VADO, N.M. — The 18th annual Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts drew to a dramatic close at FK Rod Ends Vado Speedway Park on Sunday evening.
Almost all eyes were on Bobby Pierce as he pursued the $100,000 Penske Paydirt Jackpot Bonus in the Dirt Track Bank Super Late Model division presented by Black Diamond Race Cars.
The Illinois racer charged past Mike Marlar to the lead on the 14th circuit of the 50-lap finale and appeared to be on his way to both the $26,000 victory and the accompanying $100,000 bonus for five wins before disaster struck exiting turn four on the 43rd circuit.
Pierce’s right-rear tire went flat. Surrendering the lead to Kyle Larson, the pilot of the No. 32 ducked into the pits before rejoining the tail of the field. He was able to rebound in the closing laps to a seventh-place finish, which left him short of the bonus but did secure Pierce the $3,000 miniseries championship.
Meanwhile, Larson led the final seven laps to collect the $26,000 victory in the Rio Grande Waste Services 50 presented by Shaw Trucking.
He was followed across the finish line by Marlar, Cade Dillard, Garrett Alberson, and Stormy Scott.
“I was just making tons of mistakes behind Bobby (Pierce) trying to run really hard, I was just pushing too hard,” Larson said. “I think our tire selection maybe was better than his, is all. I got up underneath (Pierce) a little bit and I just assumed it was my nose that cut his tire. I hate that for Bobby, either way, I wanted to race it out with him. He obviously had a lot of money on the line tonight, too and if I couldn’t win, it would’ve been cool to see him take home that bonus money. It’s always fun racing him, there’s not many guys that can hustle a late model like he can.”
In the Shocker Hitch X-Mod division presented by Border Tire, Jesse Haynie overtook Josh Cain, who led the first 11 laps, to claim the lead and ultimately the victory in the $1,000-to-win finale. Haynie’s second victory in the 2024 miniseries came ahead of Cain, J.C. Morton, Reece Solander and Nick Rivera.
With his fifth-place finish, Rivera clinched the Shocker Hitch X-Mod Championship presented by Border Tire.
The Mesilla Valley Transportation / Border Tire Modified feature presented by Rancho Milagro saw Cade Dillard streak to his fourth win of the week, which led to him also being crowned the division’s point champion.
Gary Christian, Dan Ebert, Tyler Wolff and Rodney Sanders completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 6-Kyle Larson[4]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[8]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 6. 1-Tyler Erb[12]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 8. E85-Jason Strand[11]; 9. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[9]; 11. 7-Ricky Weiss[7]; 12. 18-Chase Junghans[19]; 13. 18B-Shannon Babb[10]; 14. 86-Kyle Beard[18]; 15. 25-Mikey Kile[15]; 16. 28M-Sam Mars[23]; 17. 14M-Morgan Bagley[17]; 18. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[24]; 19. 7T-Drake Troutman[13]; 20. 14S-Collen Winebarger[16]; 21. 10-Kaden Honeycutt[20]; 22. 13-Bricen James[21]; 23. 49T-Jake Timm[14]; 24. 32B-Cody Laney[22]