BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Mat Williamson knows the winning formula at Volusia Speedway Park. And he executed it for the third time at DIRTcar Nationals Thursday night.
On a restart with five laps to go, the Ontario driver roared from fourth to first, passing Anthony Perrego with three laps remaining to score his first Super DIRTcar Series win of 2024.
“I figured my only shot was to Hail Mary it,” Williamson said. “If we came out sixth, we came out sixth. If we won the race, we won the race. It’s nice to get a gator and knock the rust off, and hopefully, we’ll walk out of here with a big gator.”
Jimmy Phelps and Demetrios Drellos led the field to the green in the 30-lap feature, battling wheel to wheel for the first seven laps as Drellos held the advantage. That changed when Phelps’ momentum carried him ahead of the No. 111 on lap eight.
While they battled for the lead, Perrego closed behind them, hoping to earn redemption after a second-place finish on Tuesday.
Perrego snuck underneath Drellos for second on lap 15 and set his sights on Phelps. He needed one more lap to take the lead, storming past the “Baldwinsville Bandit” in traffic in Turn four on lap 16.
From there, Perrego pulled away, seeming destined to earn his first DIRTcar Nationals win. But on lap 26, a red flag for Darren Smith, who flipped in turn one, changed his fortune for the second straight night.
That’s when Williamson made his move. When the race resumed, “Money Mat” stormed past Larry Wight as they reached turn one to take over third and stole the runner-up spot from Phelps as they exited turn four. At that moment, he pulled his Bicknell Chassis to the back bumper of Perrego’s car, letting him know he was there.
One lap later, Williamson’s momentum carried him around the outside of Perrego in turn four, taking the lead as they completed lap 27.
From there, Williamson cruised to the $6,000 prize, earning his 23rd career Super DIRTcar Series victory — tying Steve Paine and Tim McCreadie for 12th on the all-time wins list.
“I don’t know if we had the best car,” Williamson said. “It was the same as last year. We really needed to go hard into the corner and drive the wheels off the thing.”
For the second straight night, Perrego finished second, matching his best DIRTcar Nationals finish.
“When Smith got upside down, we sat there for a while,” Perrego said. “You can kind of sit there and watch the track change. I don’t know if the tires sealed up, but we definitely had something happen there. The car was never as good as what it was.”
Larry Wight grabbed the final spot on the podium — his second consecutive top-10 finish.
“I think I might’ve ran the middle too many times and sealed up the right front,” Wight said. “Then, on that restart, I was really even worse. But after last night, this was a good run for us, and we’ll take it. If we keep putting it on the podium, the wins will come.”
Jimmy Phelps, the JAM Performance Fastest Hot Lap award winner, crossed the line fourth for the second straight night, while Erick Rudolph rounded out the top five.
After two nights of action at Volusia Speedway Park, Williamson holds a four-point lead over Perrego in the chase for the Big Gator.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[8]; 2. 4*-Anthony Perrego[7]; 3. 99L-Larry Wight[5]; 4. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[1]; 5. 25-Erick Rudolph[4]; 6. 111-Demetrios Drellos[2]; 7. 3J-Marc Johnson[6]; 8. 9S-Matt Sheppard[10]; 9. 8-Peter Britten[12]; 10. 165-Rex King Jr[3]; 11. 2-Jack Lehner[13]; 12. 32R-Ronald Davis III[9]; 13. 16X-Dan Creeden[15]; 14. 91D-Billy Decker[11]; 15. 91-Felix Roy[19]; 16. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[22]; 17. 44-Stewart Friesen[21]; 18. 7-Rick Laubach[23]; 19. 20-Brett Hearn[20]; 20. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[24]; 21. 15X-Justin Stone[18]; 22. 7Z-Zachary Payne[16]; 23. 14-CG Morey[27]; 24. (DNF) 12-Darren Smith[14]; 25. (DNF) 58-Louden Reimert[25]; 26. (DNS) 32C-Justin Haers; 27. (DNS) 70A-Alex Payne