Justin Peck Completes Sweep of Volusia, Crowned DIRTcar Nationals Champion
As Justin Peck lined up eighth on the starting grid of Saturday’s main event, the Sprint Car world watched intently as he attempted a third win in three nights. Thirty laps later, all doubters were silenced.
Peck, 27, of Monrovia, IN, completed a sweep of the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour action at Volusia Speedway Park, leading the final 14 laps of the Feature to claim the $12,000 grand prize and the Big Gator trophy as division champion of the 54th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.
In doing so, Peck became the third driver in ASCS National Tour history to win the first three races of the season, joining Jason Martin (2023) and Sam Hafertepe Jr, who won the first five races in 2017.
Unlike his wins on Thursday and Friday, Peck was forced to come from deeper in the field on Saturday after drawing the ‘10’ pill in the Dash Draw. He was able to move forward two spots in the Dash to put him eighth on the Feature starting grid. Still, Peck and the Rudeen Racing No. 26 refused to be hindered, driving by four of the seven cars ahead of him on the first lap.
“Basically, what happened was, the whole outside row let go to the middle–bottom and I was able to kinda have the top lane to myself in (Turns) 1 and 2,” Peck said. “That was kinda my plan to try to pick off a car or two in Turns 1 and 2 and then just kinda file out and pick them off as we went. Luckily, it worked out. I was able to pick off four of them right off the rip.”
After getting around polesitter Austin McCarl for second on Lap 9, Peck set his sights on leader Brian Brown and quickly took the spot away with a single slide job maneuver in Turn 1 on Lap 16.
“I was able to get such a run on him off of (Turn) 2 that I was way too close to him, and it was such a slick transition to try and to go from the top off of 2 to get to the bottom down into 3,” Peck said. “I could carry enough momentum, but I’d spun my tires through that slick trying to peel across. I just had to set that gap going down the backstretch, that way I could get into 3 with clean air and try to get that big run down the frontstretch. Luckily, I was able to time it pretty good.”
“When (Peck) passed me, within reason, he made a really good move and cleared three lapped cars at the same time and that really was a race-winning move because now I have to race those lapped cars,” Brown, of Higginsville, MO, said.
Brown and the rest of the field got one final chance to make a bid for the lead when the caution flag was displayed with three laps left, erasing the near six-second lead Peck had amassed. However, not to be denied, Peck sped off before his opponents could catch him on the restart.
“I knew I needed to get a good restart and get down the frontstretch with speed, that way I didn’t open myself up for the slider,” Peck said of having Brown behind him. “It was such a slick bottom–middle that if I just had speed going down the frontstretch, I figured I was probably gonna be fine because there wasn’t any traffic. There wasn’t any dirty air, and Brian (Brown) had to be in my dirty air.”
Brown crossed the stripe second, and while he applauded his team’s efforts over the three-day stretch, he conceded to Peck.
“He’s been the class of the field since we unloaded on Thursday,” Brown said. “I thought maybe with him getting buried — he’s been close to the front the last two nights, so I was thinking maybe a bad pill draw in the Dash and then him getting a row there and having him start eighth — I was thinking it would take him too long to get there.”
McCarl was able to hold onto the third spot after a fierce battle with Cole Macedo in the closing laps.
“Lapped traffic got hairy, and me and Cole had a couple really good sliders, damn near banging wheels off of (Turn) 2 one time up in the stuff,” McCarl, of Altoona, IA, said. “That’s what this place should be. You watch a lot of old videos and it’s wide up on the fence. I’ve always said I thought Volusia was one of the most underrated tracks in the country.”
Two-time Tour champion Blake Hahn earned the Hard Charger honors, gaining eight spots of position in his drive from 21st up to 13th. Peck was the winner of Heat 1, Axsom won Heat 2, Scotty Thiel won Heat 3, McCarl won Heat 4 and Sam Hafertepe Jr. won Heat 5. Hahn also won the Smith Titanium Last Chance Showdown.
UP NEXT
The ASCS National Tour resumes competition on Saturday, April 12 at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Salina, OK. Tickets for the event will be sold at the gate. If you can’t be there, watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view all here)
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[8]; 2. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 3. 88-Austin McCarl[1]; 4. 2C-Cole Macedo[7]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich[6]; 6. 51T-Scotty Thiel[5]; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 8. 44-Chris Martin[11]; 9. 20-Brady Bacon[9]; 10. 27A-Emerson Axsom[3]; 11. 36-Jason Martin[12]; 12. 28F-Davie Franek[13]; 13. 52-Blake Hahn[21]; 14. 2J-Zach Blurton[18]; 15. 24M-Danny Martin Jr[14]; 16. 34-Sterling Cling[16]; 17. 95-Matt Covington[22]; 18. 88R-Ryder Laplante[15]; 19. 6G-Bryan Gossel[23]; 20. 4-Cameron Martin[19]; 21. 16TH-Kevin Newton[17]; 22. 63-Josh Weller[20]; 23. 2-Whit Gastineau[24]; 24. 13P-Daison Pursley[10]
