July 12, 2024 | By Colby Trotter

Erb Makes Dramatic Late-Race Pass for 10th Summer Nationals Win of 2024 at Crystal

CRYSTAL, Mich. — Tyler Erb has started to put his signature on dramatic late race passes for the lead with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models.

During the 40-lap Feature at Crystal Motor Speedway Friday night, Erb, 27, of New Waverly, TX, had been hunting down race-long leader Dona Marcoullier for the last half of the main event and was on his tail by Lap 30. Then with five laps-to-go, Erb dove down low into Turn 1 and slid in front of Marcoullier out of Turn 2. The move caused Marcoullier to bump the cushion and allowed Erb to take the lead. 

Once Erb sealed the pass he led the rest of the way and finished just under two seconds ahead of Marcoullier for his 10th Summer Nationals win of 2024 Friday night at Crystal Motor Speedway.

“The racing gods wanted me to f–– really try hard today,” Erb said. “Had to change my line up and try different lines that way when I did get close, I could figure out how to pass [Marcoullier]. Kept trying it in [Turns] 3 and 4 and I was honestly better in 3 and 4 running lower but I wasn’t ever going to clear him without crashing us so I had to figure out what I could do in [Turns] 1 and 2.

“I finally just started diving into the middle bottom of 1 and 2. Once I felt like I knew what to do there I just got close in 3 and 4 and f–– let it rip in 1 and 2.”

From seventh on the grid, Erb bided his time for the first half of the race as he made his way up to fourth by Lap 20 with a slider on Rusty Schlenk in Turns 1 and 2. Three laps later he took the third spot from Winger on the high side of the track before a Lap 23 caution. The caution was for runner-up Logan Nickerson who pulled off the track and retired early.

With Nickerson giving up his spot, Erb took second-place on the restart. On the restart, Marcoullier got a great jump, but Erb was determined not to let him get away.

“That was the fastest place it was just hard to see and hard to run,” Erb said of running the high side of the track. “I think them guys were a little nervous running up there in the beginning and I could drive way harder into the corner than a lot of them. That’s what I needed to do to make speed to get by them because I wasn’t going to be able to pass six with five-to-go so I had to get as many as I could get and go from there.”

Each circuit around the 3/8 mile oval, Erb got closer to Marcoullier and on Lap 30 is when Erb started to make his attempt for the lead. Erb came down from the high side of the track and began to ride the middle grove in the corners trying to pass Marcoullier. The next five laps Erb kept trying to get by down low before finally committing to it on Lap 36 for his third-straight Hell Tour win.

“That’s probably the hardest one I’ve won,” Erb said. “I had to earn it. I really had to make good decisions and make passes when I could and keep my nose clean when I could, and it worked out.”

With the victory, Erb stretched out his DIRTcar Summer Nationals points lead to 44 over Dillon McCowan, who finished fourth.

UP NEXT:  Week 5 of the 39th annual DIRTcar Summer Nationals continues Saturday, July 13, at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, OH. Tickets will be on sale at the gate and if you can’t be there, watch all the action live on DIRTVision.


RESULTS

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[7]; 2. 6M-Dona Marcoullier[1]; 3. 12-Ashton Winger[4]; 4. 8-Dillon McCowan[8]; 5. 42-Chad Finley[15]; 6. 19-Derrick Hilliker[3]; 7. 14JR-Trey Mills[13]; 8. 388-Jackson Hise[16]; 9. 9R-Curtis Roberts[2]; 10. 38-Thomas Hunziker[24]; 11. 51-Devin Shiels[19]; 12. 91-Rusty Schlenk[5]; 13. 69-Brandon Thirlby[22]; 14. 21N-Logan Nickerson[6]; 15. 58-Wil Herrington[10]; 16. 07-Rylee Knoll[9]; 17. 21D-David Hilliker[12]; 18. 2-Bry Johnson[14]; 19. 16-Garrett Wiles[23]; 20. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen[18]; 21. 15-Clayton Stuckey[11]; 22. 27-Eric Spangler[17]; 23. 4-Travis Stemler[26]; 24. 55S-Ashlee Scott[25]; 25. 30-Mark Voigt[21]; 26. (DNS) 24-Joe Pomeroy

