ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. – The eighth annual Dirt Classic at Lincoln Speedway takes place tonight in the Pigeon Hills.
Like last weekend’s 54th annual Tuscarora 50 up the road at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, a special format will be utilized. This time, the three-eighths-mile clay oval spotlights the All Star Circuit of Champions for the track’s Crown Jewel event.
Only five winners are in the event’s history books: Stevie Smith (2014 and ‘16), Brian Montieth (2015 and ‘19), Lance Dewease (2017), Tim Shaffer (2018) and Kyle Larson (2020).
With Smith and Montieth no longer racing, Shaffer out of town and Larson chasing a NASCAR Cup Series title, Dewease is the only past winner of the event to grace this year’s field.
The event’s traditional points system and double heats return to set the stage for the 40-lap, $20,000-to-win feature.
There is, however, one wrinkle compared to previous years. Instead of a full inversion from the first batch of heats to set the fields for the second round of heats, an eight-car inversion from qualifying will instead set the lineup for the second set of heats.
The event format goes as follows:
Time trials: Two laps, 100 points for fast-qualifier and a two-point reduction for every following position. (i.e.: 100-98-96 and so on)
Double heats:Â The first set of heats are lined up by time trial finish, with 100 points for the winner and a five-point reduction for every following position (i.e.: 100-95-90 and so on)
In the second batch of heats, an eight-car inversion from time trials will be used. Two-hundred points will go to the winner with a five-point reduction for every following position (i.e.: 200-195-190 and so on)
Feature lineup: Top 20 in points advance to the 40-lap main event, gridding heads up.
Racing is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. You can follow @ByKyleMcFadden on Twitter for updates.