Wheatland, MO (September 1, 2023) – Tyler Stevens jumped when the opportunity presented itself on Friday night at the Lucas Oil Speedway, and became the newest driver to visit Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Victory Lane.

Current Lucas Oil MLRA point leader Chad Simpson came out of the gates hot during night # 1 of the Ron Jenkins Memorial, picking up his first MyRacePass Quick Time Award of the season with a lap of 15.591 seconds, followed by winning his respective heat race to put himself on the pole for the 30 lap main event. 

The nights only caution came out on the initial start when sixth starting Cole Wells spun in turn three, setting up a complete restart. On the restart, Chad Simpson quickly shot to the race lead and began to stretch out a one second advantage over the field as he circled the low line of the Lucas Oil Speedway. Simpson would catch the tail of the field just before the half-way point, all the while Stevens was quietly running a mid to high line.

As Simpson crossed the stripe on lap 15 he dove to the bottom and was pinched into the infield tires in turns one and two as he tried to put the car of Glen Powell a lap down. The contact was enough to slow the momentum of the leader and allowed fourth starting Stevens to shoot by for the race lead off the exit of turn two—a move that earned him the Swift Springs Move of the Race.

Stevens, behind the wheel of a Longhorn Chassis, would officially take the top spot from Simpson on the nights 16th lap. From there Stevens reversed the roles and built a near one second advantage over the three time MLRA Champion Simpson. With 14 laps to go, Stevens still had to navigate his way through lapped traffic and at the line the Searcy, Arkansas did just that, collecting his first career Lucas Oil MLRA win by just .328 seconds over Simpson.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year Leader Dillon McCowan was able to work his way into a podium position at the drop of the checkered, marking his best career MLRA finish to date for the 19-year old. Outside front row starter Scott Crigler held onto fourth, while Logan Martin raced from 11th to 5th at the checkered.  

Chris Simpson entered the night second in MLRA points and was forced to go to a back-up car for the main event. The Oxford, IA driver moved up from 24th on the grid to 15th at the end to earn the nights MD3 Hard Charger of the Race Award.

“Man, you have no idea,” exclaimed Stevens in Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Victory Lane of his excitement. “We have had the worst luck this year. New car, new motor, new shocks, new everything and it feels good. We had a little bad luck at the Topless a few weeks ago and I knew we had a heck of a hotrod and we just needed to put it all together.”

“I thought I was a sitting duck,” he commented of the early laps of the main event.  “I knew Chad and Mason (Oberkramer) and (Scott) Crigler they all had 40’s on the right rear and I was the only one with a three, so I was worried I was going to wear the right rear out, but man the car was so good I just steered around there and didn’t really have to slide. I was pretty patient there and ran up behind Chad and he was pretty much committed to the bottom and then when he got to that lapped traffic I knew if he didn’t move way up and find that clean area of the race track that I thought I could roll by him.”

“They are awesome racers, the MLRA’s the best there is, they’ve proven throughout the the past few weeks they can go run with any of these guys and it feels good to be on top of the podium,” concluded Stevens.

For Simpson, the runner up finish was a bitter result to swallow, but it allowed him to expand his point lead with just five nights remaining in the season. “The car is good, we just didn’t quite get tight enough there for the main and got beat in lapped traffic. I got one back home a couple of weeks ago in lapped traffic so maybe that’s mine back."

“I just messed around with them (lapped traffic) way too much and when you are racing with these guys you got to go and if you try to hold up and try to pass cars it will cost you,” concluded Chad Simpson.

Saturday, the tension builds for night two of the 9th Annual Ron Jenkins Memorial. The Lucas Oil MLRA will battle for $10,000 to win in a 40-lap main event that will include an additional $1,000 Bonus to the winner courtesy of Mary Jenkins Holt, in Memory of Ron Jenkins, the original builder of Wheatland Raceway.

