WHEATLAND, Mo. — Shannon Babb can now add a Diamond Nationals victory and a diamond ring to his already impressive resume. Babb led every lap en route to picking up the $40,000 paycheck in Sunday afternoon’s rain-delayed event at Lucas Oil Speedway.
A stellar field of 80 entries was trimmed to 26 for the 100-lap Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned second annual Super Clean Diamond Nationals, with fast-qualifier Scott Bloomquist and Babb leading the field down to the green. Babb immediately showed his strength by powering ahead of Bloomquist, Billy Moyer and Earl Pearson, Jr.
While a rash of early cautions kept Babb at bay, Bloomquist, Moyer and Pearson swapped second back and forth.
A lap-39 restart saw Babb on the point, with Pearson, Bloomquist, Scott James and Moyer in tow. As Babb weaved in and out of lapped traffic, Pearson shadowed his every move until lap 69 when a broken j-bar forced the defending series champion to slow on the track.
When racing resumed, Babb led Bloomquist, Moyer, Darrell Lanigan and Jimmy Owens to the green flag. Bloomquist slipped high in turn four, allowing several cars to pass. Moyer shadowed Babb over the closing laps, but was never able to chase down the driver of the Clint Bowyer Motorsports No. 18.   
Babb was the first to cross the stripe in his Clements-powered Rocket, with Moyer second. Lanigan, Owens and point-leader Steve Casebolt rounded out the top five.
“I’d just like to thank Clint Bowyer and this whole team for giving me a great race car,” Babb said. “It’s awesome to get this win and I’d like to thank Forrest (Lucas) for all he does to make this event possible.”

The summary:
Fast Time: Scott Bloomquist, 16.909 seconds (80 cars).
First Heat: Scott Bloomquist, Scott James, Jeremy Payne, Darrell Lanigan, Chad Simpson, Larry Campbell, Jesse Stovall, J.D. Hubert, Mark Voigt, Larry Clawson, Greg Larsen, Rickey Frankel, P.J. Haskins.
Second Heat: Will Vaught, John Blankenship, Dan Schlieper, Chub Frank, Freddy Smith, Brian Shirley, Shanon Buckingham, Scott Drake, Alan Vaughn, Wayne Chinn, Chad Frewaldt, Billy Peden, Stacy Taylor, Larry D. Clawson.
Third Heat: Shannon Babb, Jimmy Owens, Terry Casey, Clint Smith, Chris Simpson, Brian Birkhofer, Dave Eckrich, Billy Drake, Brandon McCormick, Mark Burgtorf, Ryan Dauber, Aaron Seabaugh, Davis Thomas.
Fourth Heat: Billy Moyer, Steve Casebolt, Michael England, Ray Cook, Wendell Wallace, Rusty Dukes, Denny Eckrich, Jack Sullivan, John Mason, Justin Fegers, Steve Hucovski, Don O’Neal, Brady Smith.
Fifth Heat: Earl Pearson, Jr., Rick Eckert, Josh Richards, Steve Francis, John Anderson, Bart Hartman, James Ward, Justin Rattliff, Larry Jones, Jeremy Grady, Peyton Taylor, Jason Sivils, Darren Miller, Bryant Goldsmith.
Sixth Heat: Jimmy Mars, Eric Turner, David Turner, Brantlee Gotschall, Al Purkey, Terry Phillips, Andrew McKay, Denny Woodworth, Steve Rushin, Randy Zimmerman, Shawn Harker, Brad Neat.
First B Main: Lanigan, Frank, C. Smith, F. Smith, Chad Simpson, Chris Simpson, Stovall, Shirley, Campbell, Hubert, Chinn, Larry Clawson, Frewaldt, Voigt, Drake, Eckrich, McCormick, Vaughn, Larsen, Birkhofer, Drake, Buckingham, Frankel, Haskins, Peden, Taylor, Larry D. Clawson, Burgtorf, Seabaugh, Thomas.
Second B Main: Francis, Wallace, Cook, Anderson, Gotschall, McKay, Dukes, Mason, Sullivan, Taylor, Woodworth, Jones, Grady, Hucovski, Ward, Fegers, Purkey, Hartman, Rushin, Zimmerman, Sivils, Phillips, Eckrich, Rattliff, Harker, Elston, Neat, O’Neal, B. Smith, D. Miller, Goldsmith.
Feature: Babb, Moyer, Lanigan, Owens, Casebolt, James, Richards, Bloomquist, Schlieper, Eckert, Rattliff, Francis, Blankenship, Pearson, Mars, Hartman, Vaught, Casey, England, Wallace, Frank, Payne, Phillips, E. Turner, Purkey, D. Turner.