BULLS GAP, Tenn. (April 14) — If there ever were a driver who needed to catch a break in East Tennessee, it was Mike Marlar. Two weeks after a pair of grinding crashes at Bristol Motor Speedway during the second week of the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals, Marlar found a bit of redemption. The Winfield, Tenn., driver controlled Thursday’s unsanctioned Kyle Larson Presents Late Model Challenge powered by Tezos feature from the drop of the green and cruised to a $20,000 payday.

It was a huge shot in the arm for Marlar and his Ronnie Delk-owned team, which has had an up-and-down start to the season despite showing speed at virtually every track where they've unloaded. While the Bristol crashes left Marlar with a torn-up race car — he actually crashed the same car twice — it cost him a shot at one, or two, of the $50,000 winner’s checks put up for grabs by the fledgling XR Super Series.

“Well, you know, Ronnie and I talked after Bristol and you know, it was a situation where on one hand you’re bummed because you wrecked your car and had two wrecks in a row. And it was a hard hit. It was a hard hit on me for sure," the 44-year-old Marlar said. "And on the other hand, you know, the other side of it we could won at least two of (the features). I feel like we had a shot at it. I ain’t saying we would win them, I’m just saying we were competitive and definitely one of the fastest cars.

Hear from Mike Marlar after his Thursday win at Volunteer.

“So that was the good side of it. The bad side of it was that could have been big for our team to come out of there with some good results. So yeah, this is a shot in the arm for sure and reconfirms what you were thinking, you know, ’Hey, we’re doing good here. It’s all good. We just had a bad week and and it happens.’ ”

Marlar’s take on his Bristol woes is typical for the even-keeled Tennessean who always seems to be able to manage a positive spin. It seems ages ago that Marlar was firing off the pistols at the Wild West Shootout at Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park after winning the $25,000 finale. Along with those winnings, he scored another $5,000 victory and the $3,000 WWS miniseries title, banking $33,000 in a 24-hour desert stretch.

Marlar then floundered during the first half of Georgia-Florida Speedweeks while driving Jason Rauen’s car before finishing with a handful of nice runs at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., back in his own equipment, including a runner-up finish to Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., in Volusia’a Feb. 19 finale.

“It seems like nowadays that it goes from winter to summer and the only way you’re going to get out of winter is go to New Mexico and Florida, right?,” quipped Marlar. “You know, we quit racing in the last of October at the Dirt Track World Championship or whatever. It’s forever until now where we can actually steadily race. (New Mexico) does seem like a while but we stay so busy and stuff with so much work that time flies for sure. When you look back, you’re like, oh, that wasn’t a minute ago. But you know, it’s okay. We love it and enjoy it. I just have to put an emphasis on how much work this is becoming nowadays.”

With things seemingly turned around — again — Marlar was among the fastest drivers each night during the four Bristol Dirt Nationals events. He finished fifth and 11th on the opening weekend before returning with even more speed on the second weekend. But no matter how you spin it, he left with a crumpled car following the April 1-2 features.

Marlar started from the pole April 1 but hit the wall hard while chasing eventual winner Madden. The next night, Marlar was leading the fourth heat when he smashed the wall in turns three and four near the same spot he crashed the previous night. His heavily damaged car was towed off between two wreckers. Somehow though, Marlar remained positive.

“(XR Super Series promoter) Barry Braun was worried, you know. He just knew the we had a bad week and he sent me a text there, the other day,” Marlar said. “I told him. I said, ‘Listen, I have nothing against Bristol. Bristol is awesome.’ Had I done my setup a little better or whatever I was doing wrong (it might not have happened).

“I was doing something to make my car really fast and make it really kill right front tires at the same time. So you know, going back and having a flat tires it’s really not bad. It’s really not even that hard on motors, but I don’t know. It’s the only track I’ve ever went to and I said that when we left the shop, you know, I told them guys, Josh (Davis) and Jerry (Sprouse), you know, I said, ‘I ain’t worried about wrecking, I’m worried about something breaking and wrecking.’ And you know, that’s exactly what happened.”

Marlar had high praise for both Davis and Sprouse, who worked tirelessly to piece the car back together following the first crash. The car need a new rear end and all new right-side suspension components. They had to heat the frame and use a (hydraulic) Porta Power to straighten it. Remarkably, Marlar was even faster with the twisted machine.

“Yeah, we were actually faster the second night after the wreck and I’ve had that happen before,” Marlar said. “My guys are are the best. You know, Josh and Jerry, they’re just unbelievably dedicated and they care. We’re just three neighbors who go racing together and they care about me and my well-being and I care about them. I’ve heard them say this a time or two before, you know, about doing their job, right? Their No. 1 thing is to not get me hurt. I’m a little more sketchy than they are when it comes to, you know, what might be dangerous and what won’t.

“But yeah, I’m fortunate to have a crew that cares and is dedicated. I don’t think I spend any time at the shop that they’re not right there with me or if we got to stay ’til midnight to work on something or work on Sunday or whatever they got to do. You just can’t replace dedication like that and it’s with my whole team, my car owner, our engine builders, my wife Stacy, everybody.”

At Volunteer Speedway on Thursday, Marlar even had a bit of additional crew help. Dresden, Ohio racer Devin Moran made a cameo appearance in the Marlar pit area. The two hooked up in North Carolina where Moran was at Longhorn Chassis and Marlar was nearby working on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ride he will be driving for Reaume Brothers Racing this weekend in the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol. Moran, who was planning to attend Bristol’s NASCAR events this weekend, accepted Marlar’s invitation to stop by Volunteer.

“I said, ‘Heck just you should come up to Bulls Gap and you can hang out with me and heck you might help us win a race or something.’ I really like Devin and have a lot of respect for him and Wylie and their race team,” said Marlar, whose wife Stacy used to babysit Moran and his siblings when she lived near them in Ohio. “So it was awesome tonight, you know, because he was kind just hanging out. He told me after the heat what (the car) looked like and made a couple suggestions on what maybe I could do, you know, as far as driving the car or just what the car looked like. It was real helpful to have him around and it definitely worked out good for me. Maybe he learned something out of it, too, so he can have a little success, too.”