Drake Troutman didn’t mince words when describing Wednesday’s shortcoming at the Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts.

"I messed up,” the 18-year-old said quite flatly, frustrated over his ninth-place finish after starting from the pole in the 30-lap, $11,000-to-win feature. “That was about it to be honest with you.”

The Hyndman, Pa., driver had a clear view of what’d be the most significant victory of his fledgling Dirt Late Model career. But on the initial start, Troutman was immediately swallowed up by the trio of veterans behind him — namely Bobby Pierce, Shannon Babb, and Tyler Erb.

Before he could even gain his bearings exiting the opening corner, he was left fighting to hold onto fourth. And then fifth … and sixth … and so on and so forth.

“I was trying to go in there and slide Bobby the first turn. We went in there pretty even,” Troutman said. “Then I tried to fight to the bottom and I was off the bottom already. Shannon was up under me by then. It was kind of too late. So I fell to third. Then I saw Bobby was running the middle to top line, so I slipped up there and ran back to fifth.

“Then we had the ole restart (on lap 10 for Kyle Larson). I went from fifth to ninth because I hung out on the top. Literally everything that happened is 100 percent absolutely my fault. And it is what it is.”

WATCH: Highlights from Wednesday's third-round Wild West Shootout action at Vado Speedway Park.

Troutman knew it’d be a tall order to jump ahead of Pierce on the initial start and beat the 34-time winner last year — and already two-time winner this year — to the top side before the race’s second corner. But he felt he could execute that game plan, even if he has to face the reality that in his sophomore season racing on the road there’ll be growing pains of that nature.

“Yeah. Yeah, I don’t know. I knew better than to do that,” Troutman said. “Just really aggravating because we had a really good race car tonight to be honest with you. Just my mistake screwed us. It messed us up. It’s a frustrating deal. I’m a little irritated because I know we had a good race car tonight and I screwed up. And it cost us the night, really.

To be clear, Troutman’s less frustrated that he couldn’t beat Pierce on the initial start and more upset that he didn’t protect the bottom (“Absolutely,” Troutman emphasized). Once Pierce had Troutman beat on the start, the next play would be to scurry down the racetrack quick enough to keep two of the sport’s frontrunners — Babb and Erb — behind him.

But Babb, who’s gotten up to speed himself in his first trip to the fast-paced 3/8-mile oval, had shoved his nose to Troutman’s inside and by then it was too late.

“I’m just really irritated with myself, not anyone else,” Troutman said. “Not the car’s fault. It’s my fault.”

Troutman’s not wallowing in self-pity, only venting a little bit over the missed opportunity to truly showcase his maturing, yet still evidently green and growing, ability at the wheel of a race car.

Last year, he put his nose to the proverbial grindstone and raced as much as any driver in the nation, racing more than 120 events between the Dirt Late Model and modified, which is right up there with Ricky Thornton Jr.’s volume of races.

He collected six Super Late Model wins — two paying more than $10,000 — and between his modified triumphs he surpassed 20 dirt-track feature wins on the year. The success, on the Late Model side at least, made him one of five DirtonDirt.com's breakout drivers.

Perhaps the most dazzling of accomplishments is his Gateway Dirt Nationals victory in the modified, the invite-only December event in which he fended off one of the discipline’s GOATs in Mike Harrison.

WATCH: Drake Troutman discusses December's Gateway Dirt Nationals victory in the Modified.

Two months prior, Troutman announced a deal with Fort Worth, Texas, car owner Chris Bragg — the father of Tyler Bragg, a crewman on Jonathan Davenport’s Double L Motorsports team — sparking his most advantageous opportunity to date.

“I’m in some of the best equipment now, and I can’t thank Chris enough for the opportunity,” Troutman said. “We’ve always wanted to come down (to the Wild West Shootout). It’s looked really cool. Happy that we’re able to make the trip. Couldn’t thank Chris enough for the opportunity to come down.”

What’s Troutman’s potential in a Dirt Late Model? First impressions suggest its quite high, but the reality is he’s still a teenager still gaining his footing in a sport ruled by veterans and drivers who have been on the grind much longer he has. Detailing Hudson O’Neal’s rise is a good example.

It took the 23-year-old O’Neal five seasons into his traveling Dirt Late Model career to enjoy the standout season from a year ago: 15 wins and a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship. From 2018 through ’20, the current Rocket1 Racing driver won eight times, years were purposeful in his development when looking back now.

There are countless other examples in the sport, like Thornton only winning marginally in a Late Model his first five years to exploding for 34 wins last year, where a driver has clear untapped potential and simply needs time to fill out in stature.

“I hope they’re right. It definitely means a lot,” Troutman said of onlookers lauding his potential in the sport. “Growing up — I’m only 18 — so I’ve been watching these guys since I’ve been (little). I was playing with Matchbox cars whenever I was 3 or 4 years old. They’re my heroes. Now here I am getting to race with them. It’s really cool. It still seems unreal when you’re racing with these guys. You look over and you’re racing with Mike Marlar or Jonathan Davenport. It’s awesome.”

Last year was an identity-forming year for Troutman, who lost more races than he can count on two hands because of some kind of misstep along the way, whether that’s blown tires, running so hard around the top he’d “knock the spoiler off” and mess up components in the rear-end, or not pace himself well.

“Honestly, last year I feel like was the first year I figured out where I liked to drive, you know what I mean?” Troutman said. “Going out there to Illinois and racing all summer definitely helped out my driving style a lot. I learned a lot. Had a lot of ups and downs.

But I learned a lot. I think it helped me maybe calm down a little bit, too, just because you can’t knock the spoiler off of it every night. Just learning a lot … these race cars are finicky.”

Troutman’s other two races at the Wild West Shootout have handed him finishes of 21st and 12th. On the first night, he couldn’t finish all 40 laps because of a faulty engine belt. On Sunday, he salvaged 12th after starting 22nd and transferring through the B main.

Then, on the third night, he won his heat race, drew the pole, and had been ready as ever to go pound-for-pound with Pierce on the front row. He may have not put up the fight he hoped for on Wednesday, but at least he’s getting a gauge at where he’d ultimately like to be one day, pulling his weight with the sport’s absolute best.

“He’s definitely tough right now,” Troutman said of Pierce. “Between him and Ricky Thornton, they pretty much have it covered. Hopefully we can keep digging here and get to the point where, I don’t want to say we’re not competitive with those guys, but we’re not quite there yet. And tonight we might’ve been other than my mistakes. Hopefully we can reach the point we can race with those guys, whether it’s the drivers fault or we missed the setup a little bit.

“Like you said, if we get everything clicking, we can make it happen.”