Dillard Is $20,000 King Of America – SPEED SPORT

WHEATLAND, Mo. — Crown him. Cade Dillard took command when it mattered the most and the veteran Louisiana driver staked claim to the USMTS King of America XIV on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Dillard made the big move on a restart with 16 laps remaining, supplanting race-long leader Tanner Mullens, and went on to capture the $20,000 prize. It was the first King of America victory for Dillard, who said he’s chased it for a long time.

“This King of America is something I’ve always wanted to win,” Dillard said. “I’ve won a lot of big late model races, but I love coming back and getting to race in Mod races like this.”

Mullens led the opening lap from his pole position as the field started three-wide, but it took only a lap for the first caution flag came out. The leader wasted little time opening a gap, as Mullens was two seconds clear of Jim Chisholm by lap 10 with Terry Phillips advancing into third.

The impressive drive by Mullens continued as the green-flag laps clicked away with the margin swelling to four seconds when the race hit the one-third mark on lap 20.

Mullens caught lapped traffic at that point just as Phillips took second away from Chisholm with Alex Williamson taking fourth from Dillard. On lap 23, Mullens’ 3.6-second lead over Phillips was wiped away as Steve Lavasseur slowed on the track to bring out a caution.

Chisholm swooped around Phillips on the restart to claim second. As those two mixed it up, Mullens took advantage to start rebuilding his lead as he was quickly about 12 car lengths clear of Chisholm.

Dustin Sorensen was the big mover of the race, climbing to fourth by lap 30 after starting 12th. But it was all Mullens at the front as he led Chisholm by 2.5 seconds as the field marked lap 40, though the seventh-starting Dillard made it into second by that point.

With Mullens dealing with lapped traffic, Dillard cut the gap to under two seconds when a lap-44 caution bunched the field.

Mullens selected the inside line for the restart it did not work. Dillard grabbed the lead on lap 45 with Chisholm also rolling past the race-long leader as the trio briefly were three wide. Dillard quickly opened a one-second lead by Chisholm and Mullens slipped to fourth behind Bobby Williams with 10 remaining.

Dillard, with a clear race track ahead, pulled away down the stretch and held off Chisholm to take the victory.

Dillard said his background of lots of long races during his career, in both modified and late model races, might have helped him as the race proceeded.

“Just fortunate to be able to race like I have, with a lot of long runs,” Dillard said. “We had a really good car and were able to maintain on the bottom. When we got to second and picked the pace up a little bit, when that caution came out I was able to hit my marks just right and got a good run.

“I know we went three-wide at one point and knew I had to shoot the gap at one point. I knew I could get out there and ride and keep it under me.”

Williams, moving up from USRA B-Mods this season, was third with Sorensen finishing fourth and Mullens settling for fifth after dominating the first 44 laps.

Twenty-six drivers started the 60-lap feature with eight rows going three-wide and the final one two deep with provisional starters Joe Duvall and Jake O’Neil.

Chad Clancy overtook J.C. Morton with 10 laps remaining and rolled to the $3,000 feature win for the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods.

Jon Sheets in fifth.

Rodney Schweizer grabbed the lead in the early going and held off some late charges and restarts following cautions for the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature.

The finish:

Feature (60 laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 2. 24C-Jim Chisholm[3]; 3. 1B-Bobby Williams[4]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 5. 02-Tanner Mullens[1]; 6. 20-Rodney Sanders[10]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 8. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[16]; 9. 25-Joe Chisholm[11]; 10. 75-Terry Phillips[5]; 11. 21-Jacob Bleess[20]; 12. 712-Trevor Hughes[19]; 13. 15WX-Kale Westover[13]; 14. 2SS-Mark Smith[8]; 15. 12-Jason Hughes[22]; 16. 15W-Alex Williamson[2]; 17. 65-Tyler Davis[21]; 18. 21K-Kyle Brown[24]; 19. 10B-Brandon Givens[17]; 20. 5-Reece Solander[18]; 21. 8-Kyle Strickler[15]; 22. 88-Chad Wheeler[14]; 23. 17-Henry Chambers; 24. 91-Joe Duvall[25]; 25. 0J-Jake O’Neil[26]; 26. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[23]; 27. 95-Keith Foss[9]