May 24, 2025 | By Lyndal Scranton

Hudson O'Neal does it again at Lucas Oil Speedway

WHEATLAND, Mo.—Chalk up another Lucas Oil Speedway victory for Hudson O'Neal as the Martinsville, Ind., driver remained perfect on Show-Me 100 weekend and flawless at the track in four 2025 attempts.

O'Neal took the lead from Justin Wells on lap 23 of the 40-lap Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson on Friday night, backing up his victory in Thursday's preliminary opener at the 33rd annual Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism.

Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second with defending Show-Me 100 champion Jonathan Davenport third as the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series drivers now turn their attention to Saturday night's 100-lap, $75,000-to-win grand finale.

It was a second straight $10,000 victory for O'Neal, who also won a combined $27,000 in April at Lucas Oil Speedway for back-to-back wins at the unsanctioned Spring Nationals.

"The race track was quite a bit different tonight versus last night. We had to throw some different stuff at it," O'Neal said after setting himself up with the pole position for Saturday night's 100-lapper. He said crew chief Jason Durham came up with "some good ideas" prior to the feature.

"This thing was awesome to drive," O'Neal added. "I probably wasn't as aggressive with lapped traffic as I needed to be. I kind of got complacent on the bottom and I was scared to move out there because I didn't want to give up the lead. But all in all, thank you to all my (crew) guys. Hopefully we can keep this going."

The sixth-starting O'Neal ran down Wells, the popular local standout from Aurora, Mo., who won his heat to earn the pole. Wells, a two-time defending Lucas Oil Speedway track champion, tried to pull a major upset as he led the first 22 laps.

But O'Neal took command after the midway point at his new, favorite track in the country. Four of his six wins this season have come at Lucas Oil Speedway and he joked that "right now" he loves the place.

"This place is always fun to come to. I always enjoy the Show-Me 100," said O'Neal, who won the crown-jewel race in 2021. "Hopefully we can enjoy another win here this weekend. We're plugging away at it. We have a really good race car right now.

"My confidence is through the roof, but we've still got a lot of work to do with a long 100 laps. With people like Ricky and JD beating on your door, it's tough company. We'll try our best and that's all we can do."

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series announced after the race that if O'Neal wins on Saturday night they will add an additional $5,000 to make his total earnings for the weekend an even $100,000.

Wells started on the pole and set the early pace, leading Davenport by 1.1 seconds when Garrett Alberson, running third, slammed the wall between turns one and two.

As action resumed, Wells continued to lead with Davenport right behind as the race settled into a consistent green-flag run. Wells’ lead was one second through 15 laps with O’Neal in third and Thornton fourth.

O’Neal made his way into second by lap 17 with Wells maintaining his lead by a half-second at the halfway mark on lap 20. O’Neal continued to gradually cut into the margin and caught Wells by lap 22 as the leaders were dealing with lapped traffic.

One lap later, O’Neal went around Wells on the low side out of turn four to take the lead. Davenport edged into second on lap 24, but Wells battled his way back into second the next time around. Those two than traded spots again on the next circuit.

As those two dueled, O’Neal was gradually expanding his lead to 1.5 seconds over Davenport at the lap-30 mark. Wells, meanwhile, slipped back to fifth as Thornton moved to third and Brandon Overton grabbed fourth with 10 to go.

O’Neal continued his march toward a fourth straight victory at Wheatland as the laps clicked away uninterrupted. He brought the SSI Motorsports Longhorn chassis to the checkers 1.2 seconds clear of Thornton, who grabbed the runner-up position on the final lap.

"I made one mistake early and it cost me," Thornton said. "I don't know if I was ever gonna be good enough to race with them, but ... I cost myself there. Congrats to 'Huddy' and thanks to 'JD' for giving me plenty of room on that last lap."

Davenport settled for third with Overton fourth and Devin Moran was fifth.

"I definitely feel like we gained on it from last night," said Davenport, fifth on Thursday. "I just really moved down one or two laps too late and might could have got in front of Hudson there before he got by me on the bottom."

Davenport said he suspected that Wells, after leading the first 22 laps, had his tires wear and thought Wells was losing fluids over the last half of the race, as liquid was hitting his helmet shield.

Wells, after a solid ninth-place run on Thursday, wound up eighth to solidly lock himself into a good starting spot for Saturday night.

The top 18 drivers in points earned by their combined finishes on the first two nights will be locked into the Show-Me 100. The rest will run B-Mains and the Show-Me Sheet Metal Challenge where the winner can take the $2,500 or forfeit that to start at the rear of the main event.

Overton of Evans, Ga., set fast qualifying time on Friday at 15.361 out of Group A, earning the pole for the first heat. Wells passed Overton early and went on to win the heat, earning the pole for the main event.

