July 5, 2024 | By Lyndal Scranton

Wells rolls in headline feature at Lucas Oil Speedway Casey's Thursday Night Thunder

WHEATLAND, Mo. — Score another Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Model victory for Justin Wells at Lucas Oil Speedway.

The veteran driver from Aurora led all 25 laps to capture the Casey's Thursday Night Thunder Presented by State Tech feature headliner. It was his eighth feature win in nine attempts at Lucas Oil Speedway this season and earned him $1,000.

Also winning features on the program, which included the annual Kids' Bicycle Giveaway during intermission and post-race fireworks, were Jon Sheets (Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods) and Matt Johnson (Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds). After three cautions before an official lap could be completed in the O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature, lightning began moving into the vicinity of the speedway and the feature was postponed.

A total of 119 cars checked into the pits for the holiday special.

Wells posted victory No. 113 in his 2006 TNT chassis. He needed only five laps to open a 1.2-second lead over Andy Bryant with Tucker Cox running third. Bryant whittled the margin to one-quarter second by lap 10 as he pulled within two car lengths of the leader.

As Wells started to weave through lapped traffic, he extended the lead back to just over one second before Bryant again was able to close in. Just as before, Wells seemed to find an extra boost when needed and he again opened a one-second gap by lap 17 as the green-flag laps clicked by.

Wells kept it rolling from there to pick up his latest victory, finishing one second behind Bryant at the checkers in a caution-free main event. Cox finished third with Brandon Conkwright coming from 10th to fourth and Jim Greenway fifth.

Wells said he had some doubts about what kind of track to expect after it was reworked during intermission. But any fears that it would not to be to his liking were put aside quickly.

"I wondered what it would do, whether it would be too fast," Wells said. "The track was multi-grip anywhere you want to go. Hats off to (track superintendent Richard Turner) because the track was awesome."

Wells extended his points lead, which was a huge 340-point margin over Cox to begin the night, to 360 points.

Sheets wires field for USRA B-Mod win: Jon Sheets of Nevada started up front and led all 20 laps to earn the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature over Shadren Turner.

Sheets started on the pole and led Turner through the first nine laps, opening a .791-second lead. That’s when the first caution came out for a two-car mishap in turn two. The two leaders broke away after the restart with Turner pressuring Sheets for the lead.

Turner briefly went in front on lap 14, but Sheets crossed back over in turn three to regain the top spot. They were separated by .356 seconds when a lap-16 caution slowed the field, leaving four laps to settle the outcome.

Sheets took advantage of a slip by Turner on the restart and rolled away to his second feature win of the season. He finished 1.3 seconds in front of Turner with Trevor Drake third, Logan Smith a season-best fourth and Andy Bryant fifth.

"We have a really good racecar right now," Sheets said after knocking down his 10th feature win of the season overall. "Big props to Eagle Machine. They make good power, and J2 Chassis, they're awesome, and our whole list of sponsors."

Matt Johnson earns USRA Modifieds triumph: Matt Johnson led all 20 laps, overcoming a couple of restarts after cautions, to beat Robbie Reed for the Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modified win.

Johnson, from Archie, Mo., used the outside groove to lead fellow front-row starter Reed on the opening lap. By lap four, Johnson had built a 1.6-second lead over Reed with Chad Lyle running in third. That’s when action slowed for a caution.

Johnson’s domination continued after the restart, with his lead swelling to 2.3-second at the midpoint on lap 10, with Lyle having moved past Reed for second. Three laps later, the race’s second caution flew to set up a restart with seven laps left.

There were no problems for Johnson the rest of the way. He drove to a 1.6-second win over Reed. Dayton Pursley, a USRA Modified rookie after moving up from B-Mods, finished third with Houston Johnson fourth and Lyle fifth.

"Thank you to all the fans for showing up. I know it was an iffy deal with the weather but they did an awesome job," Johnson said of the track.



LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (July 4th, 2024)

Casey's Thursday Night Thunder Presented by State Tech

Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models

A Feature - 1. 98-Justin Wells[2]; 2. 49B-Andy Bryant[1]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[3]; 4. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[10]; 5. 28-Jim Greenway[4]; 6. 72-JC Morton[12]; 7. 21-Johnny Fennewald[7]; 8. 1A-Bryon Allison[6]; 9. 145-Kyle Graves[13]; 10. 5-Tommy Cordray[5]; 11. 20-Alan Westling[9]; 12. 21P-Darren Phillips[11]; 13. 12J-Justin Russell[8]; 14. 3-Richard Kimberling[15]; 15. 149-John Rowland[14]; 16. 99-Larry Jones[16]

