Chris Ferguson has set a high standard for himself at Eldora Speedway.

So even though the 30-year-old driver from Mount Holly, N.C., set fast time on Thursday’s opening night of Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational, won a heat race and finished 10th in the main event, it marked his worst preliminary night performance at the Tony Stewart-owned oval in westcentral Ohio in his last five prelim starts.

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With two nights remaining, another $10,000 prelim Friday and Saturday’s $50,000-to-win finale, the driver who goes by Fergy knows 10th-place finishes aren’t going to cut it.

“When you put yourself in position to win, which I think we had a shot tonight, you’ve gotta capitalize on it, and I feel like we need to make some headway tomorrow night in the feature,” Ferguson said sitting outside his hauler after Thursday’s 30-lapper dominated by Kyle Strickler of Mooresville, N.C. “Even if I don’t start up front, just to get a good balanced (setup) would go a long way toward Saturday.”

Ferguson figures things would’ve turned out better Thursday without a scrape after a lap-three restart with Brandon Overton, who started alongside Ferguson on the third row and ran third most of the way.

“After the (restart), the inside row got a good start and (runner-up Shane) Clanton and (Chris) Madden cleared me. I tried to get down and I just missed, missed the very bottom by like a foot, and I think Brandon was down there. I didn’t never really ever see him until he jumped over the left front, but I don’t think it was nothing dirty — it was just fighting for the same spot. These 30-lappers, you gotta get what you can, and we just didn’t get it tonight in the feature. … 

“After that we were kind of dead in the water. I think it bent a spindle and maybe a tie rod.”

Before the incident, “I felt like we were going to be pretty good, because I didn’t really have to run the very top,” Ferguson said. “I could run right in the middle. You know, we’re on a new shock package here we’ve never been here with, the Fox’s, so fine-tuning those and learning what to do with them, where we’re trying some stuff. And I think we kind of got our stuff figured out for early in the night.

"Man, I can’t complain, these prelim nights, we’ve been so good last year and this year. We’re just learning to be one of the guys that’s up front here. I came here for a lot of years and made the shows, but wouldn’t make no headway in the features. It’s just fun racing with the best there is and being able to hold our own.”

Things are a little different for Ferguson and everyone else at the Stream, compared to the usual crown jewel races, the Dream and World 100. The Stream is restricted to 48 events meaning there are no split fields on preliminary nights, and tougher competition overall.

View full coverage from the Eldora Dirt Late Model Stream

“When you’ve gotta a car like ours, that I believe is capable of winning here, we were so close last year, you’ve gotta capitalize on it,” said Ferguson, whose best Eldora crown jewel finish came with a fourth at last year’s $125,000-to-win Dream. “It don’t matter if it’s a prelim or a big one, when you win here — which we’ve been trying for a long time — it’s the biggest thing in Dirt Late Model racing in my opinion. The field ain’t split in half now. You’ve got all the (best drivers) in one (group). When you’re this close to the front, you want to win more than ever. ...

“We’ve always qualified good here and run decent in heats and stuff, and never really had a great showing in the features, up until last year. I knew last year, I don’t want to sound arrogant or anything, but as far as prelim nights go last year, we ran second, third, fourth and ninth in the Dream and the World. I feel like last year we were one of the better cars here, ran fourth in the Dream and we missed it a little bit in the World (finishing 20th).

“We’ve been consistent here and I’ve been good ever since I got in (Bloomquist) cars here. I definitely wanted to validate (his invitation) and I felt like, I spent a lot of years coming here and then skipping a couple of years and coming again, but I’ve always supported this place and I’ve always loved it.

“There’s not a lot of (drivers from the Carolinas) besides Chris (Madden), there’s not a lot of people who make the trip up here … and I definitely want to represent our part of the country and also prove that we’re one of the top 25, top 30 drivers in the country."