GIBSONTON, Fla. — Before this week, Victor Lee had never won a DIRTcar UMP Modified race at East Bay Raceway Park. He left the third-mile dirt track with a pair of victories, including Saturday’s $5,000 finale.
The Kentucky veteran hadn’t been to East Bay to drive a modified since 2001 and chose 2022 to make his return. But you wouldn’t know it had been 21 years with the way he dominated the final 59 laps of the 75-lap feature Saturday night, driving away from the field in traffic to bag a $5,000 payday.
“We came down here with high expectations,” Lee said. “Our goal was to win a race, but to win two is even better.”
Coming into Saturday, Lee sat second in event points after a win Thursday night and a third-place Friday, which locked him into the top-six redraw. He pulled the “4” pill and got a good jump when the green flag dropped to settle into second.
Lee stayed patient in the first 15 laps, then cracked the whip to maneuver into the lead on the bottom on Lap 17, getting around both Lucas Lee and Buzzy Adams. That’s where he stayed for the entire race – just as he and the crew drew it up before they went green.
“This thing liked the bottom,” Lee said of his car. “I knew that, so that was my game plan – to go way out and consistently run the bottom, try to hit fast laps, and that’s what we went out for.”
Lee ran the bottom almost every lap throughout all four nights of action and produced quality, consistent results – something he said he owes to the crew and their forward thinking.
“We got here early every day to work on our racecar and prepare,” Lee said. “We came prepared, and we tried to stay on top of it.
“All of our guys worked hard. We tried to rest up when we needed to and worked long hours when we needed to do that, so hats off to all my guys. Preparation is what helped us.”
Several caution flags peppered the final 20 laps of the race, making Lee work a bit harder each time. Especially when he came across the stripe to get the two-to-go signal and saw the yellow flag instead, making for an intense green-white-checkered ending. But even that wasn’t enough to break his concentration.
“The last two laps, I knew I had two more laps to hit my marks,” Lee said. “That’s what I set up to do there, so I felt comfortable with it.”
One driver right on his tail for the final restart was the defending Winternationals champion Buzzy Adams.
“I knew Victor, [Seth] Geary, and the 70 [Shane] Burrows all had a hard right-rear on,” Adams said. “We’ve never been able to get a hard to fire here, so I always run on a medium. Which is good for 10 laps, and then it just gets slimy. It’s a gamble. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t.”
For the fifth time since 2012, Adams finished second. However, with the week he had – struggles in his heats, a Last Chance Showdown transfer-in, getting caught-up in wrecks – he’ll take a runner-up.
“I was beating myself up all week mentally because I kept screwing up, so this helps,” Adams said. “It’s second, but against 60 other modifieds, I’ll take it.”
Crossing the line third was local racer Seth Geary.
“I was just biding my time, being patient,” Geary said. “Avoided a couple spins in front of me – one right across my nose.”
The finish:
Victor Lee, Kevin Adams, Seth Geary, Travis Varnadore, Alan Weisser, Devin Dixon, Bryan Bernhardt, Bradley Jameson, Dale Kelley, Shane Burrows, Aaron Branham, Chase Holland, Tyler Nicely, David Pollen, Brandon Hutchinson, Chris Wilson, Dawson Cook, Lucas Lee, Brian Skaggs, Brian Shaw, Tyler Clem, Corey Bevard, Drake Troutman, Seth Daniels, Patrick Passanise.