{"id":5045,"date":"2023-02-21T23:29:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T03:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/volusiaspeedwaypark.com\/?p=5045"},"modified":"2023-02-21T23:37:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T03:37:23","slug":"1huddy-oneal-gets-first-world-of-outlaws-win-becomes-100th-series-winner-mccreadie-awarded-big-gator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/volusiaspeedwaypark.com\/news\/1huddy-oneal-gets-first-world-of-outlaws-win-becomes-100th-series-winner-mccreadie-awarded-big-gator\/","title":{"rendered":"1HUDDY: O\u2019Neal gets first World of Outlaws win, becomes 100th Series winner; McCreadie awarded Big Gator"},"content":{"rendered":"
When the smoke settled, spectators were left in awe of another historic rocket sighting in Florida.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t looking to the sky, though. The mesmerizing visual took place in Barberville, FL with the \u201crocket\u201d landing on the front stretch of Volusia Speedway Park Saturday night.<\/p>\n
While hearts around the track took a breath to ease their rapid pace from the excitement, Hudson O\u2019Neal climbed from his Rocket1 Racing machine, slapping his hands on the roof, and exhausted all the air in his body with every yell as confetti levitated around him.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old from Martinsville, IN won his first World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model race during the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals finale and became the 100th different winner in World of Outlaws CASE Late Model history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool,\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cI came really close to winning these World of Outlaws races and for some reason never can seal the deal on them. To do it in the fashion we did and to be able to do it, it\u2019s cool. It\u2019s just more to do with Mark (Richards, owner of Rocket1 Racing) and the history that he has with the Outlaws. It\u2019s special. This is a day I\u2019ll never forget, I promise you.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal\u2019s space in Victory Lane was shared with 2006 World of Outlaws CASE Late Model champion Tim McCreadie, who clinched the 2023 Big Gator championship with his fourth-place finish. The Watertown, NY driver put together finishes of second, first, first, third and fourth to lock up his second Big Gator trophy.<\/p>\n
Like O\u2019Neal, McCreadie also made history as he became the first driver in the event\u2019s history to win two Big Gator titles in two divisions. His first came with the Super DIRTcar Series in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d McCreadie said. \u201cNot a lot of guys go out and venture to do something different. My whole career is about, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s go try and do something and have some fun with it and see if I\u2019m good enough to overcome not knowing what to do with a different type of race car.’<\/p>\n
\u201cHasn\u2019t always worked out, but to come down here (at Volusia Speedway Park) and get a couple of these (Big Gator trophies) with all these fans here, that\u2019s pretty cool.”<\/p>\n
When the 50-lap, $20,000-to-win, Feature initially lined up, the easy bet seemed to be on McCreadie, who drew the pole. O\u2019Neal, buried in 23rd after transferring in through a Last Chance Showdown, seemed far out of reach for for a successful takeoff.<\/p>\n
At the drop of the green flag, McCreadie launched ahead of the field, while outside pole sitter Chris Madden slid back to fourth in the first corner, moving Brian Shirley into second and Brandon Overton in third.<\/p>\n
The first caution of the night came at Lap 3 for a slowed Mason Ziegler. In that short amount of time, O\u2019Neal was already up to 12th-place.<\/p>\n
Once the race resumed, McCreadie left Shirley and Overton to argue over second place. Six laps later, he found the back of the field. The straightaway led he had over Shirley was cut to a few car lengths in two laps.<\/p>\n
Finally close enough to make a move, Shirley dove under McCreadie into Turn 1 on Lap 19, nosing ahead of him by the center of the corner. However, the #39 had the better run around the top of the track and gapped Shirley\u2019s #8 car by a car length off Turn 2.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal was up to eighth.<\/p>\n
By the halfway point of the race, Madden had found his groove again and moved into second. A caution on Lap 29 for Mike Spatola stopping in Turn 4 brought the current Series points leader to McCreadie\u2019s rear bumper.<\/p>\n
At this point, the firing of the thrusters on O\u2019Neal\u2019s machine could be heard as he sat fourth in line on the restart.<\/p>\n
