Don O’Neal returns in an attempt to defend his Dirt Late Model Dream title and that $100,000-to-win prize, the richest in dirt late model racing.
“Whatever it takes to win,” the Martinsville, Ind., driver said, describing what can happen in those final laps. “It’s that simple, you do whatever it takes — within reason. You got the Eldora slide jobs — if it’s on the last lap and they come up a little, well, not quite clean — well, that’s part of Eldora. The slide jobs at Eldora are what made that place so famous, and that’s the way most races are won. Sometimes they come up a little short and you get the bad end of the stick, and sometimes it goes the other way for you.”
On Wednesday, the Prelude worked out for Busch and not so much for Kasey Kahne and defending champ Clint Bowyer. Kahne, who had one of the fastest cars, led 15 laps overall before slamming into Bobby Labonte’s late model that stopped sideways in Turn 3 on lap 25.
“I saw him but there was no slowing down,” said Kahne, who finished 16th. “That far down the backstretch, it’s like you’re on ice. I just slid across and nailed him.”
Bowyer, who led nine laps, completed 22 laps before mechanical problems left him in 19th.
As for Busch, who has five top-five finishes in six appearances, he ripped off the final 16 laps to beat Stewart at his own track.
“Tony is the best here. He loves this place. It’s cool, though, whether you beat Tony Stewart or whether you beat Jimmie Johnson or whoever,” said Busch, who inherited the lead. “It’s still a lot of fun to race these things and to put on a great cause. ... It’s cool to win this thing but I’m not one to gloat.”
As part of the charity aspect with beneficiary Feed The Children, the top 10 drivers get to send a truckload of supplies to the city of their choice. Stewart, who finished 2.283 seconds behind Busch for his second runner-up finish, said his donation was staying in the area.
“To see the turnout here, we’ll probably take the portion we got and help this area with it,” said Stewart, a three-time Prelude winner. “Feed The Children was very generous in letting the top 10 drivers have some of the proceeds to donate to whatever areas they wanted. I think I’m going to keep it right here around Eldora.”
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