14.024[4]; 3. 54-Zachary Hawk, 00:14.448[8]; 4. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig, 00:14.450[13]; 5. 67-Austin Seets, 00:14.461[5]; 6. 5X-Matt Santel, 00:14.752[12]; 7. 128-Zach Schantz, 00:14.766[3]; 8. E55-Chad Sellers, 00:14.972[2]; 9. 66M-Jordan Meadows, 00:15.125[14]; 10. 3-Ryan Eilers, 00:15.140[10]; 11. 121-Deece Schwartz, 00:15.206[6]; 12. 63V-Cody Ventimiglia, 00:15.420[1]; 13. 10-Bryan Leach, 00:15.502[11]; 14. 6G-Ashton Gaffner, 00:15.853[16]; 15. 00M-Brennan Meadows, 00:15.920[15]; 16. (DNS) 21T-Talen Beard