Heat 1 - 1. 49B-Andy Bryant[5]; 2. 28-Jim Greenway[2]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[6]; 4. 12J-Justin Russell[4]; 5. 20-Alan Westling[1]; 6. 21P-Darren Phillips[3]; 7. 149-John Rowland[7]; 8. 3-Richard Kimberling[8]

Heat 2 - 1. 98-Justin Wells[3]; 2. 5-Tommy Cordray[2]; 3. 1A-Bryon Allison[4]; 4. 21-Johnny Fennewald[7]; 5. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[5]; 6. 72-JC Morton[6]; 7. 145-Kyle Graves[1]; 8. 99-Larry Jones[8]


Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

A Feature - 1. 8-Jon Sheets[1]; 2. 56S-Shadren Turner[3]; 3. 7L-Trevor Drake[5]; 4. 11L-Logan Smith[8]; 5. 28-Andy Bryant[9]; 6. F1-Mitchell Franklin[7]; 7. 96-Cody Brill[13]; 8. 32-Robbe Ewing[6]; 9. 18-JC Morton[11]; 10. 52-Mitch Keeter[17]; 11. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[24]; 12. 68-Kerry Davis[10]; 13. 99T-Eric Turner[15]; 14. 1B-Bobby Williams[19]; 15. 90-Terry Schultz[22]; 16. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[14]; 17. 55-Colson Kirk[23]; 18. 94C-JT Carroll[18]; 19. 56-Hoyt Miller[20]; 20. 94-Tyler Potter[2]; 21. 447-Kenny Prince[12]; 22. (DNF) 30-Rex Harris[21]; 23. (DNF) C3-Chad Staus[16]; 24. (DQ) 15-Cayden Stacye[4]

B Feature 1 - 1. 52-Mitch Keeter[1]; 2. 1B-Bobby Williams[3]; 3. 30-Rex Harris[2]; 4. 55-Colson Kirk[4]; 5. 2-Quentin Taylor[7]; 6. 23N-Kenny Nutter[6]; 7. 8H-Scott Chism[9]; 8. 15R-Ryan Smith[12]; 9. 2X-Cole Hamilton[16]; 10. 0K-Tracy Killian[8]; 11. 19B-Breyanna Mattingly[14]; 12. (DNF) 13H-Grant Honeycutt[5]; 13. (DNF) 24DL-Dakota Lowe[10]; 14. (DNF) 37-Wesley Long[11]; 15. (DNF) 15S-Kody Bray[13]; 16. (DNS) 80-Thomas Yount

B Feature 2 - 1. 94C-JT Carroll[1]; 2. 56-Hoyt Miller[3]; 3. 90-Terry Schultz[5]; 4. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[15]; 5. 03-Chase Jones[2]; 6. 19-Tanner Kade[7]; 7. 32L-Lane New[13]; 8. 1R-Rylan Gibbs[4]; 9. 7-Kynsey Collins[10]; 10. 27-Terry Williams[11]; 11. 214-Eric Spreer[9]; 12. 19M-JC Mattingly[6]; 13. 24L-Patrick Lewis[12]; 14. 3-Richard Hines[8]; 15. (DNS) 12G-Austin Greer

Heat 1 - 1. 8-Jon Sheets[7]; 2. 68-Kerry Davis[4]; 3. 447-Kenny Prince[6]; 4. 55-Colson Kirk[5]; 5. 1R-Rylan Gibbs[8]; 6. 0K-Tracy Killian[3]; 7. 37-Wesley Long[1]; 8. (DQ) 2X-Cole Hamilton[2]

Heat 2 - 1. 7L-Trevor Drake[2]; 2. 56S-Shadren Turner[8]; 3. 99T-Eric Turner[5]; 4. 1B-Bobby Williams[6]; 5. 23N-Kenny Nutter[1]; 6. 8H-Scott Chism[4]; 7. 15R-Ryan Smith[3]; 8. 24L-Patrick Lewis[7]

Heat 3 - 1. 28-Andy Bryant[1]; 2. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[2]; 3. 18-JC Morton[7]; 4. 90-Terry Schultz[3]; 5. 19-Tanner Kade[5]; 6. 24DL-Dakota Lowe[6]; 7. 7-Kynsey Collins[8]; 8. (DNS) 80-Thomas Yount

Heat 4 - 1. 32-Robbe Ewing[2]; 2. 15-Cayden Stacye[6]; 3. 03-Chase Jones[3]; 4. 94C-JT Carroll[7]; 5. 2-Quentin Taylor[4]; 6. 214-Eric Spreer[5]; 7. 27-Terry Williams[1]; 8. 15S-Kody Bray[8]

