With a camera and accompanying microphone suddenly in his face, Ryan Montgomery figured to leverage the airtime and create his own Gateway Dirt Nationals memory.

Right after flipping over in Friday’s prelim, the Fairmont, W.Va., driver landed back on four wheels and delivered a emphatic message to FloRacing pit reporter Blake Anderson, who asked the driver if he's going to continue or not.

“F--- it,” Montgomery started, “We’re gonna send this b----."

The 27-year-old later admitted “that probably isn’t the best thing to say,” but not without adding "I was so amped up with adrenaline, it just happened.

“Hey, if you can’t win it, you got to go make a name for yourself,” Montgomery added. “Like I said, we’re going to send it. I went up on the wall and ran it. The car was dead nuts on before I rolled.”

The don’t-quit attitude earned the 15th-starting Montgomery an 11th-place finish as opposed to a dead-last 18th-place finish. Those seven positions make a difference at The Dome. Montgomery lines up third in the fourth qualifier, behind Tanner English and Gordy Gundaker, and within reach of a top-two transfer.

For context, Thursday’s last-place prelim finisher, Tyler Carpenter, is starting fifth in the sixth and final qualifier. Montgomery made the ground up despite the damaged race car that had its steering knocked out of alignment.

“Before that, I maybe had a top-10, top-eight, car. It depends on what happens,” Montgomery said. “I flipped over and stuff happens.”

The reason Montgomery ended up on his lid in the first place is because Carpenter broke a component in the rear suspension — the result from bouncing through the ruts of the fifth-mile oval — and spun in front of the fellow West Virginian. Montgomery then had nowhere to go.

He could’ve easily been more upset with Friday’s result. After all, he did start the night as the third-fastest in Group A qualifying and led the third heat until a series of restarts allowed eventual runner-up Chris Simpson an open door to strike. Montgomery fell from the lead to finish fourth in the eight-lap heat, which forced him to transfer through the B-main.

“It is what it is. It’s part of the deal, right?” Montgomery said. “You come out here to race. We’re definitely going to be here tomorrow. We can’t get out (and go home early), so we might as well stay here and run it. I have to tear it apart and rebuild it anyway when I get home. Let’s give the fans what they want. They came to see s–– and people wreck.”