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Wild Finishes See Ty Dillon, Daryn Pittman Earn Volusia Victories

Dillon slips past Strickler late, Pittman wins on last lap pass at DIRTcar Nationals

BARBERVILLE, Fla. - Feb. 13, 2015 - Ty Dillon swept to the lead just as the white flag was displayed Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park's DIRTcar Nationals to win a thriller for his first UMP Modified victory of the season.

In the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season opener at Volusia, Kasey Kahne Racing's Daryn Pittman won for the second consecutive night, passing Donny Schatz on the final lap to win his second Gator trophy of the week on the half-mile dirt oval.

Ty Dillon joins his brother, Austin, as winners this week at Volusia. It certainly wasn't easy. Kyle Strickler had the lead but traffic came into play. Dillon went high, Nick Hoffman went low. Hoffman wound up taking second, dropping Strickler to third.

"I've been working hard for this," said Dillon, a rising NASCAR star and the grandson of legendary car owner Richard Childress. "It's just so cool all the North Carolina guys come down here and run so well. I knew Kyle was going to be tough to pass and I kind of had to slide across him there. I saw up on the board there was only 3 to go so I knew I had to make something happen. I'm proud of my guys, we've been coming down here for a long time. Volusia's like a second home for us, coming to race at. I'm just so happy for everybody. This is so much fun. Got my Gator this year, man. I'm happy and proud of all my guys for all the hard work."

Pittman's second victory in as many days didn't come easy. He was the fourth and final leader of the night, leading only the last lap. Greg Hodnett jumped out to a quick lead before Joey Saldana ran him down. Schatz worked past Saldana with five to go and looked like he was going to begin his championship defense with a win before Pittman drove to the front on the final lap.

"Last night felt pretty good, this one feels that much better," said Pittman, the 2013 World of Outlaws champion. "[Thursday] night it felt like we had a great racecar, probably the car to beat from the time we unloaded. We were good all night tonight. At the beginning of that race I just didn't feel as good and thought, man, we're probably going to run top-three. The car got better as the race went on and came to us. I don't know if those guys ran some softer tires or what but it just got better, and then Donny drove by us. I saw him go to pull the trigger in three and four on whoever the lap car was and he hit the bottom and passed for Saldana the lead, just stuck to the bottom. I thought, 'Well, he's just going to hit the bottom here.' When I saw him slide and have to bail out I thought, 'Wow, that guy doesn't make very many mistakes and that was a pretty good one.' So we had to take advantage of that and barely got back to him, in front of him at the flagstand and saw visions of last night in turn two again as he threw a Hail Mary there to try to get by me."

Nightly doubleheaders at Volusia run Saturday through Feb. 21. On Saturday night the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series continues its high-powered, high-speed action along with the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.

For more information and updates on the DIRTcar Nationals, click DIRTcarNationals.com or follow on Twitter at @DIRTcarNats.

DIRTcar Nationals Statistical Report; Feb. 13, 2015; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, Fla.

DIRTcar UMP Modified A-Main (20 Laps) - 1. 41-Ty Dillon ($1,000) [4]; 2. 2-Nick Hoffman [7]; 3. 8-Kyle Strickler [2]; 4. 13-Jake Hawkins [1]; 5. 3-Austin Dillon [11]; 6. 11R-Josh Rice [9]; 7. 25-Tyler Nicely [3]; 8. 36-Kenny Wallace [10]; 9. 16C-Josh Harris [9]; 10. 51G-Brandon Green [6]; 11. 64JR-Billy Workman Jr. [5]; 12. K9-Will Krup [17]; 13. 77-Ray Bollinger [8]; 14. 67-Garret Stewart [22]; 15. 9-Ken Schrader [12]; 16. 1G-Devin Gilpin [13]; 17. 88-Matt Crafton [21]; 18. 51-Justin Allgaier [19]; 19. 96-Cory Daugherty [24]; 20. 35-Jason Beaulieu [20]; 21. 9M-Dale Mathison [14]; 22. BD4-Jackie Boggs [23]; 23. O1-Todd Sherman [16]; 24. OO-Bobby Rose [18].

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Main (30 Laps) - 1. 9-Daryn Pittman ($10,000) [3]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [6]; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett [1]; 4. 71M-Joey Saldana [2]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [10]; 6. 51-Paul McMahan [5]; 7. 14K-Dale Blaney [12]; 8. 2-Shane Stewart [17]; 9. 83-David Gravel [19]; 10. 29-Kerry Madsen [9]; 11. 7S-Jason Sides [8]; 12. 41-Jason Johnson [11]; 13. 11K-Kraig Kinser [20]; 14. 2L-Danny Lasoski [16]; 15. 45-Tim Shaffer [23]; 16. 4-Cody Darrah [22]; 17. 24-Terry McCarl [15]; 18. 98H-Dave Blaney [14]; 19. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [13]; 20. 1s-Logan Schuchart [18]; 21. 4S-Danny Smith [24]; 22. 7-Craig Dollansky [7]; 23. 11-Steve Kinser [21]; 24. 1-Lucas Wolfe [4].

DIRTcar Nationals Day-by-Day Schedule (Grandstands open at 5 p.m.)

Saturday, Feb. 14 - World of Outlaws Sprint Cars & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds

Sunday, Feb. 15 - World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds

Monday, Feb. 16 - DIRTcar Late Models & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds 'Gator Championship'

Tuesday, Feb. 17 - DIRTcar Late Models & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds Triple 20s

Wednesday, Feb. 18 - DIRTcar Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds

Thursday, Feb. 19 - World of Outlaws Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds

Friday, Feb. 20 - World of Outlaws Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds

Saturday, Feb. 21 - World of Outlaws Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds