FARLEY, Iowa — Mike Marlar took the lead with three laps remaining en route to winning Friday night’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature at 300 Raceway.
Kyle Bronson led the main event until he suffered a flat right-rear tire under a lap-47 caution. Marlar led the rest of the way for his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season in the Truck Country 50.
Marlar is the 12th different winner in 15 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events this season. Tyler Erb finished in second. Bronson finished third.
Tim McCreadie, who pitted several times during the event to fix front end damage early in the race, recovered to finish in fourth. Ricky Thornton Jr. rounded out the top five.
Bronson controlled the race from the onset and held off brief challenges from Josh Richards and Marlar throughout the race. He looked to be on his way to his first series win of the year, but during a caution flag with 47 laps scored Bronson had to head to the hot pit for a tire change.
“That was a hard-earned win. I don’t know how that worked out, but we got it. I hate what happened to Kyle with that flat tire near the end,” Marlar said. “Kyle called me coming up the road last night and those guys have been working really hard to get better. He was hauling the mail tonight for sure. It was good to see him run so well like he did. Sometimes you run out of laps. I have had a flat with just a couple of laps to go before.”
Erb fought off an exciting battle with Pierce to pick up the runner-up position.
“We survived with a lot of patience tonight,” Erb said. “I was just trying to keep the nose on it. We have been running really good here the last few weeks. It was exciting for me out there for sure. Bobby ran a really good race. I can’t thank him enough for racing me clean.”
The finish:
Mike Marlar, Tyler Erb, Kyle Bronson, Tim McCreadie, Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Josh Richards, Matt Furman, Jimmy Owens, Spencer Diercks, Jonathan Davenport, Blair Nothdurft, Shane Clanton, Garrett Alberson, Jeremiah Hurst, Billy Moyer Jr., Chris Simpson, Tim Simpson, Charlie McKenna, Jeremy Grady, Stormy Scott, Bobby Pierce, Chad Simpson, Jesse Stovall.