BARBERVILLE, Fla. — What a difference a day makes.
Twenty-four hours after bouncing over the guardrail, Dave Groves drove to victory in the 20-lap UMP DIRTcar Modified feature during the 37th annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park Feb. 11.
Groves’s $2,000 triumph came thanks to some misfortune suffered by Jason Miller, who relinquished the lead on lap 15 when his car slowed off turn two with mechanical trouble.
“We’ve been working on it all week,” Groves said. “Tonight, I said, ‘We were pretty good here last year, so let’s go back to what we did then.’ We did it and everything worked great.”
NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader chased Groves across the finish line for a second-place finish that moved him into the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals point lead by 14 points over 17-year-old Austin Dillon. Schrader clinched the title when the Feb. 12 finale was rained out.
Kent Robinson finished third, followed by Dillon and Jesse Stovall.
A field of 85 cars made up the night’s action.
The finish:
Dave Groves, Ken Schrader, Kent Robinson, Austin Dillon, Jesse Stovall, Randle Sweeney, Dave Hess, Jr., Denny Schwartz, Brad Waits, Kevin DeYoung, Jeff Leka, David Cain, Tim Hancock, Mark Noble, Jacob Hawkins, Gary Cook, Jr., Brian Strand, Brian Ruhlman, Kenny Wallace, J.E. Stalder, Jim Ransom, Shane Sabraski, Chad Evans, Tommie Seets, Jr., Darrell Nelson, Jason Miller, Wayne Troseth, Randy Hall.