Lucas Lee looked to be en route to his first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature win since 2022 Thursday night at Riverside International Speedway. And then, pop.
Lee, 36, of Paris, TN, had been leading since Lap 5 and was almost two seconds ahead of the field when on Lap 21, Lee’s left-rear tire went flat after contact with another car in spinning to avoid Greg Belyea, who had looped around in Turns 3 and 4. Neville, who had been chasing Lee throughout the race, inherited the lead and led the rest of the way to bank his third Summit Modified Nationals win of the season.
“I feel awful for Lucas,” Neville, of Mackinaw, IL, said. “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.”
From the outside pole, Neville took the lead on the first lap using the high side of the 1/4-mile oval and he stayed out front until a caution was thrown on Lap 5. On the restart, Lee got even with Neville with in Turns 1 and 2 and down the backstretch and then made his move. Lee dove down low in Turn 3 and slid up in front of Neville in Turn 4 to take the lead at the start/finish line.
While Lee created a sizeable gap between himself and Neville after taking the lead, Neville stayed patient on the high side to hold on to his second-place spot. When Lee’s tire went flat, Neville was there to take advantage for 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.”
UP NEXT
Week 4 of DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals competition continues Friday, July 5, at Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY. Tickets will be on sale at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 777-Trevor Neville[2]; 2. 13-Charlie Mefford[8]; 3. 96M-Mike McKinney[7]; 4. 94-Austin Rettig[16]; 5. 24-Zeke McKenzie[4]; 6. 9-Ken Schrader[14]; 7. 14-Dalton Lane[19]; 8. 9D9-Cole Hilton[3]; 9. 88-Shane Mendoza[18]; 10. 29-Colby Richardson[12]; 11. 23Z-Austin Wayne Self[5]; 12. 18-Clay Caldwell[17]; 13. 5-Dennis Kimbrough[10]; 14. 99P-Brandon Poppenheimer[9]; 15. 07-Jack Walker[22]; 16. 25-Greg Belyea[23]; 17. 12L-Lucas Lee[1]; 18. 52-CJ Davison[20]; 19. 54-Zachary Hawk[6]; 20. 6-Dillon Knight[11]; 21. 60-Blake Bass[15]; 22. 177-Johnny Gustavus[21]; 23. 0K-Damian Kiefer[13]