Shirley and Madden wagged a war for second before Shirley began to master the top and try to run down McCreadie for the lead. However, again, he failed. That opened the door for \u201cThe Mailman\u201d Devin Moran to make his trek forward, bringing \u201cHuddy\u201d with him.<\/p>\n
While McCreadie was caught behind Jimmy Owens, Moran dove underneath the former Outlaw champion and snuck ahead of him to claim the lead on Lap 42. After another circuit around, O\u2019Neal also worked his way underneath McCreadie to take second.<\/p>\n
Staying within reach of Moran, O\u2019Neal moved to the top of the track while Moran hugged the bottom. When Moran had to wait on the throttle exiting Turn 4 with a lap car ahead of him, O\u2019Neal hit the hyperdrive and blasted around the outside of the #99 to take the lead on Lap 45.<\/p>\n
Moran tried to keep pace, but O\u2019Neal ran a perfect trajectory to the checkered flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, we took the green and I rode the middle and I felt like I could steer a little bit better than everybody could,\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cI started rolling around there and catching that middle and started driving by some guys stacked up on the bottom and the first caution came out [three] laps in and I looked up and I\u2019m running 12th. I thought, ‘Oh man, starting 12th is a whole lot better than starting [23rd],’ and we had a lot of laps left.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere for a while I was passing them, and I stalled out about fourth or so there and I just thought I don\u2019t know if I have anything for them or not. I used my stuff up hard trying to get there. I don\u2019t know, man, sometimes things just workout. Tonight, was one of those nights.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the milestone marks of O\u2019Neal\u2019s triumph, he also won the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award, rocketing his way from 23rd to first, and became the fourth different driver to win for Rocket1 Racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot, we\u2019ve always been a big supporter of the World of Outlaws,\u201d Richards said. \u201c(O\u2019Neal) makes the fourth driver to win for us. Bart Hartman won World of Outlaws races for us. Brandon (Sheppard) and Josh (Richards) won World of Outlaws races over the years. He\u2019s starting a new chapter for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That chapter will always be remembered as another unforgettable “rocket launch” in Florida.<\/p>\n
UP NEXT:<\/strong> The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series continues its 2023 season at Smoky Mountain Speedway, March 3-4. For the full 2023 schedule, CLICK HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision<\/a>.<\/p>\n RESULTS<\/a><\/p>\n Case Construction Equipment Feature (50 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O’Neal[23]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[8]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[20]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 5. 76-Brandon Overton[7]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[18]; 7. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 9. 8-Brian Shirley[3]; 10. 111-Max Blair[9]; 11. 18D-Daulton Wilson[11]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson[15]; 13. 19R-Ryan Gustin[13]; 14. 12-Ashton Winger[28]; 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 16. B1-Brent Larson[22]; 17. 9-Nick Hoffman[27]; 18. 18-Chase Junghans[12]; 19. 11-Gordy Gundaker[26]; 20. 25-Shane Clanton[6]; 21. 99B-Boom Briggs[29]; 22. 22*-Payton Freeman[30]; 23. 96V-Tanner English[14]; 24. 20-Jimmy Owens[17]; 25. 17M-Dale McDowell[19]; 26. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[24]; 27. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 28. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[16]; 29. 89-Mike Spatola[21]; 30. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[10]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the smoke settled, spectators were left in awe of another historic rocket sighting in Florida. They weren\u2019t looking to the sky, though. The mesmerizing visual took place in Barberville, FL with the \u201crocket\u201d landing on the front stretch of Volusia Speedway Park Saturday night. While hearts around the track took a breath to ease … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":5046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[214,212,137,3,220,20,105,48],"class_list":["post-5045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-brandon-overton","tag-chris-madden","tag-devin-moran","tag-dirtcar-nationals","tag-hudson-oneal","tag-late-models","tag-tim-mccreadie","tag-volusia-speedway-park"],"yoast_head":"\n