Josh Richards Earns Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Championship
Story By: JEREMY SHIELDS / LUCAS OIL LATE MODEL DIRT SERIES – BATAVIA, OH – After capturing his first-career Dirt Track World Championship victory at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park, Josh Richards of Shinnston, WV clinched the 2017 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Championship.
Richards entered the season finale trailing points leader Tim McCreadie of Watertown, NY, by 40-points, but his $100,000 triumph and McCreadie’s seventeenth-place finish, propelled him to his first-career Lucas Oil title. He joins Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN, as the only drivers to claim both Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series championships.
“I don’t know if it’s quite hit me yet,” Richards said. “God is so good. I can’t even explain it. We made the switch last year, which was a very difficult decision. Eric and Kelly Brock, they gave me the opportunity. I didn’t know how we were going to do, what we were going to do.”
“But fast-forward to now, to look at the year we’ve had and to be in this position, I think it all hit us at once. We were so happy for the championship and I’m like, ‘Oh wow, we just won a big race, too.’ To cap it off like this, with this [throwback car] and everything … it couldn’t have been scripted any better.”
Richards reached Victory Lane on ten (10) different occasions and finished in the top five in twenty-eight (28) Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events in 2017. Piloting the Best Performance Motorsports, Rocket Chassis – powered by a Durham Racing Engine, the 29-year-old will collect over $75,000 in cash and other prizes at the series year-end awards banquet.
Richards’ #1 entry is sponsored by: Bulk Material Lift.com, Corey Frazier-State Farm Insurance, Alexander Lawn and Landscaping, Ultimate Firepit, Sunoco Race Fuels, Integra Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Riggs Motorsports, and Valvoline.
Tim McCreadie (NY) finished second, followed by Scott Bloomquist (TN), Don O’Neal (IN), and Jimmy Owens (TN) rounding out the top five in series standings. Sixth through twelfth are: Darrell Lanigan (KY), Earl Pearson Jr. (FL), Dennis Erb Jr. (IL), Hudson O’Neal (IN), Gregg Satterlee (PA), Steve Francis (KY), and Boom Briggs (PA).