Lucas Oil Speedway Contingencies 9/1/23
Lap Leaders – Chad Simpson (1 - 15), Tyler Stevens (16 - 30)
Cautions – 1

MyRacePass “Overall Fast Time Award" – ( 15.591 sec.)
Performance Bodies "Performer of the Race" – Tyler Stevens
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race – Brandon Yates
MD3 "Hard Charger of the Race" – Chris Simpson (+9)
Swift Springs “Move of the Race” – Tyler Stevens
Sunoco Race Fuel “Rookie of the Race” – Tyler Stevens
Hooker Harness "11th Place Finisher" – Tony Jackson Jr.
PEM Racing "4th Place Finisher" – Scott Crigler
Sunoco "Engine Builders Challenge" – Modco Racing Engines
Midwest Sheet Metal "Points Leader Spoiler Challenge" – Chad Simpson
MSD Performance Holley: “1st B-Main NON-Qualifier” – Trevor Gundaker

Lucas Oil MLRA 34 Entries
Cedar Creek Beef Jerky A-Main 30 Laps | 00:20:15.259
1. 2-Tyler Stevens[4]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[1]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[7]; 4. 12C-Scott Crigler[2]; 5. 36-Logan Martin[10]; 6. 93-Mason Oberkramer[3]; 7. 98-Justin Wells[14]; 8. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 9. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[8]; 10. 50-Kaeden Cornell[9]; 11. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[11]; 12. 8X-Matt Johnson[13]; 13. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[16]; 14. 7D-Dusty Leonard[17]; 15. 32S-Chris Simpson[24]; 16. 15-Justin Duty[20]; 17. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[22]; 18. 11H-Jeff Herzog[19]; 19. 45-Cole Wells[6]; 20. 26-Glen Powell[12]; 21. 1X-Aaron Marrant[23]; 22. 77-Jeremy Petty[15]; 23. 96-Dalton Imhoff[18]; 24. (DNF) 1A-Bryon Allison[21]

FAST Shafts B Main 1 10 Laps | 00:03:32.160
1. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[4]; 2. 96-Dalton Imhoff[2]; 3. 15-Justin Duty[1]; 4. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[3]; 5. 33F-Rickey Frankel[7]; 6. 29-Chandler Moenning[6]; 7. 66-Eli Ross[8]; 8. (DNS) 3-Joey Smith; 9. (DNS) 10-Jacob Magee

Sunoco B Main 2 10 Laps | 00:05:18.711
1. 7D-Dusty Leonard[1]; 2. 11H-Jeff Herzog[4]; 3. 1A-Bryon Allison[5]; 4. 42-Johnathan Huston[6]; 5. 14R-Jeff Roth[7]; 6. 23-Chad Walter[2]; 7. (DNF) 1X-Aaron Marrant[3]; 8. (DNS) 22H-Dustin Hodges; 9. (DNS) 19L-Thomas Langley

Swift Springs Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:10:50.000
1. 25-Chad Simpson[1]; 2. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[3]; 3. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[6]; 4. 26-Glen Powell[8]; 5. (DNF) 15-Justin Duty[2]; 6. (DNF) 14G-Trevor Gundaker[5]; 7. (DNF) 3-Joey Smith[7]; 8. (DNF) 33F-Rickey Frankel[4]; 9. (DNS) 10-Jacob Magee

MD3 Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:58.000
1. 93-Mason Oberkramer[4]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson[2]; 3. 36-Logan Martin[1]; 4. 98-Justin Wells[3]; 5. 96-Dalton Imhoff[5]; 6. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[7]; 7. 29-Chandler Moenning[8]; 8. 66-Eli Ross[6]

Midwest Sheet Metal Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:02:44.000
1. 12C-Scott Crigler[2]; 2. 45-Cole Wells[1]; 3. 50-Kaeden Cornell[3]; 4. 8X-Matt Johnson[4]; 5. 7D-Dusty Leonard[5]; 6. 1X-Aaron Marrant[6]; 7. 1A-Bryon Allison[7]; 8. 14R-Jeff Roth[8]; 9. 19L-Thomas Langley[9]

Hooker Harness Heat 4 8 Laps | 00:07:47.000
1. 2-Tyler Stevens[1]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan[3]; 3. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[5]; 4. 77-Jeremy Petty[6]; 5. 23-Chad Walter[8]; 6. 11H-Jeff Herzog[4]; 7. 42-Johnathan Huston[7]; 8. (DNF) 22H-Dustin Hodges[2]