Last Chance Showdown (B-Main) (10 Laps): 1. 14JR-Trey Mills[1]; 2. 2-Bry Johnson[2]; 3. 42-Chad Finley[4]; 4. 388-Jackson Hise[3]; 5. 27-Eric Spangler[6]; 6. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen[5]; 7. 51-Devin Shiels[10]; 8. 24-Joe Pomeroy[11]; 9. 4-Travis Stemler[15]; 10. 69-Brandon Thirlby[16]; 11. 94-Bill Bray[13]; 12. 18-Jacob Stuhr[9]; 13. 28S-Zack Swarts[12]; 14. 87-Rich Neiser[14]; 15. 72-Kyle Borgman[7]; 16. (DNS) 55-Michael Archer

Consolation Race (C-Main) 1 (8 Laps): 1. 94-Bill Bray[2]; 2. 4-Travis Stemler[14]; 3. 11-Rachel Carpenter[3]; 4. 8L-Bailey Lynn[4]; 5. LIL91-Carter Schlenk[15]; 6. 006-Nicholas Fenner[5]; 7. (DNS) 7L-Logan Love; 8. (DNS) 25-Ryder Price; 9. (DNS) 38-Thomas Hunziker; 10. (DNS) 16-Garrett Wiles; 11. (DNS) 0S-Ronnie Smith; 12. (DNS) 30-Mark Voigt; 13. (DNS) 36-Joel Morton; 14. (DNS) 41-Mike Vandermark Jr; 15. (DNS) 06-Jake Rendel

Consolation Race (C-Main) 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Rich Neiser[2]; 2. 69-Brandon Thirlby[5]; 3. 55S-Ashlee Scott[1]; 4. 19M-Carter Murday[3]; 5. 52-Brad Harden[6]; 6. 164-Taylor Wiles[4]; 7. 71DS-Drew Smith[8]; 8. 64-Lukus Anstett[7]; 9. C4-Zach Calkins[12]; 10. 55V-Michael Vandecar[15]; 11. 11X-Ryan Lanphierd[9]; 12. (DNS) 4T-Andrew Terrill; 13. (DNS) 57V-Mason VanderVeen; 14. (DNS) 9M-Matthew Chapman; 15. (DNS) 25G-Jimmy Gallagher

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6M-Dona Marcoullier[2]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 3. 14JR-Trey Mills[3]; 4. 72-Kyle Borgman[8]; 5. 7L-Logan Love[5]; 6. 8L-Bailey Lynn[9]; 7. 38-Thomas Hunziker[4]; 8. 30-Mark Voigt[6]; 9. 06-Jake Rendel[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Ashton Winger[1]; 2. 07-Rylee Knoll[2]; 3. 388-Jackson Hise[3]; 4. 18-Jacob Stuhr[6]; 5. 94-Bill Bray[4]; 6. 006-Nicholas Fenner[9]; 7. 16-Garrett Wiles[5]; 8. 36-Joel Morton[8]; 9. 4-Travis Stemler[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Derrick Hilliker[3]; 2. 15-Clayton Stuckey[5]; 3. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen[6]; 4. 24-Joe Pomeroy[2]; 5. 11-Rachel Carpenter[7]; 6. 25-Ryder Price[9]; 7. 0S-Ronnie Smith[8]; 8. 41-Mike Vandermark Jr[1]; 9. LIL91-Carter Schlenk[4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Rusty Schlenk[2]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 3. 2-Bry Johnson[5]; 4. 55-Michael Archer[3]; 5. 55S-Ashlee Scott[7]; 6. 164-Taylor Wiles[8]; 7. 64-Lukus Anstett[9]; 8. 4T-Andrew Terrill[4]; 9. (DNS) 9M-Matthew Chapman

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 9R-Curtis Roberts[1]; 2. 58-Wil Herrington[2]; 3. 42-Chad Finley[3]; 4. 51-Devin Shiels[4]; 5. 87-Rich Neiser[6]; 6. 69-Brandon Thirlby[9]; 7. 71DS-Drew Smith[8]; 8. 57V-Mason VanderVeen[7]; 9. 25G-Jimmy Gallagher[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 21N-Logan Nickerson[1]; 2. 21D-David Hilliker[2]; 3. 27-Eric Spangler[4]; 4. 28S-Zack Swarts[5]; 5. 19M-Carter Murday[7]; 6. 52-Brad Harden[6]; 7. 11X-Ryan Lanphierd[3]; 8. C4-Zach Calkins[8]; 9. 55V-Michael Vandecar[9]

Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb, 00:13.894[1]; 2. 12-Ashton Winger, 00:13.997[17]; 3. 41-Mike Vandermark Jr, 00:14.005[25]; 4. 6M-Dona Marcoullier, 00:14.083[5]; 5. 07-Rylee Knoll, 00:14.109[22]; 6. 24-Joe Pomeroy, 00:14.131[9]; 7. 14JR-Trey Mills, 00:14.146[16]; 8. 388-Jackson Hise, 00:14.168[19]; 9. 19-Derrick Hilliker, 00:14.263[14]; 10. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:14.272[10]; 11. 94-Bill Bray, 00:14.307[11]; 12. LIL91-Carter Schlenk, 00:14.312[6]; 13. 7L-Logan Love, 00:14.352[2]; 14. 16-Garrett Wiles, 00:14.376[20]; 15. 15-Clayton Stuckey, 00:14.405[21]; 16. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:14.533[23]; 17. 18-Jacob Stuhr, 00:14.610[13]; 18. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen, 00:14.620[3]; 19. 06-Jake Rendel, 00:14.702[7]; 20. 4-Travis Stemler, 00:14.704[18]; 21. 11-Rachel Carpenter, 00:14.815[24]; 22. 72-Kyle Borgman, 00:14.872[4]; 23. 36-Joel Morton, 00:15.098[15]; 24. 0S-Ronnie Smith, 00:15.225[27]; 25. 8L-Bailey Lynn, 00:15.389[26]; 26. 006-Nicholas Fenner, 00:15.623[12]; 27. 25-Ryder Price, 00:15.876[8]

Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:13.769[19]; 2. 9R-Curtis Roberts, 00:13.815[15]; 3. 21N-Logan Nickerson, 00:13.861[4]; 4. 91-Rusty Schlenk, 00:13.938[24]; 5. 58-Wil Herrington, 00:14.028[25]; 6. 21D-David Hilliker, 00:14.088[21]; 7. 55-Michael Archer, 00:14.096[9]; 8. 42-Chad Finley, 00:14.114[13]; 9. 11X-Ryan Lanphierd, 00:14.129[18]; 10. 4T-Andrew Terrill, 00:14.181[7]; 11. 51-Devin Shiels, 00:14.197[11]; 12. 27-Eric Spangler, 00:14.368[1]; 13. 2-Bry Johnson, 00:14.375[10]; 14. 25G-Jimmy Gallagher, 00:14.405[16]; 15. 28S-Zack Swarts, 00:14.515[3]; 16. 9M-Matthew Chapman, 00:14.586[26]; 17. 87-Rich Neiser, 00:14.706[12]; 18. 52-Brad Harden, 00:14.864[8]; 19. 55S-Ashlee Scott, 00:14.922[6]; 20. 57V-Mason VanderVeen, 00:15.044[17]; 21. 19M-Carter Murday, 00:15.676[22]; 22. 164-Taylor Wiles, 00:15.824[20]; 23. 71DS-Drew Smith, 00:15.866[5]; 24. C4-Zach Calkins, 00:16.007[23]; 25. 64-Lukus Anstett, 00:16.791[14]; 26. 69-Brandon Thirlby, 00:16.791[2]; 27. (DNS) 55V-Michael Vandecar


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MCKINNEY FIRST START AT CRYSTAL WITH SUMMIT MODIFIED TOUR

CRYSTAL, Mich. -- Mike McKinney dominated in his first-ever trip to Crystal Motor Speedway with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Friday night.

McKinney of Plainfield, IL, led all 25 laps of the Feature for his second-straight Summit Racing Equipment Modified National win and sixth of 2024.

McKinney rode the high side of the track for the entirety of the main event to hold off the challengers behind him.

“I watched that Late Model race there and saw they were predominantly around the top,” McKinney said. “Rolled out there and wasn’t sure if the Mods were going to be able to do it or not. Just went for it there in the first corner and slid [Zeke Mckenzie] and got to the top. Felt some grip, was able to roll through [Turns] 3 and 4 and felt some speed. Once I felt how good it was up there, I knew we were going to be in good shape.”

With the win, McKinney now has double the number of wins as points leader Trevor Neville.

“We’ve been working really hard,” McKinney said. “It feels good to run as good as we’ve had this last couple of weeks at a bunch of tracks that I have no laps on.”

UP NEXT:  Week 5 of DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals competition continues Saturday, July 13, at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, OH. Tickets will be on sale at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.


DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIED RESULTS

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[1]; 2. 24-Zeke McKenzie[2]; 3. 7-Brad Deyoung[4]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[9]; 5. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[3]; 6. 5CS-Curt Spalding[6]; 7. 82-Brennan Sherman[14]; 8. 43-Mark Anderson[5]; 9. 65-Todd Sherman[8]; 10. 74M-Manix Furqueron[15]; 11. 313-Clayton Smith[16]; 12. 14T-Mario Toniolo[17]; 13. 7S-Rick Swartout[21]; 14. 117-Kevin Reeve[11]; 15. 14-Dalton Lane[13]; 16. 9R-Garrett Rons[20]; 17. 60-Shannon Fisk[12]; 18. 25L-Josh Lolmaugh[19]; 19. 31L-Matthew Lambrecht[7]; 20. 84-Brandon Beeching[10]; 21. 2K-Kelly Morrow[18]; 22. 64M-Tim McCafferty[22]

Last Chance Showdown (B-Main) (8 Laps): 1. 313-Clayton Smith[4]; 2. 14T-Mario Toniolo[1]; 3. 2K-Kelly Morrow[12]; 4. 7S-Rick Swartout[9]; 5. 9R-Garrett Rons[3]; 6. 98-Timothy Meine[2]; 7. (DNS) 57-Troy Goodrich; 8. (DNS) 15H-Austin Harnick; 9. (DNS) 55D-Casey Keyosky; 10. (DNS) 25L-Josh Lolmaugh; 11. (DNS) 64M-Tim McCafferty; 12. (DNS) 12M-John McClure; 13. (DNS) 1TS-Tyler Spalding

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[1]; 2. 7-Brad Deyoung[2]; 3. 31L-Matthew Lambrecht[4]; 4. 84-Brandon Beeching[6]; 5. 14-Dalton Lane[5]; 6. 14T-Mario Toniolo[10]; 7. 313-Clayton Smith[8]; 8. 55D-Casey Keyosky[7]; 9. 64M-Tim McCafferty[9]; 10. (DNS) 1TS-Tyler Spalding

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Zeke McKenzie[2]; 2. 43-Mark Anderson[1]; 3. 65-Todd Sherman[3]; 4. 117-Kevin Reeve[7]; 5. 82-Brennan Sherman[4]; 6. 98-Timothy Meine[9]; 7. 57-Troy Goodrich[8]; 8. 25L-Josh Lolmaugh[6]; 9. 12M-John McClure[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[1]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding[2]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville[3]; 4. 60-Shannon Fisk[4]; 5. 74M-Manix Furqueron[5]; 6. 9R-Garrett Rons[6]; 7. 15H-Austin Harnick[7]; 8. 7S-Rick Swartout[9]; 9. 2K-Kelly Morrow[8]

Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum, 00:15.558[1]; 2. 7-Brad Deyoung, 00:15.593[3]; 3. 1TS-Tyler Spalding, 00:15.650[5]; 4. 31L-Matthew Lambrecht, 00:16.044[10]; 5. 14-Dalton Lane, 00:16.131[7]; 6. 84-Brandon Beeching, 00:16.905[9]; 7. 55D-Casey Keyosky, 00:17.148[8]; 8. 313-Clayton Smith, 00:17.495[6]; 9. 64M-Tim McCafferty, 00:18.644[4]; 10. 14T-Mario Toniolo, 00:18.644[2]

Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 43-Mark Anderson, 00:15.657[2]; 2. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 00:15.787[4]; 3. 65-Todd Sherman, 00:15.927[5]; 4. 82-Brennan Sherman, 00:15.970[1]; 5. 12M-John McClure, 00:15.978[8]; 6. 25L-Josh Lolmaugh, 00:16.106[7]; 7. 117-Kevin Reeve, 00:16.124[3]; 8. 57-Troy Goodrich, 00:17.386[6]; 9. 98-Timothy Meine, 00:17.934[9]

Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney, 00:15.222[4]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding, 00:15.331[7]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:15.385[5]; 4. 60-Shannon Fisk, 00:15.435[2]; 5. 74M-Manix Furqueron, 00:15.536[6]; 6. 9R-Garrett Rons, 00:16.097[3]; 7. 15H-Austin Harnick, 00:16.175[1]; 8. 2K-Kelly Morrow, 00:17.207[8]; 9. 7S-Rick Swartout, 00:17.328[9]