Tyler Bruening’s first career national touring victory Friday at Golden Isles Speedway was a long time coming.

Entering the 2025 season, Decorah, Iowa, driver had started 274 features in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and World of Outlaws Late Model Series competition without visiting victory lane.

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The winless streak for the 39-year-old racer had him contemplating an end to national touring racing, or even calling it quits altogether. The dissatisfying seasons and letdowns — seven times through 2024 he’d started national touring events on the pole without winning — piled up for the discouraged veteran.

“It can wear you out,” the Skyline Motorsports driver said. “At the end of last year, we didn’t have a good Charlotte race (during November’s WoO World Finals), and we were all pretty dejected. We weren’t sure if we were going to do it again.”

There’s a reason why in winning Friday’s Lucas Oil Series opener and $12,000 that Bruening looked better than ever — and as jubilant as ever. It's because the crossroads he faced during the short offseason demanded him to make his deepest commitment to a racing season yet. Bruening’s performance is a direct reflection of the lifestyle changes and dedication he’s made over the last two months, including exercising more and shoring up his eating habits.

“Sitting in front of the TV at night with a bag of Skittles and a Dr. Pepper ain’t gonna get the job done,” Bruening said. “So I had to switch up the routine, you know.”

Bruening knows there’s been events where he'd start the night strong, only for those strong runs to fade with victories falling by the wayside. The 2022 season included two such agonizing defeats, both in $50,000 events. In WoO action at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis., Bruening was leading with seven laps remaining when he spun after tangling with a slower car. Then in Lucas Oil’s Knoxville Late Model Nationals in his home state, victory slipped away when Jonathan Davenport overtook Bruening with three laps remaining.

“If you keep doing the same stuff every year, you’re going to get the same results,” Bruening said. “This offseason, I really concentrated on myself personally because it takes a lot out of you to run these races. You have to be up on the wheel and you have to be in shape. There’s been times I’ve fallen out of the seat, and I just owed it to the team, my dad (Greg Bruening), myself to be 100 percent ready. This is the most prepared year we’ve ever been.”

Walks, runs, push-ups, sit-ups and body-weight exercises are part of Bruening’s new workout regimen.

“Going for a simple walk everyday for a mile helps,” Bruening said. “Eating right, just everything we should be doing to perform with the best guys in the world. If you’re not doing that, you’re putting yourself at a little bit of a disadvantage.”

Bruening also sought advice from medical professionals, coming to the conclusion that consuming 200 grams of protein a day would benefit him.

“A good friend of mine, he’s a doctor, he’s very fit, and I wasn’t getting what my body needs,” Bruening said. “You weigh 200 pounds, then you have to have 200 grams of protein. That’s a lot of protein. I wasn’t getting any of it.

“But it’s been nothing too special. I have protein bars, shakes, and just simple things. I’m just trying to change what I normally do. It’s showed. We’re 1-for-1 and starting the year right.”

Bruening had athletic bona fides as a former defensive end and punter for Division III Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He even took a shot in an NFL open tryout in Reno, Nev., in 2007.

“Obviously that didn’t work out because we’re here racing, but I was a decent little punter,” Bruening said. “It was a really cool experience to go out and do it.”

While football is in his past, racing is most definitely in the present after the biggest career highlight of his Dirt Late Model career. Bruening kicked off Friday night with a track-record run of 14.678 in time trials, but he didn’t overhype his hopes up in his first 2025 outing.

“I was really not trying to think that way. I didn’t want to get complacent,” said Bruening, whose heat race victory earned his eighth career national touring pole position. “I really wanted to be focused and concentrate, and I knew the car was really good. It’s just so tricky to make those final adjustments for them features. You don’t want to adjust yourself too much, but you want to make sure you’re good enough to win. It’s amazing how hard you have to push every lap, every second, of the race. When I was out front, I was pushing hard and I thought I had a sizable lead. Bobbled just one little bit, and there went Daulton (Wilson). I couldn’t believe he was there.”

Leveraging softer tires on a lap-six restart, Wilson blasted around Bruening on lap seven while Bruening slipped back to third from laps 13-35. At that point, Bruening figured a podium finish would be a fine way to start the season, especially because he wasn’t keen on risking tearing up his race car pounding the top. (Ryan Gustin and Hudson O’Neal exited Friday’s race early from damage from overstepping the cushion.)

The high groove is “just not really where I’m comfortable, to be honest,” Bruening said. “I was running the bottom and following those guys, and to be honest, (Brian) Shirley showed me his nose a couple times on the bottom, and kind of forced me out there. I was either going to run third or we’d go up there (to the top) and try to win the race.

“Got a couple good exits off of (turn) four, a couple good exits off of (turn) two, got by (second-running Brandon) Overton, and I knew there was enough out there to at least make a run. It’s tricky. That cushion in one and two, a couple times you hit that wrong, and it points your nose to the wall and makes you second-guess yourself a little bit.

“Like I said, I followed those guys enough to know I wasn’t going to pass them running my line. For a lap or two, I was content. Beginning of the year, third-place is a podium finish and a good way to start the year. But after Brian started getting at me, he forced me to the outside and really woke me up, to be honest.”

Bruening leaned into his athleticism in running down Wilson on lap 42, trusting that his race car and willpower combined would be enough to outlast eventual runner-up Jonathan Davenport and the third-finishing Overton. The lap-45 caution, made Bruening “nervous because I knew who was behind me.”

“Then the last six laps, I never lifted,” Bruening said. “Hell, I hit the wall taking the checkered.”

Besides being his first national touring victory, Friday’s triumph marked his of any kind since a September 2021 Malvern Bank East victory at Dubuque Speedway. He’d made 180 winless feature starts since.

How does winning on opening night change Bruening’s expectations for 2025?

“I think we still need to be realistic. Obviously when you get that first one, it takes the monkey off your back, you’re a little more comfortable,” Bruening said. “So we still wanna run good. I really want to get a win at Volusia (Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.), get one of those Gator trophies.”

Bruening regretted not crediting chassis builder Barry Wright, former Capital Race Car owner Marshall Green and current Capital Race Car owner Shane Clanton in his victory lane interview with FloRacing pit reporter Ben Shelton, all individuals “who have helped me get to this level.”

“And then lastly (Longhorn Chassis owner) Steve (Arpin) and his group, they’ve really helped me get over the edge,” said Bruening, who plans another WoO run in 2025. “It’s a ton of people who have helped me and supported me. They’re the reason it’s the golden era for the ‘Fear The Beard.’ Maybe we can call it the Golden Beard?”

Indeed, Bruening is making lighthearted mention of his golden-wrapped No. 16 race car this season that’s garnered a lot of attention. Lucas Oil Series announcer Dustin Jarrett first termed Bruening as “The Golden Beard” on Friday and Bruening might make that stick.

Bruening doesn’t necessarily mind what fans decide to call him because reaching victory lane was the “hardest thing I’ve ever done and the best feeling.”

“Through all the years, it’s almost formulated even more. Every year, every race, you don’t get sick of it, but you hear people say, ‘When’s it going to come?’ ” Bruening added. “It’s hard to hear that after years and years, and then you start to wonder yourself. After finally getting one, hell, if I had a microphone in my helmet after the race, I was screaming for joy. I couldn’t believe it.”

How good was it?

“It’s everything I thought it’d be and more,” Bruening said. “It’s a humbling sport and these guys are darn good, and they make you work and earn it, which makes it that much sweeter.”