BARBERVILLE, Fla. — In the most grueling stretches of DIRTcar UMP Modified racing in the country, few will survive and even fewer thrive.
Kyle Strickler and Lucas Lee were part of an exclusive group to do a lot of thriving in the past three weeks, and now wear the gold for their respective DIRTcar preseason accomplishments.
With three wins and no finishes outside the top-five in each of the five races he started at Volusia Speedway Park during the 52nd Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, Kyle Strickler clinched his first Big Gator trophy as points champion of the UMP Modified division.
Strickler, the 39-year-old dirt racer from Mooresville, NC.,. is the proud owner of three Big Gator trophies in his cabinet, but none were awarded for DIRTcar Nationals points championships. He garnered the golden, life-size figures by way of three career Gator Championship feature wins (2018, 2019, 2023). By Friday night, he had still yet to win one on overall event points, awarded for Feature finishes throughout the week.
As of Saturday night, that has all changed. Holding onto a five-point lead in the final night of competition, a heavy rain shower descended over the track, canceling the night’s events and cementing the points standings as they were to start the night – with Strickler on top.
Diving into the history books, it’s Strickler and Melanie Motorsports’ first DIRTcar Nationals points championship as a driver-team duo. Car owners Charlie and Melanie Donaldson are one of Strickler’s longest supporters, having been there for him since he moved to North Carolina over 15 years ago.
“It’s awesome for us to get our first points gator together,” Strickler said “We’ve won a lot of big races together, and it’s awesome for me to finally accomplish that points deal. I’ve never really been a great points racer. Trying to put a whole week together with the format being a little different, it definitely changed things up.
“It definitely means a lot.”
In one of the most dramatic points battles seen in modified racing over the last several years, Lucas Lee sealed his second career Speedweeks points title by 26 points over 2020 champion Tyler Nicely and rising UMP Modified star Drake Troutman.
Saturday’s rainout was the final nail in the coffin for Lee’s two closest competitors. The three swapped points positions multiple times over the 12-race/15-day stretch, keeping the storylines fresh as they chased the $2,000 grand prize through three different tracks in three weeks.
Lee’s run to back-to-back Speedweeks titles began with a victory Jan. 29 at North Florida Speedway — a track he finished runner-up at on three separate occasions over the track’s four previous Winternationals events held.
Then it was off to East Bay Raceway Park, where another two feature wins greeted him.
A fourth victory came on the opening night of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia on Monday — four days before recording his best career finish in the Gator Championship Feature on Friday — a runner-up result for the Tennessean.
“My car was good the whole time,” Lee said. “I wanted to win all the finales, and we were close last night. Didn’t need lapped traffic.”
“All-in-all, I’m just here to race.”
Lee stayed out of trouble and put up three top-fives and four top-10s in five Feature starts to carry him past Troutman in the standings at road’s end.
“It is cool,” Lee said. “It just shows the equipment that we’ve got. If we wouldn’t have had that one mess-up there [on Tuesday night], I think we probably got us a Gator Championship or two.
“It’s probably one of the best times I’ve ever had here.”