GIBSONTON, Fla. — More than once during Thursday’s 47th annual Wieland Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park, Hudson O’Neal exhaled a huge sigh of relief. He did so when he set the overall fast time among 63 entries and won the night’s fourth heat race, putting the Martinsville, Ind., driver on the outside front row to start the 40-lap, $10,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series main event.

He did again when, just as he began catching slower traffic and second-running Max Blair of Centerville, Pa., began applying pressure, the caution waved on lap 21 for John Henderson’s overheating machine slowing down the backstretch.

And finally — perhaps the biggest sigh of relief of the entire 2023 Georgia-Florida Speedweeks — O’Neal was able to exhale as he took the checkered flag to complete his first win of the season and first since joining the Rocket Chassis house car team back in the Fall. After a tumultuous start that included almost as many off nights as good nights, O’Neal finally steered the iconic blue No. 1 — now sporting a red roof — into victory lane for new boss Mark Richards.

“This has been a few weeks coming and I'm glad we finally got it done,” the 22-year-old O’Neal said in victory lane. “No doubt, the world's been lifted off my shoulders now. If we could get that first (win) out of the way, maybe they'll start coming a little bit easier or maybe a little easier for me. Maybe I'm going to take it a little easier on myself.”

The victory, his third career Wieland Winternationals win and 18th career Lucas Oil Series win, came 24 hours after he failed to transfer into the previous night’s main event, the second time the team has failed to make a feature race during this year’s Georgia-Florida Speedweeks.

“This is so cool man,” O’Neal said. “My team has been pushing me and pushing me and after last night I was kind of down, but man these guys never missed a beat. We got back and we started working. Man, they just prepare phenomenal cars and it's just an honor to drive 'em."

Aside from the brief pressure in traffic, O’Neal was never seriously threatened during the race slowed by four timely cautions. Blair, bidding for his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature win, stalked the leader over the final 20 laps, but after starting fifth, he settled for second. Polesitter Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., slipped two positions to finish third, while Garrett Smith of Eatonton, Ga., charged from 12th to finish fourth, passing six cars in the first three laps.

On a night when a bevy of heavy-hitters had trouble — Jonathan Davenport finished 15th after starting 28th; Brandon Overton, Brandon Sheppard and Devin Moran were never factors and failed to finish; and Ricky Thornton Jr. dropped out on lap 10 while running second — the top four finishers each enjoyed their best Georgia-Florida Speedweeks finish of the season.

Two-time and reigning Lucas Oil Series champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., — still winless this season — improved three spots to finish fifth, while four-time series champion Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., rallied from 18th to sixth, also his best Speedweeks finish of 2023. Even seventh-place finisher Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., recorded his best finish of the season.

VIDEO: Watch highlights from Thursday's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature at East Bay.

But while six of the top seven finishers were enjoying their top Speedweeks run of the new year, few were hungrier for a win than O’Neal, who sought to prove naysayers wrong after he was hired to replace Sheppard in the seat of the famed Rocket Chassis house car.

"I can't even begin (to describe it) man. The worst part is that I knew we had it in us this whole trip and just little things don't fall our way,” O’Neal said. “I was able to get the lead from the jump there and I knew that that was the best place I could possibly be. The way the racetrack has been and the way it moves around and stuff, it's just better to be out front. I knew if I could just try to maintain a gap and get ahead of them enough before I caught lapped traffic then maybe I could hang on.

“It was butt-puckered there for a while with some of those lapped cars. I was waiting for someone to blast around me on the outside. Man this is so awesome. I can't think the whole Rocket group, everybody back at the shop, Mark Richards, Danny, Joel, Austin, Steve Baker, my whole family … there's a whole bunch of them here. It's just really, really cool man.”

Despite falling a spot short after trimming more than a second off of O’Neal’s lead over the final nine laps. Blair was pleased with his runner-up finish.

“I just couldn't believe I was racing with Hudson O'Neill for the win at East Bay. That's pretty awesome,” said Blair, who mentioned after his heat-race victory how he remembered making to trips to East Bay with his racer father Rob Blair. “It's another good night. We've had a good car all week (but) the driver just couldn’t put a good lap together until tonight. We put a whole night together tonight and hopefully we can do that a couple more times this week because that's a lot of fun.”

RESULTS: Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at East Bay Raceway Park

Erb, the reigning World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series champion, was a bit more subdued after failing to lead a lap from the pole position. He lost second to Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., on a lap-two restart, gained it back when Thornton exited on lap 10 and then lost the spot again to Blair when the race resumed following Thornton’s departure. Still, after failing to make Wednesday’s main event following back-to-back fifth-place finishes to start the week, it was an improvement.

"We were good the first couple nights and bounced back here tonight, so we're happy with that,” said Erb. “It's all about a good qualifying deal and starting up front. We just needed to be a little tighter tonight, but we'll work on that and hopefully pick it up here at the end (of the week).”

Notes: Hudson O’Neal’s last East Bay Winternationals victory came on Jan. 24, 2021. He’s still 12 wins shy of his father Don O’Neal’s 15 Winternationals victories at East Bay. … Hudson’s last Lucas Oil Series win came Sept. 24, 2022, at his home track, Brownstown (Ind,) Speedway. … Jonathan Davenport struggled after getting caught up in a crash during his heat that sent him head-on into the turn-two wall. The team switched to a back-up car. … Brandon Overton didn’t make a lap in the feature after experiencing electrical issues on the pace lap of the feature. Overton was already behind after losing a driveshaft before time trials. … Brandon Sheppard feared he may have had terminal powerplant issues. … Ricky Thornton Jr. coasted to the infield with driveline issues, likely a transmission or rear end, he said. … The race was slowed by four cautions. … Kyle Bronson slowed on lap two to draw the first caution and Brandon Sheppard slowed in turns three and four to bring out the third. On the ensuing restart, Ricky Thornton Jr. slowed with drivetrain issues entering turn one, while Ross Bailes an Devin Moran tangled behind the pack. The fourth yellow flew when John Henderson’s overheating machine slowed down the backstretch just in front of a developing battle for the lead between O’Neal and Blair on lap 21.

The final two nights of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series action at East Bay Raceway Park can be viewed live on FloRacing on Friday and Saturday night. 

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