ROSSBURG, Ohio — It’s never easy to make a dramatic change in a Dirt Late Model racing program, but making a change such as switching chassis brands before the season’s richest event ramps up the pressure a bit more.

When Kyle Strickler’s phone rang in the overnight hours of Nov. 7, he groggily awakened from a deep sleep inside his home in Mooresville, N.C., and didn’t answer in time. Moments later, though, the 39-year-old driver’s car owner, Charlie Donaldson, dialed him up and this time Strickler took the call.

Brandon Overton stole the lion's share of the money (38 percent!) during Eldora Speedway's Double Dream weekend, but other drivers still left with some healthy earnings totals. Check out the full breakdown of feature purse earnings from June's lucrative weekend:

Who tops the all-time list of laps led in the Late Model crown jewel events at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio? Check out the historical breakdown in the table below:

How well do you recall Eldora Speedway’s 2020 Dirt Late Model invitationals? Check your knowledge with 13 trivia questions on the Stream and Intercontinental Classic, which boasted six fan-less events including four $10,000-to-win preliminaries and two $50,000-to-win finales (answers included at the bottom):

Kyle Strickler is a serious Scott Bloomquist Fanboy — when the Hall of Famer speaks, Strickler is sure to be listening.

Thursday’s World of Outlaws Bristol Bash open practice was supposed to be a typically quiet evening for competitors to shake down their cars on Bristol Motor Speedway’s imposing dirt-covered high banks. It ended up filled with wall-smashing destruction.

Kyle Strickler needed a few minutes to gather himself. No driver, after all, should be expected to jump out of their car after losing a $50,000 race to a blown tire on the final lap and immediately face the media.

By the time Friday’s Intercontinental Classic preliminary feature rolled around at Eldora Speedway, Kyle Strickler had plenty of reasons to be frustrated. 

When Eldora Speedway was last open for action in June — well, the only time Tony Stewart’s half-mile oval in Rossburg, Ohio, has been open in this coronavirus-hampered season — Kyle Strickler made an impression that definitively established him in the Dirt Late Model world.

For some added fun at home during Sept. 10-12’s Intercontinental Classic, play along with a selection of hypothetical proposition bets and driver matchups for Eldora Speedway’s fan-less, $50,000-to-win event:

The impact of open-wheel superstar Kyle Larson’s $15,000 victory in last Saturday night’s 50-lap Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Rumble by the River finale at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway could be readily ascertained by the rather glum demeanor that the driver who finished second, Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., displayed during his post-race interviews.

When Kyle Strickler awoke at his home in Mooresville, N.C., on Monday, he had no plans to spend his upcoming weekend at Eldora Speedway — which, of course, makes the fact that he found himself standing on the famous track’s winner’s stage on Thursday night a truly remarkable turn of events.