It took a bit longer than expected, but Josh Richards now has his first win with Clint Bowyer Racing.
Richards won the first feature of the Geico Clash at The MAG Thursday night, passing Tim McCreadie on the bottom in turns 3 and 4 on lap 11. He navigated lap-traffic and held off McCreadie for the win, also his first feature victory of the season.
“The car felt really maneuverable through all conditions tonight,” Richards said. “I’m looking forward to the next couple of days.”
Richards set a fast time in qualifying and won his heat race before starting on the pole for the 25-lap, $5,000-to-win feature.
Richards said he was nervous after drawing the first pill for qualifying.
“But then we go out in the first heat and the track was bottom-dominant, and we were in the spot we needed to be,” Richards said.
Richards joined Clint Bowyer Racing at the end of last season after winning the 2017 Lucas Oil Dirt Series Championship and finishing second in 2018 with Best Performance Motorsports. He won the $100,000 Dirt Track World Championship race in Portsmouth, Ohio in October 2018.
He entered Thursday’s race fifth in Lucas Oil points.
“We’ve had speed all year long, but it seems like the timing was off on our adjustments,” Richards said. “We’d miss just a little bit here and there, but tonight, we put everything together and made smart decisions.”
McCreadie took second, his best finish of the season and fourth top-five finish in his last five races. The New York native, who won the World 100 last season, said he struggled early in the season due to lack of testing and the number of Lucas Oil races that have been canceled or postponed due to weather.
But McCreadie was fast out of the gate Thursday, shooting from fourth to the lead on the first lap.
“I just planted it in the track really well,” he said. “Our car’s pretty in the track right now and has been for the last month; we just haven’t run many races. And we haven’t really been near the front to show we have this potential.”
McCreadie lamented the track taking rubber so early in the feature. He was equally frustrated he didn’t notice it sooner.
“Unfortunately, when you’re leading, sometimes you don’t know that it’s doing that,” McCreadie said. “My guy was signaling me, and I was thinking, ‘oh, but we’re so good, we’ll see,’ and once Josh passed me, I moved down and instantly knew where I should have been on the race track. That’s part of racing.”
Both drivers hit lap traffic around lap 12, with McCreadie reaching Roberts’ bumper several times. Passing, though, was difficult, as Richards masterfully varied his pace through the traffic, McCreadie said.
“I poked (Richards) a couple of times and didn’t think I could do that, so being able to race in the rubber a little bit shows we have a good car,” McCreadie said. “He’s a smart driver and knew what to do – slow the pace down and back us up a little bit – and that’s why he’s won as many as he has.”
Don O’Neal, Hudson O’Neal and Mike Marler rounded out the top 5.
Magnolia regulars Neil Baggett, Brian Rickman, Chad Thrash and Rick Rickman finished 20th through 23rd, respectively. Making the feature tonight was pivotal for having a shot at making the $15,000-to-win race on Saturday, as the field will be determined by points accumulated Thursday and tonight, when drivers will compete again for a $5,000-to-win feature.
In other race action, Spencer Hughes won the Mississippi Street Stocks feature. Chad Thrash, Jamey Boland, Matt Byram and Brooks Strength rounded out the top 5.
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