Tyler Erb Gets First Lucas Oil Win Of The Season At Muskingum County

Story By: JAMES ESSEX / LOLMDS – DRESDEN, OH – Tyler Erb earned his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2020 on Friday Night at the Muskingum County Speedway. The reigning series rookie-of-the-year took the lead from Jonathan Davenport on lap 44 and withstood a caution flag with two laps to go for the victory. He becomes the 12th different winner this year on the series tour. Devin Moran finished in second followed by Jonathan Davenport, Tyler Carpenter, and Hudson O’Neal.

Davenport started on the pole was hindered from running away with the first portion of the race as four cautions came out within the first nine laps of race. The race finally saw a long green flag stretch, and Davenport encountered heavy traffic quickly. Erb and several other drivers closed the gap on him, bringing chase as they maneuvered through the field of lap cars. Davenport held the point for the first 43 laps of the race until Erb passed him in traffic a lap later. Moran was able to also slip past Davenport on the same lap to gain the runner-up position.

With the win at Muskingum County, Erb becomes the 13th different winner in 14 appearances by the series at the Moran family-promoted facility. “I want to thank all of my crew. This deal is tough, it’s not easy. In all honestly, I think we have had a better year as far as being consistent than last year. We are going to keep digging, we want to get that orange spoiler before the end of the year.”

“This is almost one of my home tracks, I’ve stayed with Devin [Moran] several times. I have made many laps here with Donnie [Moran] to help me get better, but this is the first time I have turned competitive laps here. It seems like I’ve made 10 million laps here. I just want to thank the Moran family for everything they have done for me. This was my home shop for a while. This is just awesome,” said the 23-year-old Texas native.

Moran was pleased with his runner-up finish before his hometown fans. “The track was pretty good; it’s been 95 degrees all week. I was kind of hoping JD and Tyler would get into each other. I was going to roll around the top or diamond off the corner. Congrats to Tyler, he’s been like my brother for like the last four years. He’s never raced here, but people don’t realize he’s made a lot more laps than a lot of those other guys here tonight. I thought I might have had a chance with that last caution, but he [Erb] was so much better on the restarts.”

Davenport, the 3-time and reigning series champion came home in third after leading the most laps during the race. “When I got to those couple of lap cars, they moved up to the top where I was running which was the fast line to be in. Even so, we had a really good car tonight. I think it’s the best finish we have ever had here, so we will take it and move on to Portsmouth tomorrow night.”

The winner’s Eric and Kelly Brock/Best Performance Motorsports owned Rocket Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Roberts Bee Company, First Class Septic, Franklin Enterprises, Industrial Resourcing Group, Integra, and Valvoline.

Completing the top ten were Jimmy Owens, Steve Casebolt, Tanner English, Billy Moyer Jr., and Kyle Bronson.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Freedom 50
Friday, July 3rd, 2020
Muskingum County Speedway – Zanesville, OH

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Jimmy Owens / 15.204 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Tyler Erb / 15.544 seconds

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[4]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[6]; 4. 2S-Stormy Scott[3]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 6. 12D-Doug Drown[9]; 7. 71R-Rod Conley[7]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[5]; 9. 88-Dustin Smith[8]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 50-Shanon Buckingham[4]; 3. 28X-Tyler Carpenter[6]; 4. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 5. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 6. 16J-Jason Jameson[5]; 7. 2K-Kevin Smith[8]; 8. 57-Mike Marlar[2]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 3. 72-Michael Norris[4]; 4. C9-Steve Casebolt[2]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 7. 111-Matthew Lux[7]; 8. 24-Jerry Aber[8]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[2]; 4. 59M-Shane McLoughlin[6]; 5. 79-Kyle Hardy[4]; 6. 18C-Mitch Caskey[8]; 7. 17E-Lance Elson[5]; 8. 14M-Reid Millard[7]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 12D-Doug Drown[3]; 3. 57-Mike Marlar[8]; 4. 71R-Rod Conley[5]; 5. 16J-Jason Jameson[4]; 6. 88-Dustin Smith[9]; 7. 2K-Kevin Smith[6]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[7]; 9. 20B-Todd Brennan[2]

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 79-Kyle Hardy[2]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 4. 18C-Mitch Caskey[4]; 5. 111-Matthew Lux[5]; 6. 24-Jerry Aber[7]; 7. 14M-Reid Millard[8]; 8. 17E-Lance Elson[6]

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):