OCALA, Fla. — One night after finishing second to Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran came back with vengeance on Tuesday night.
Leading wire-to-wire with a convincing victory over a stout field of competitors, Moran picked up the win on night two in the K&N Filters Winter Nationals presented by Optima Batteries at Bubba Raceway Park.
Just 24 hours earlier Moran took the lead from McCreadie on the white-flag lap but slid up high in turn four, losing to the defending series champion by one car length at the stripe.
Tyler Erb tried in vain to catch the 27-year-old Ohio racer but came up nearly three seconds behind him at the finish line.
Ricky Thornton Jr, a winner last year at Bubba’s earned the Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race by taking third after starting 16th.
Brandon Sheppard crossed the line in fourth with polesitter Shane Clanton rounding out the top five.
Moran was in control for the entire race, taking the lead at the start of the race with last year’s finale winner at Bubba’s last February, Clanton running in second. Clanton ran in second until lap 15 when eighth place starter, Erb made his entrance into second getting by Clanton.
As Moran entered traffic with nine laps to go, it appeared that Erb would have a shot at him. A caution flag would clear out lapped traffic for Moran to become the second repeat winner of the season.
“The biggest thing tonight was that we didn’t make any mistakes,” said Moran, who won for the second time this season. “I talked to my dad today, I was pretty down after last night. He said, ‘We are all human and we make mistakes, just don’t make any big enough to cost you the race or affect the outcome.’ It’s so fun to run this good. They did a good job on the track. It was a little narrow, but if he works on it a little more, he is going to have an awesome track here.”
It was Erb’s best series finish of the year, coming home in second.
“I needed another lane and a horseshoe because he has been really good,” he said. “We are just happy to run second, we had a rough heat race. We ran fourth the first race at Golden Isles and we have only run five races, so I am not sweating bullets yet. We’re knocking down finishes that’s all you can ask for.”
Thornton, the reigning series rookie-of-the-year rounded out the podium.
“I was really good around the bottom early. Some of the other guys were tight and they would slide up the track. We got up to fifth and I was kind of content with that. I got a couple of lucky restarts there and we were able to get a couple more spots. This is a confidence booster after Golden Isles.”
The finish:
Devin Moran, Tyler Erb, Ricky Thornton Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Shane Clanton, Earl Pearson Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Chase Junghans, Garrett Alberson, Daulton Wilson, Jimmy Owens, Ross Robinson, Dennis Erb Jr, Tim McCreadie, Spencer Hughes, Kyle Bronson, Garrett Smith, Josh Richards, Dan Stone, Brian Shirley, Boom Briggs, Ashton Winger, Mike Marlar, Stormy Scott.