Tim McCreadie inherited the lead with five laps to go after race leader Jonathan Davenport’s misfortune. Davenport appeared to be on his way to victory, but he hooked a rut in turn four which folded back the right front of his nosepiece causing his car to come to a halt on the frontstretch right in front of Kyle Bronson who did not have time to slow his car down. Bronson made heavy contact with the back of Davenport’s car which eliminated both from competition.
McCreadie, who was second at the time of the race changing incident then picked up the lead as he held off Brandon Overton and Brandon Sheppard for his second series in four starts this season. It was McCreadie’s 17tth career LOLMDS win and his fourth ever at East Bay.
Overton in the Wells Motorsports Longhorn now has three runner-up finishes in first four series events of 2020. Sheppard who won Tuesday Nights feature finished a close third to Overton. Tyler Erb came from the 22nd starting spot to place fourth and Brian Shirley had his first top five Lucas Oil finish of the year.
McCreadie and Davenport made up the front row for the 40-lap main event as Davenport was trying to duplicate his mid-week win from a year ago. Davenport would lead the first three laps of the race in a tight battle with McCreadie. McCreadie would gain the point briefly on lap four, but a lap later Davenport forged his way back to the point.
Dennis Erb Jr. then would step up and battle with McCreadie for second as they both trailed Davenport. Erb would grab the second spot for two laps, but McCreadie fought back as the two had a spirited race for second.
At the halfway mark Davenport was still in front, but by this time Overton had overtaken McCreadie for second after he started in fifth. A caution on lap 23 would bunch the field up as McCreadie would charge back to second this time around Overton. A caution on lap 28 would again set a race restart with 12 circuits left.
On the ensuing green Davenport would start to stretch his lead back out as a torrid race for second was going on between McCreadie and Overton. With five laps go Davenport entered turn four as he hopped in the air and when he came down the right front of his nosepiece folded under his car and he could not steer it and he was forced into the frontstretch wall. Both McCreadie and Overton dove underneath the disabled car of Davenport’s but Bronson had no time to react and smashed into the back of Davenport’s car.
In the final portion of the race McCreadie would go on for the win to maintain his series points standings. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the second time in 2020 McCreadie said “It’s such a pleasure to race with J.D. We became real close last year, and I was fully prepared to shake his hand here, because it looked like he had us just covered enough. It looks like there’s just such a bad hole off of (turn) four and the bumper drug it or something. I think the worst part about it is that you can’t see (the hole). It’s covered up with fine crumbs, so you don’t really know where it is until you get there. I hate it for them, because like I said, they’ve helped us tremendously, their whole team, and obviously our team with Gena and Donald, like you said earlier, Gena went home, and our prayers go out to her for her mother.”
“It’s exciting. I love winning, but you want to get it by passing the best. Tonight, we had some luck, and we’ll take it and go on to tomorrow.”
“The first night we started on the pole and fell back to seventh was a big shock, you know? Not that we were overconfident, but everything had come so easy (at Golden Isles), and then that night came really easy, too. Then all these guys showed us where we belonged that night, which was seventh. So, we went to work, and last night I thought we had a real big change for the feature that helped, and that transferred to today. I’m really balanced,” said the 45-year-old New York native.
“We’re tickled to be here, but we also gotta get better, because J.D.’s going to be foaming tomorrow.”
Overton like McCreadie is driving for a new team owner this year remained consistent with his start to the 2020 season. “As long as we stay up here, these top-three runs, the wins will come. The first one’s the hardest to get. I probably didn’t have a second-place car tonight, for sure. I couldn’t get through the holes and I’d get to bouncing and the thing was kind of shutting off and blubbering … just lucky to hang on to second. I hate that for J.D. and Bronson — that didn’t look too good.”
Sheppard’s whose win on Tuesday Night as the first this season for the potent Rocket 1 House Car fought and clawed his way to third at the finish. “It was getting better the longer the race was going. When the track was faster, (the car) was a little bit snug, especially in traffic there where we were slicing and dicing. The top was the most dominant and the bottom was going away in a hurry, so we got stuck down in the bottom on about every restart, which really hurt us a lot, especially early in the race.”
“Hat’s off to my guys. I put us behind there qualifying a little bit, and we were able to manage for a second place in the heat race. But with six heat races, that still started us 12th, so we’ve gotta try and win the heat race tomorrow and get up there in the top six.”
The winner’s Donald and Gena Bradsher-owned Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, Bilstein Shocks, VP Fuels, Sweeteners Plus and D&E Marine.
Completing the top ten were Jimmy Owens, Devin Moran, Shane Clanton, Mike Marlar and Mason Zeigler.