O'Neal Wins Third Straight Lucas Race Takes Point Lead

Photo Credit - Heath Lawson

Hudson O'Neal of Martinsville , In retook the lead from Jonathan Davenport on lap 27 then held on a hard charging Brandon Overton to pick up his third Lucas Oil win of the 2023 season and took the point lead from fellow Martinsville,IN driver Ricky Thornton Jr.

The rescheduled Buckeye Spring 50 and the All Star Circuit of Sprint Cars had a rare combined event and was a huge success as the stands were packed on a Thursday night in Alma,OH. 42 Super Late Models and 42 Sprint Cars filled the Atomic Speedway pits and after qualifying was done Hudson O'Neal topped Group A while Jonathan Davenport would stand on top of Group B and overall fastest qualifier.

Hudson would take the first heat race win earning him the pole for the 50 lap $12,000 main event. Tyler Erb would cross the line first in heat race 2 but failed the post heat race droop test and had to run the B Main giving up what would have been starting third in the feature. The DQ gave Earl Pearson Jr the heat race win. Heat 3 went to "Superman" as Brandon Overton took the win in heat race 4.

B Main wins went to Tyler Erb and reigning Lucas Oil point champion Tim McCreadie as Devin Moran , Ross Robinson , Spencer Hughes , Logan Roberson , and Rod Conley would take provisionals.

O'Neal and JD would fire off battling for the lead as the green flag waved with the Rocket 1 leading lap 1 but "The 2 Million Dollar Man" would take the lead on lap 2. Lap 8 would have Brandon Overton work underneath O'Neal for the runner up spot as most of the cars were running the cushion all the way around the track.

The only caution would wave on lap 10 as Mike Marlar just went around point leader Ricky Thornton Jr then going into turn 4 the 157 cut down the turn as Thornton was anticipating Marlar staying high making contact resulting RTJ to spin out. Marlar would later take blame of the incident. Thornton made a nice recovery from the rear to finish 11th in the final rundown.

The green replaced the yellow with Davenport blasting away with the lead then on lap 12 Hudson would go back around Overton for the runner up spot setting his sights back to the leader. On lap 17 the younger Marlar , Camaron , made his appearance into the top 5 passing Josh Rice.

Lap 22 as Davenport was working the back of the field O'Neal was starting to reel in the leader. O'Neal appeared to be the faster car and able to move around better than Davenport as he was looking for the right opportunity to make his move.

Halfway point still had Davenport holding off O'Neal , Overton , and the Marlar Brothers rounding out the top 5.

Lap 27 Hudson moved outside at the flagstand to retake the lead as Overton took over 2nd on lap 33. Mike Marlar would take 3rd on lap 37 as Kyle Larson moved around brother Camaraon for 5th after picking up the win in the Sprint Car feature before jumping back into the Rumley Late Model.

Larson would take over 4th from Davenport with 10 to go from his 14th starting spot as you could throw a blanket over the top 3. 3 laps to go Overton would make a serious threat for the race lead but was unable to find enough speed for the win as O'Neal would cross the checkers by .303 over Overton , Larson , and Davenport.

Photo Credit - Tyler Carr Racing Photos

BUCKEYE SPRING 50 RESULTS

1) O'NEAL

2) OVERTON

3) M.MARLAR

4) LARSON

5) DAVENPORT

6) ERB

7) C.MARLAR

8) BLAIR (HARD CHARGER)

9) RICE

10) MCCREADIE

11) THORNTON

12) PEARSON

13) FORD

14) CARPENTER

15) OWENS

16) BRUENING

17) WILSON

18) HUGHES

19) ROBINSON

20) BRIGGS

21) SMITH

22) MORAN

23) ALBERSON

24) CONLEY

25) ROBERSON

26) STRICKER

27) BRENNAN

The series hasn't raced since February 10th in Florida after numerous rain outs and cancellations but the win was O'Neal's 3rd win in a row as the 22 year old will go into tonights race at Ponderosa Speedway as the new point leader. Follow along with all news, schedules,and results at www.lucasdirt.com all races can be seen live on FloRacing