BEDFORD, Pa. (June 13) — With two Appalachian Mountain Speedweek wins in a row, it’s easy for Mason Zeigler or anyone to think it would’ve been better for the Chalk Hill, Pa., driver to commit himself to the Jim Bernheisel-run miniseries over Eldora Speedway’s Dream XXXI.

Zeigler even said after Tuesday’s victory at Path Valley Speedway Park in Spring Run, Pa., that “we probably should’ve stayed back from Eldora and came to the other” completed Speedweek event Saturday at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway. | RaceWire

But the former Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series campaigner didn’t mean to imply that Eldora isn’t worth his time anymore. That’d be far from true.

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“I didn’t necessarily mean it literally. I was just implying that sometimes it’s nice to get your confidence up, race wherever you’re familiar, and not show up against a bunch of engineers and everything else,” the 32-year-old Zeigler said after Friday’s victory at Bedford Speedway. “And guys with endless budgets.”

Although he wrecked out of a consolation race last Saturday at Eldora, believing he can hold his own at the Tony Stewart-owned half-mile keeps him coming back to the sport’s biggest races there.

“I mean, we’ve had a lot of good luck and a lot of good runs at Eldora,” said Zeigler, whose 25 laps led between Eldora’s Dream and World 100 since 2023 trail only Jonathan Davenport (297), Bobby Pierce (50), Dale McDowell (47) and Hudson O’Neal (46). “We’ve been on the front row, been fifth before (in the 2023 Dream).”

Hindsight may be 20-20 this Appalachian Speedweek for Zeigler, who could have stayed back from Eldora to make a miniseries tile run instead. But this year, with Zeigler staying closer to home more than ever, racing the Dream might be one of the few times he goes on the road to race nationally.

Zeigler would like to race for the Jay’s Automotive United Late Model Series title — the Trevor Zuver-directed series that races in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York — but he’s also contemplating a miniseries title run later this year on Bernheisel’s newly-assembled Fall Clash. But because ULMS and Fall Clash dates overlap Aug. 31, Sept. 12 and Sept. 20, Zeigler can’t vie for both titles.

“I saw they have a real nice little Fall Series. We’re going to try and do as much of that as we can. I’m hoping it doesn’t interfere with any of the ULMS races,” said Zeigler, who at the time didn’t know off the top of his head whether ULMS or Fall Clash dates conflicted. “We’re not capable of trucking all over the place. We don’t have a lot of help.

“Those are the things I’m talking about. I never chased a miniseries like that and chased points or nothing. We might end up doing that and enjoy that.”

He’d like to race Sept. 4-6’s World 100 again and Oct. 16-17’s Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway, which doesn’t interfere with a potential ULMS title pursuit, so that would likely intrigue him. But staying closer to home, again, sounds just as nice as well.

“There’s something about being able to race three hours from home, be home at night, sleep in your own bed,” Zeigler said. “My gosh, we spent a fortune on tires going out there (last week to Eldora’s Dream). We were there Wednesday through Sunday, all had to take off work and everything else. It’s a big undertaking to go out and do that. But I mean, I love it and look forward to doing it.

“Sometimes, there’s some nice paying races around home that are simple and easy. I never had done that stuff before. I always chased the big fish, raced limitedly, but when I did race, I went to Knoxville or Fairbury."

While he seldom lacks helping hands at the racetrack, Zeigler only has one full-time crew member at his race shop in Bryan Liverman, who was part of Jonathan Davenport’s race-winning Dream team in 2015. He also has a 6-year-old daughter, Ivy, so doesn’t feel the need to be out on the road all the time.

“Having a 6-year-old now, I like to do other things other than racing with her,” Zeigler said. “It is nice to be able to, tomorrow, be up at 8:30 and take her out on the boat if it looks like it’s going to rain, or do something a little different.”

All told, Zeigler’s finding a sweet spot in his schedule that has more regionally-based events on it than ever before.

“I do. It’s not so stressful. We all have kids … and I only have one full-time guy to help on the race car,” Zeigler said. “Bryan’s my only real full-time crew guy. It’s tough. It’s hard to do these deals and try to be prepared. And if I tear stuff up, it’s really tough.”

His $6,000 victory at Bedford on Friday now gives him seven wins at the half-mile in his last nine overall feature starts there. That also includes last September’s D.J. Troutman Memorial victory in the modified. His total winnings at Bedford since May 2023 is now $74,310.

Though Zeigler led all 35 laps Friday for another seemingly dominant Bedford win, the path to victory tested him.

Zeigler started the night with “a real bad carburetor blubber” in qualifying. His first lap was well off the pace at 20.419, which would’ve put him 12th of 16 drivers in Group B. He somehow managed a 19.529 on his second lap to top the Group B speed chart.

“I’d drive off in, lift, set the nose, and when I get back to the fuel it’d fall on its face pretty bad. We were fortunate we made a good lap,” Zeigler said. “My first lap was horrible and I about stalled it. I was up over the cushion on the one end. Then the next lap I lifted, and I wouldn’t say I was conservative, but I lifted more in the middle, so if it pushed again, I wouldn’t get up over the cushion. It didn’t do it as bad the second lap, so I was fortunate we made a really good lap.”

Zeigler, whose 19.420 in the second dash put him on the outside front row of the feature, “still didn’t feel as good as I needed to” in the main event, but he reasons “the car was good.”

“It was a little tight, but for the most part it was good. We’re not real familiar with these American Racers, just all new, different options,” Zeigler said. “We’re getting it figured out right now. We made a mistake on the right-rear tire, but was able to hold on to the end there. It started streaking up and I felt that right-rear going away, so we were fortunate to keep it together.”

Gregg Satterlee made things interesting down the stretch, erasing Zeigler’s 1.8-second lead over the final laps and pressuring the would-be winner on the final few restarts. Though Satterlee was noticeably better on the longer run, Zeigler “honestly preferred not to see the caution” on lap 30.

“With four to go, I felt like he was giving me a four- to five-length car-length lead on the sticks. And then after that, the last two restarts, he was right on me,” Zeigler said. “I figured he had a 100 right-rear on. I didn’t know what they put on, but I assume they put a PRO2 on because that’s what we were considering.”

Zeigler’s water temps also exceeded 260 degrees, which is a little too hot for comfort.

The hammer-down track setting under damp, humid conditions caused many drivers issues on Friday, including the pole-starting Justin Weaver, who lost his engine with five laps to go. Zeigler’s water pressure, however, “was great, right around 30 pounds, so I wasn’t concerned about it.”

“It was getting after it tonight. First 30 laps, we were in the fuel,” Zeigler said. "Our other cars, we started running a six-blade fan, but we’ll probably have to switch this car, the older car, to a four-blade fan. For whatever reason, I don’t know if we’re that much hooked-up to the racetrack, or if it’s the air or what it is, but the six-blade fan wasn’t enough.”

“That was our old car and it felt the same the last time we were here, (the same car that won last October’s $24,000 Keystone Cup), so fortunate we have a good piece.”