ROSSBURG, Ohio — Max Blair of Centerville, Pa., notched his best-ever Eldora Speedway performance with a 13th-to-fifth run in Carl Short’s 44th annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship presented by ARP, but it didn't come quickly or easily.

As the track surface dried out, Blair's Centerline Motorsports Longhorn Chassis got better and better, and he was charging late, making up nine positions over the final 50 laps.

"We were terrible early. Once the top (groove) slowed down, we got really good at the end. I think I could roll that middle as good or better than anybody else could. I know it was 100 laps, but I wish it was another 50 more because we were getting real good there. I just wish it wouldn't have been so wet to start out today," said the 34-year-old Blair, who finished the season ninth in Lucas Oil Series points. "I knew by the end of the race it would come around. So our goal was just kind of try to stay on the lead lap until the racetrack comes to us and then see what we got. And that's just kind of what I did."

Blair started on the seventh row alongside winner Bobby Pierce, but while Pierce began working his way to the front, Blair was going the other direction. He ended up slipping to 18th after getting shuffled back on a lap-29 restart and he was still as deep as 14th at the halfway point.

"We had one bad restart and lost a bunch of spots on one restart," he said. "It just killed me."

But as the track dried out, Blair's No. 111 began rolling past the competition as he cracked the top-10 after the lap-65 restart and reached the top five by the 95th lap.

Blair added another solid position-gaining performance in a lucrative Lucas Oil race in the second half of the season. In the last seven $50,000-to-win-plus events, Blair has posted four top-five finishes by moving forward, the deepest rally coming in the DTWC.

In Aug. 10's Sunoco North-South 100 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., Blair came from his 11th starting spot for a fourth-place finish. In home-state starts, he had a pair of seventh-to-third runs Aug. 24 at Port Royal Speedway's Rumble by the River and Oct. 5's Pittsburgher a Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.

At Eldora, Blair didn't so much practice patience as wait for the track conditions to come to him.

"We weren't real good for a long time, so it's not really hard to stay patient when you don't feel very good," he said. "But that's one thing about this place is, once I felt like I got better and was better than the guys in front of me., it's never real hard to pass. You can always move around and just go where they're not." — Todd Turner

Disappointed Stars

Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga, and Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., stood side-by-side in the pit area after Saturday’s feature, two multiple-time crown jewel winners at Eldora that were far below their lofty expectations.

How did Overton describe his performance?

“We sucked,” the 33-year-old said in his typically no-nonsense style, shaking his head over his 21st-place finish.

And how about the 31-year-old Sheppard?

“The motor wouldn’t run right all weekend,” said Sheppard, who was running a quiet ninth on lap 97 when his car’s powerplant finally gave up completely and he pulled off for a 15th-place finish. “We changed everything but the steering wheel and couldn’t figure it out.”

Sheppard, of course, won last year’s DTWC at Eldora and was gunning for his record sixth victory in Carl Short’s major event. He struggled throughout the two-day affair, failing to put his Longhorn factory team machine in the starting field until winning Saturday’s Jim Dunn Memorial non-qualifiers’ race and bypassing the $3,000 first-place prize in favor of the 29th and final starting spot in the 100-lap feature.

The World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series points leader pitted during a lap-one caution period in the headliner in hopes of finding some relief for his ailing motor, but his crew didn’t have enough time to switch to their other MSD box. He returned to the track and managed to climb slowly forward to crack the top 10 on lap 69 even though he “just floated the whole race” with his engine down on power.

Sheppard’s 15th-place finish was his second result outside the top five in his eight DTWC feature starts since 2016.

Overton, meanwhile, started 19th after capturing Saturday’s first B-main in the same David Wells-owned Infinity Chassis he debuted with a third-place finish in last month’s World 100. He made some headway to reach 10th on lap 31, but he shortly thereafter lost a position and retired on lap 44 when he determined he didn’t have enough speed in his machine. — Kevin Kovac

Chamberlain's Private Lessons

Tristan Chamberlain's first start in the Dirt Track World Championship turned into a private lesson, of sorts. The 17-year-old Richmond, Ind., went a lap down to frontrunners and former national touring champions Tim McCreadie and Jonathan Davenport, but he didn't give up.

Instead, the rookie on the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series watched how those standout drivers were handling Eldora's tricky half-mile oval and picked up a few pointers on how to attack it. It paid off with Chamberlain posting a respectable 14th-place finish as he completed 98 laps, the most circuits he's completed in the few 100-lappers he's attempted in his young career.

When McCreadie initially lapped Chamberlain, "I saw him really running the top and then I went up there and picked up my pace a whole a bunch from running the bottom down here," said Chamberlain, taking a break from blowing dust out of his Wayne and Holly Gibson-owned team's transporter. "And then I saw Davenport got by me, and I saw how he usually diamonds the corner. I tried doing that but I was a little bit too free to do that.

"That's probably one of the biggest things, being able to be out here with these guys and follow them and see the different driving techniques that they have and see what works and what doesn't for me."

Even making the race was solid for Chamberlain with 61 cars in the pits and no possibility of a provisional starting spot in the Lucas Oil Series event.

"It was definitely nerve-wracking in the B-main knowing like I was in the final transfer spot, but we got it done and then I don't think I wasn't too bad at there in the feature," Chamberlain said, adding that racing midpack provides aerodynamic challenges. "I was just trying to keep the car clean and stay out of everyone's way because I knew they would be hustling with a championship being on the line. I saw McCreadie get by me and then there for a while I ended up following him and I didn't get passed by another car and I ended up following him for a while and was able to keep pace with him.

"Once I saw where they were running, it, it changed up my driving style. I really picked up some speed and there at the end, even though I was a lap down. I ended up passing (Mike) Marlar and Daulton Wilson. The speed was there but just being a lap down and starting in the back" was difficult.

Chamberlain, whose only previous 100-lap start at Eldora came in the 2023 World 100, is eager for June's Dream and a chance to complete every lap of a long-distance race at the historic track less than an hour from home.

"I'm excited to get back to the Dream," he said. "I can't wait to get back at it here." — Todd Turner

Odds And Ends

Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., appeared to be a contender as he ran fourth for laps 5-23, but he fell from the top five and steadily faded the rest of the way to an 11th-place finish in his 15th career DTWC feature start. He expressed frustration over his inability to whip up a setup on his Skyline Motorsports Longhorn that maintains speed for the entire distance. … Mason Zeigler of Chalk Hill, Pa., started outside the front row in the 100-lapper and ran second for the first two circuits but quickly tumbled backward. He was 15th when he retired on lap 37 for a 24th-place finish. … Eight drivers made first-ever starts in the DTWC finale: Tristan Chamberlain of Richmond, Ind., Clay Harris of Jupiter, Fla., Wil Herrington of Hawkinsville, Ga., Jordan Koehler of Mount Airy, N.C., Cory Lawler of Hanover, Pa., Brenden Smith of Dade City, Fla., and Drake Troutman of Hyndman, Pa. Chamberlain’s 14th-place run was the best of a group that saw none finish on the lead lap. … The 22-year-old Koehler had the highest starting spot of the race rookies (fourth) after a Friday heat win, but his run was short-lived. Left-front suspension trouble caused him to slide high in turn one on the first lap and he was clipped in his left side by Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill.; Koehler immediately retired while Shirley ran 20 laps before pulling in. … The 29-car field was comprised of 15 Longhorn Chassis, 10 Rockets, three Infinity Chassis and one Team Zero. … The feature took the checkered flag at 10:04 p.m. — Kevin Kovac