By Colby Trotter
Mike McKinney had been chasing Trevor Neville in the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals standings for most of the summer until he finally moved ahead of him Sunday night at Wayne County Speedway.
McKinney of Plainfield, IL, led all 25 laps of the Feature while having to persevere through a multitude of restarts. His win gives him a 10-point advantage over Neville going into the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway, Friday-Saturday, July 26-27.
“We had a couple of bad weeks there and lost a lot of confidence but never gave up,” McKinney said. “Got back in the truck and drove the miles and got to work every day. Went back to the basics on some things, started running better and got my confidence back. To be down that far in the past it would’ve been easy to give up, but we kept working hard and showed up to all these races.”
From the outside pole, McKinney jumped out to the lead on the first lap and was almost two seconds ahead of second-place Nate Young before the first caution on Lap 4. Cautions became the story of the race as three more came out before the end.
McKinney executed every restart to perfection until the last one on Lap 21. On the restart, McKinney jumped the cushion in Turn 2, allowing Young to attempt a slider in Turns 3 and 4. Young slid up the track but couldn’t make it stick as McKinney held on to his lead and avoided a late-race collapse for his seventh Hell Tour win of 2024.
“Those cautions were killing me because they kept breaking my rhythm,” McKinney said. “I jumped that cushion there in [Turns] 1 and 2. It kept getting slower in there and it was the first time all race I hit it and jumped it. Saw a nose there and knew I’d be able to get a big enough run down the hill. That was the one mistake I made all race and it about cost me.”
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals will conclude the 39th edition of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals at Fairbury Speedway during the Prairie Dirt Classic on Friday-Saturday, July 26-27. For tickets, click here.
Can’t make it? Watch every lap of the Prairie Dirt Classic live on DIRTVision.
Abbreviated Results (full results)
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[2]; 2. 82-Andre Layfield[6]; 3. 42-Nate Young[3]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[5]; 5. 101-Jesse Wisecarver[1]; 6. 28-Mason Lobb[8]; 7. S25-Pete Caplinger[7]; 8. 60-Jimmy Humphrey[10]; 9. 54-Zachary Hawk[12]; 10. 21C-Drew Charlson[9]; 11. 4M-Dustin Moore[16]; 12. 14-Dalton Lane[11]; 13. 23Z-Austin Wayne Self[4]; 14. 5-Ryan Markham[17]; 15. 16-Caden Alexander[13]; 16. 78-Richard Grogg[19]; 17. 185-Ron Miller[22]; 18. 36-Brent Coffman[14]; 19. 99-Casey Butler[15]; 20. 23D-Dustin Daugherty[18]; 21. 22G-Jesse Griffitts[20]; 22. 33-Robbie Ledger[21]