Josh Richards put together a commanding performance over the weekend, as he swept both Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events.
Friday night, he drove to the win at Tri-County Speedway in Granite City, Illinois. He then broke out the broom on Saturday night, as he recorded the victory at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri.
On Friday night, Richards fought off a late-race challenge by Tim McCreadie to score the win at Tri-County, marking his first career win at the speedway.
McCreadie came home in second place after starting in seventh. Don O’Neal charged to a third-place finish, with Brian Shirley edging out Jimmy Owens on the final lap for to finish fourth.
“This is only about the third or fourth time I have ever run here,” said Richards. “There is no doubt that it’s a fun track to race on. There is plenty of room out there. I must thank my crew, Randall and Tyler, for the set-up on this Rocket Chassis. Our team gelled pretty quick and it’s only gotten better, especially in the last few weeks we have been running extremely well and a lot of that success goes to Andy Durham of Durham Race Engines.”
“It got a bit slick out there for a while,” Richards continued. “I kept searching for a line that would work best for me. With not a lot of experience here, you just don’t know where to run at certain times during the race. In this points deal, if you are going to win it, you should be consistent. You can’t run fifth every time out and expect to win a championship, you need to win races.”
Richards took the lead at the start of the main event and was never seriously challenged for that spot until with less than ten laps to go when McCreadie started to close the gap. McCreadie pulled to within a car length before a caution with five laps to go hurt his momentum. On the restart Richards pulled away from McCreadie and took the win.
On Saturday, Richards extended his points lead with a win in the CMH Diamond Nationals on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway. It marked his seventh series win of the year and his first ever at the Missouri facility.
Jimmy Owens looked to be on his way to another victory at the track, but Richards tracked him down and took the lead with eight laps to go. Owens then got too high in turn four while trying to get back around Richards and his car stalled with three laps remaining in the race. Richards then went unchallenged for the win.
“We weren’t very fast in hot laps or qualifying,” said Richards. “We basically went with the same set-up as last night, and then we made some adjustments. We weren’t that great at the beginning, but the longer the race went, the tires on the car felt good. I hate it for Jimmy though. I saw that he tried to get back by me on the outside and he got up close to the wall and the car must have stalled or something.”
The race went the first 57 laps caution-free until Owens brought out the only caution of the race. The long green-flag conditions helped Richards out he said.
“Jimmy was pretty good early, and he was so far out there, but he eventually came back to us,” he said. “We just have to focus on being fast, the last two nights helped a lot. It can turn around in a heartbeat.”
Don O’Neal finished in second, with Darrell Lanigan in third, Hudson O’Neal in fourth and Jesse Stovall in fifth.
For more information on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, visit LucasDirt.com.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Tri-City Speedway – Granite City, IL
NAPA Know How 50 – July 14, 2017
| FINISH | START | CAR # | DRIVER NAME | HOMETOWN | EARNINGS |
| 1 | 2 | 1R | Josh Richards | Shinnston, WV | $10,900 |
| 2 | 7 | 39 | Tim McCreadie | Watertown, NY | $6,200 |
| 3 | 9 | 5 | Don O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $4,300 |
| 4 | 1 | 3s | Brian Shirley | Chatham, IL | $2,750 |
| 5 | 3 | 20 | Jimmy Owens | Newport, TN | $3,050 |
| 6 | 4 | 18 | Shannon Babb | Mowequa, IL | $1,800 |
| 7 | 10 | 71 | Hudson O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $2,300 |
| 8 | 16 | 22 | Gregg Satterlee | Rochester Mills, PA | $2,000 |
| 9 | 8 | 1 | Earl Pearson, Jr. | Jacksonville, FL | $2,000 |
| 10 | 6 | 21 | Billy Moyer | Batesville, AR | $1,100 |
| 11 | 21 | 28E | Dennis Erb, Jr. | Carpentersville, IL | $1,775 |
| 12 | 15 | C8 | Timothy Culp | Prattsville, AR | $1,050 |
| 13 | 22 | 32C | Chris Simpson | Oxford, IA | $1,025 |
| 14 | 12 | 15 | Steve Francis | Bowling Green, KY | $1,700 |
| 15 | 25 | 82 | Billy Laycock | Marine, IL | $950 |
| 16 | 13 | 75 | Billy Drake | Bloomington, IL | $925 |
| 17 | 14 | 99B | Boom Briggs | Bear Lake, PA | $1,600 |
| 18 | 19 | 94 | Austin Rettig | Sikeston, MO | $875 |
| 19 | 23 | 32B | Clay Daly | Salinas, CA | $850 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg, TN | $1,825 |
| 21 | 5 | 14 | Darrell Lanigan | Union, KY | $1,500 |
| 22 | 11 | 36 | Logan Martin | West Plains, MO | $800 |
| 23 | 17 | 1S | Rick Salter | Highland, IL | $800 |
| 24 | 24 | 11H | Jeff Herzog | Herculaneum, MO | $800 |
| 25 | 18 | 56 | Tony Jackson, Jr. | Lebanon, MO | $800 |
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, MO
CMH Diamond Nationals – July 15, 2017
| FINISH | START | CAR # | DRIVER NAME | HOMETOWN | EARNINGS |
| 1 | 8 | 1R | Josh Richards | Shinnston, WV | $12,800 |
| 2 | 6 | 5 | Don O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $6,400 |
| 3 | 4 | 14 | Darrell Lanigan | Union, KY | $4,200 |
| 4 | 2 | 71 | Hudson O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $3,550 |
| 5 | 10 | 0 | Jesse Stovall | Billings, MO | $2,250 |
| 6 | 15 | 39 | Tim McCreadie | Watertown, NY | $2,500 |
| 7 | 12 | 28E | Dennis Erb, Jr. | Carpentersville, IL | $2,200 |
| 8 | 18 | 2T | Jake O’Neil | Tucson, AZ | $1,300 |
| 9 | 9 | 1 | Earl Pearson, Jr. | Jacksonville, FL | $2,000 |
| 10 | 3 | 15 | Steve Francis | Bowling Green, KY | $1,800 |
| 11 | 5 | 1V | Will Vaught | Crane, MO | $1,075 |
| 12 | 13 | 0 | Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg, TN | $2,050 |
| 13 | 26 | 20x | Rodney Sanders | Happy, TX | $1,025 |
| 14 | 7 | 15P | Payton Looney | Republic, MO | $1,000 |
| 15 | 1 | 20 | Jimmy Owens | Newport, TN | $1,900 |
| 16 | 14 | 3s | Brian Shirley | Chatham, IL | $1,000 |
| 17 | 21 | 32B | Clay Daly | Salinas, CA | $1,000 |
| 18 | 20 | 36 | Logan Martin | West Plains, MO | $1,000 |
| 19 | 17 | 5T | Randy Timms | Wheatland, OK | $1,000 |
| 20 | 19 | 22 | Gregg Satterlee | Rochester Mills, PA | $1,700 |
| 21 | 23 | 99B | Boom Briggs | Bear Lake, PA | $1,700 |
| 22 | 11 | 91P | Jason Papich | Nipomo, CA | $1,000 |
| 23 | 16 | 10m | Jacob Magee | Caney, KS | $1,000 |
| 24 | 24 | 43 | Jeremy Grady | Story City, IA | $1,000 |
| 25 | 22 | 75P | Terry Phillips | Springfield, MO | $1,000 |
| 26 | 25 | 56 | Tony Jackson, Jr. | Lebanon, MO | $1,000 |