Heat 5 - 1. 94-Tyler Potter[5]; 2. 96-Cody Brill[1]; 3. C3-Chad Staus[4]; 4. 30-Rex Harris[7]; 5. 13H-Grant Honeycutt[8]; 6. 3-Richard Hines[3]; 7. (DNF) 19B-Breyanna Mattingly[6]; 8. (DNF) 12G-Austin Greer[2]

Heat 6 - 1. F1-Mitchell Franklin[2]; 2. 11L-Logan Smith[5]; 3. 52-Mitch Keeter[4]; 4. 56-Hoyt Miller[6]; 5. 19M-JC Mattingly[1]; 6. (DNF) 32L-Lane New[3]; 7. (DNS) 91J-Jaylen Wettengel


Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds

A Feature - 1. 1X-Matt Johnson[2]; 2. 5-Robbie Reed[1]; 3. 10P-Dayton Pursley[5]; 4. 97-Houston Johnson[4]; 5. 18-Chad Lyle[3]; 6. 38C-Jason Pursley[7]; 7. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[6]; 8. 3B-Nic Bidinger[10]; 9. 89-Tyler Hibner[8]; 10. 98K-Kenton Allen[11]; 11. 1K-Tim Karrick[12]; 12. 211-Chase Hatton[9]; 13. 92-Tyler Grooms[19]; 14. 18JR-Chase Sigg[15]; 15. 68-Dean Wille[13]; 16. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[22]; 17. 21W-Tracy Wolf[16]; 18. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[25]; 19. 23-Lucas Dobbs[21]; 20. 18J-Brad Johnson[20]; 21. 21-Greg Scheffler[17]; 22. 12-Andrew Thomas[28]; 23. 12JR-Jory Stotts[27]; 24. L75-Lane Whitney[18]; 25. (DNF) 396-Jason Sivils[26]; 26. (DNF) 21T-Troy Gudmonson[23]; 27. (DNF) 24D-Donnie Fellers[14]; 28. (DNF) T11-Jacob Twomey[24]; 29. (DNF) 88-Jimmy Dowell[29]

Heat 1 - 1. 1X-Matt Johnson[4]; 2. 10P-Dayton Pursley[5]; 3. 211-Chase Hatton[2]; 4. 98K-Kenton Allen[1]; 5. 24D-Donnie Fellers[6]; 6. 21-Greg Scheffler[7]; 7. 92-Tyler Grooms[9]; 8. 21T-Troy Gudmonson[3]; 9. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[10]; 10. 12JR-Jory Stotts[8]

Heat 2 - 1. 18-Chad Lyle[3]; 2. 38C-Jason Pursley[2]; 3. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[8]; 4. 1K-Tim Karrick[1]; 5. 18JR-Chase Sigg[5]; 6. L75-Lane Whitney[4]; 7. 23-Lucas Dobbs[7]; 8. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[9]; 9. 396-Jason Sivils[6]; 10. 12-Andrew Thomas[10]

Heat 3 - 1. 5-Robbie Reed[5]; 2. 97-Houston Johnson[6]; 3. 89-Tyler Hibner[1]; 4. 68-Dean Wille[3]; 5. 3B-Nic Bidinger[9]; 6. 21W-Tracy Wolf[8]; 7. 18J-Brad Johnson[2]; 8. T11-Jacob Twomey[4]; 9. (DNF) 88-Jimmy Dowell[7]


O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature -
Summit Racing Equipment Heat 1 - 1. 7-William Garner[1]; 2. 127-Andy Morris[3]; 3. 5K-Steve Herrick[5]; 4. 34-Blake Bolton[4]; 5. 111-Butch Bailey[7]; 6. 3-Brandon Dixon[6]; 7. 3X-Tony Manley[9]; 8. 23-Kolby Rathbone[2]; 9. (DNS) 66K-Kevin Kaiser

Summit Racing Equipment Heat 1 - 1. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[8]; 2. 41-Bryan White[3]; 3. 9H-Nic Hanes[4]; 4. 0F-Mason Beck[9]; 5. 05G-Grayson McKiney[1]; 6. 74-Rodney Schweizer[6]; 7. 22-Dawson Fennewald[5]; 8. 53-Sam Luehrs[2]; 9. 9X-Anthony Manley[7]

Summit Racing Equipment Heat 3 - 1. 7D-Doug Keller[4]; 2. 32-Brent Fielder[2]; 3. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[7]; 4. 7K-Kyle Hamby[6]; 5. 8M-James McMillin[8]; 6. 24-Blayne McMillin[5]; 7. 00-Nick Whalen[1]; 8. 83-James Ellis[9]; 9. 5DJ-DJ Barnes[3]

CMH Diamond Nationals next: The 18th annual CMH Diamond Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment is set for Saturday, July 13. Action features the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series along with the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models. The Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds will be in action along with the O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars.

For ticket or camping information on any Lucas Oil Speedway event, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.