PORT ROYAL, Pa. — In his first full season in the potent Rocket Chassis house car, Hudson O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind., got rolling with nine victories through the late spring, setting up what was certain to be a double-figure victory season and more for the Mark Richards-owned team.

A summer dry spell — and some dramatic near-misses — slowed his winning momentum, but during the Rumble by the River on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Port Royal Speedway helped O'Neal get back to his winning ways.

One night after dominating a 25-lap semifeature, O'Neal raced to the front just in time in Saturday's 50-lap finale, sliding past Jonathan Davenport with six laps remaining and pulling away for a $50,000 payday and his fourth full-field Lucas Oil victory of the season.

The 22-year-old O'Neal never doubted his team, but it took some extra effort from the driver to give the Rocket1 two victories in a 24-hour stretch.

"Man, they gave me a great race car all weekend. We were able to get back in victory lane last night and I knew coming into the day we had a great piece," O'Neal said. "We just needed to play our cards right and the driver had to get up on the wheel a little bit there at the end — nothing wrong with that though."

The outside front-row starter took the checkers 1.808 seconds ahead of runner-up Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., while Blairsville, Ga.'s Davenport, who led laps 21-44, settled for third. A surprising Matt Cosner of Ridgeley, W.Va., just missed his first career podium finish in rallying from 15th to fourth while polesitter Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., a Friday semifeature winner and leader of the first 20 laps Saturday, rounded out the top five after slipping back as far as seventh.

Series points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. made a dramatic charge from the tail — because he went to a backup car after having engine problems he lost his scheduled fifth starting spot — but it all went awry with 10 laps remaining. Just after Thornton slid ahead of Marlar to take second, a caution appeared to erase the move, then Thornton's car stopped on the backstretch with his engine overheating because there was a hole in his car's radiator. He retired in 22nd.

While O'Neal was among the frontrunners throughout the race, but he slipped back to fourth with 14 laps remaining. He inherited third with Thornton's departure, took second from Marlar on lap 43 after a tussle, then made the winning pass in turns one and two on lap 45.

"I had to get up on the wheel. I was just so tight. Against that cushion, I was kind of afraid to run it that hard," he said. "It just came down and last 10 laps. I knew I had a shot if I could just run it hard enough and get a good enough run down the straightaways."

With the last of four cautions appeared with five laps remaining, O'Neal made sure that Davenport couldn't regain the lead on the restart.

"I'm thinking that I gotta get to good start or Jonathan's gonna return the favor down here after I slid him. I don't know," O'Neal said. "I felt like I tried to time it right with the (turn-four) opening down there and make sure I pinched the opening a little bit so he couldn't get under me. It worked out. I seen his nose. I just drove it off in there as hard as I could and hope it stuck, man."

O'Neal pulled away by more than two seconds, the biggest lead for any driver in the race, in wrapping up his victory.

"It was a long couple of months and we went winless for like two months — second, second, third, third, third, second, second, then we fell out of a couple of races I felt like we should have won, or at least competed in," he said. "Yeah, it's refreshing. I thought them last couple of lap, me running the cushion, there was stuff scattered down across the racetrack and I was like, 'Please don't have a flat tire.' "

Marlar, who called the track preparation "phenomenal," couldn't find a way past Davenport or O'Neal to grab a lead he was confident he could keep.

"My car's balanced really good, but it won't wheelspin good. When it comes to wheelspinning on the cushion, I'm just a little wrong there somehow. And that's how a lot of these races are getting won," Marlar said. "We're so close, so it depends on how it all plays out, you know. If we one or two more laps a few of them times  without cautions, I probably would have got the lead. I think if ever I'd got the lead, I'd have been gone pretty good."

Davenport kept his pursuers in check for nearly half the race but felt vulnerable in the latter stages in his Double L Motorsports machine.

"Them guys were just a little bit better than me," Davenport said. "I thought I was OK, then when Mikey could run a little bit lower than I could and keep up, I knew I was probably in trouble. And then Hudson could just run around the cushion a little bit better than I can. I gave it all we had, you know."

Four cautions slowed the action, the most serious on lap 27 for a three-car pileup in turn three of Mason Zeigler, Earl Pearson Jr. and Chris Ferguson. A lap-36 caution flew when sixth-running Michael Norris slowed. The third yellow appeared on the 40th lap when Ross Robinson got into the fence and the final slowed came on lap 45 for Rick Eckert’s flat tire.

2023 Rumble by the River Results From Port Royal

Pos    Driver

1    Hudson O'Neal

2    Mike Marlar

3    Jonathan Davenport

4    Matt Cosner

5    Brandon Overton

6    Tim McCreadie

7    Devin Moran

8    Cody Overton

9    Garrett Alberson

10    Logan Roberson

11    Earl Pearson Jr.

12    Spencer Hughes

13    Tyler Erb

14    Daulton Wilson

15    Gregg Satterlee

16    Colton Flinner

17    Max Blair

18    Rick Eckert

19    Ross Robinson

20    Jeff Rine

21    Kyle Hardy

22    Ricky Thornton Jr.

23    Michael Norris

24    Chris Ferguson

25    Mason Zeigler