When Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials announced a new “Championship Chase” format last December, they did so with the goal of elevating excitement around the battle for the series championship.

As Devin Moran stood in the middle of Eldora Speedway’s first and second turns wearing street clothes and a winter jacket and surveying the wavy, chewed-up racing surface after Sunday’s 43rd General Tire Dirt Track World Championship, he succinctly summed up the titanic battle he had just engaged in with Hudson O’Neal to determine the 2023 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series title. | RaceWire

For the first time in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series history, the "Big River Steel Chase for the Championship" was used to crown the 2023 season champion. Four drivers. One race. One champion.

The Dirt Track World Championship, the season finale for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, lived up to the hype Sunday evening at Eldora Speedway. A wild 100-lap race saw drama unfold for both the $100,000 race win and the $200,000 Lucas Oil championship.

Following six qualifying heats and three b-mains, the starting lineup is set for the 2023 Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway. The 100-lap season finale for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be held Sunday evening at "The Big E."

Two days later than expected, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series drivers completed qualifying heats for the Dirt Track World Championship Sunday afternoon at Eldora Speedway. Heat races were initially scheduled for Friday evening; however, rain showers on Friday and Saturday forced track officials to postpone the remaining schedule until Sunday.

ROSSBURG, Ohio — Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series director Rick Schwallie has faced so many trials and tribulations while navigating the national tour’s 2023 schedule that nothing can surprise him anymore.

Eldora Speedway and Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials agreed to suspend Saturday’s General Tire Dirt Track World Championship action following time trials, postponing the remainder of the $100,000-to-win event to Sunday.

A field of 61 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series drivers recorded time during qualifying for Saturday's Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway. Jimmy Owens recorded the overall fast time with a lap of 15.165 seconds.

ROSSBURG, Ohio — Saturday’s blow-by-blow updates at Eldora Speedway of the four contenders for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship at Carl Short’s 43rd annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship presented by ARP. The Big River Steel Big Four is made up of Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., and Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio.

The biggest stars in Dirt Late Model racing will be chasing one of the richest prizes of the year Saturday at Eldora Speedway. A field of 62 drivers have entered the $100,000-to-win Dirt Track World Championship for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.

Eldora Speedway officials have announced that Friday's portion of the Dirt Track World Championship, the season final for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, has been postponed to Saturday afternoon. The decision was made following persistent rain showers in recent days that would've made the track unsafe for competition.

There was plenty of hemming and hawing from race fans and competitors alike when the playoff-style championship format was announced by Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials last December. But Ricky Thornton Jr., who has held the orange spoiler for much of the year, has made peace with the format and whatever happens at the end of Saturday’s Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway.

Questions and answers about October 20-21’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series finale at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, Carl Short’s 43rd annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship presented by ARP paying $100,000-to-win.

A compilation of anecdotes, stories and remembrances compiled by DirtonDirt.com from interviews and other sources about Freddy Smith, the Hall of Famer and native of Kings Mountain, N.C., who died Saturday at the age of 76 after developing pneumonia during a short battle with leukemia.