Davenport, Alberson and Thornton won heat races as 47 cars checked into the pits.

The Friday portion of the weekend honored Don and Billie Gibson, former owners of West Plains Motor Speedway who originated the Show-Me 100 in 1993.

Finale on Saturday with big pre-race: Grandstands are scheduled to open at 3 p.m. Saturday with several activities scheduled prior to hot laps at 7 p.m. The Nutrien Ag Solutions Pre-Race activities will include a concert from Nashville recording artist Lee Newton at 5 p.m. on the Midway behind the main grandstands, plus a driver's autograph session at 6:15.

Following hot laps, the pre-race show will include Newton performing the National Anthem. Colonel Joshua Pope, the Commander at the 509th Maintenance Group, Whiteman Air Force Base, is Grand Marshal of the event.

B-Mains will kick off the racing program, followed by hot laps for the A-Main transfers, the 20-lap Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge.


LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (May 23, 2025)
33rd annual Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism
Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series

A Feature - 1. 71-Hudson O'Neal[6]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[5]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[9]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard[7]; 7. 2T-Tyler Stevens[11]; 8. 98-Justin Wells[1]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[8]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce[12]; 11. 93-Carson Ferguson[10]; 12. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[15]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard[16]; 14. 79-Donald McIntosh[23]; 15. 6-Clay Harris[13]; 16. 18D-Daulton Wilson[14]; 17. 8-Dillon McCowan[18]; 18. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[17]; 19. 19M-Spencer Hughes[24]; 20. 60-Dan Ebert[20]; 21. 91-Chris Jones[22]; 22. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[19]; 23. 40B-Kyle Bronson[21]; 24. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]

Fast Shafts B Feature 1 - 1. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[3]; 2. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[5]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 4. 79-Donald McIntosh[4]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[8]; 6. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr[6]; 7. 93L-Cory Lawler[2]; 8. 31C-Cole Henson[7]; 9. 50-Kayden Clatt[15]; 10. 7J-Ryan Johnson[9]; 11. 4X-Dalon Helm[11]; 12. 82-Jace Parmley[10]; 13. 18P-Shannon Parker[12]; 14. 1K-Richard Kimberling[13]; 15. 8:05-Robert Hough[14]

UNOH B Feature 2 - 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 2. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 3. 91-Chris Jones[9]; 4. 93M-Mason Oberkramer[7]; 5. 19M-Spencer Hughes[5]; 6. 11-Gordy Gundaker[16]; 7. 15-Clay Stuckey[6]; 8. 7-Cole Wells[2]; 9. 1G-Bryan Glaze[10]; 10. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[11]; 11. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[8]; 12. S3-Joey Smith[12]; 13. 65-Jon Binning[15]; 14. 96-Dalton Imhoff[13]; 15. USA1-Chris Hawkins[14]; 16. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[4]

Penske Shocks Heat 1 - 1. 98-Justin Wells[3]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[5]; 4. 6-Clay Harris[7]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[12]; 6. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[4]; 7. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[6]; 8. 31C-Cole Henson[8]; 9. 7J-Ryan Johnson[9]; 10. 4X-Dalon Helm[10]; 11. 1K-Richard Kimberling[11]; 12. 50-Kayden Clatt[2]

Summit Racing Heat 2 - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 2T-Tyler Stevens[4]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 5. 93L-Cory Lawler[6]; 6. 79-Donald McIntosh[7]; 7. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr[8]; 8. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 9. 82-Jace Parmley[9]; 10. 18P-Shannon Parker[10]; 11. 8:05-Robert Hough[11]

Cool It Thermo Tec Heat 3 - 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 3. 93-Carson Ferguson[5]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 7. 19M-Spencer Hughes[10]; 8. 93M-Mason Oberkramer[8]; 9. 91-Chris Jones[7]; 10. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[12]; 11. 96-Dalton Imhoff[9]; 12. 65-Jon Binning[11]

Simpson Race Products Heat 4 - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 5. 7-Cole Wells[6]; 6. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[4]; 7. 15-Clay Stuckey[7]; 8. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[10]; 9. 1G-Bryan Glaze[9]; 10. S3-Joey Smith[11]; 11. USA1-Chris Hawkins[12]; 12. (DNS) 11-Gordy Gundaker

Qualifying Group A - 1. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.361[4]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:15.541[22]; 3. 50-Kayden Clatt, 00:15.547[15]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.598[6]; 5. 98-Justin Wells, 00:15.624[3]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.643[8]; 7. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall, 00:15.826[14]; 8. 2T-Tyler Stevens, 00:15.836[11]; 9. 99-Devin Moran, 00:15.837[18]; 10. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:15.891[12]; 11. 1XM-Aaron Marrant, 00:15.898[2]; 12. 93L-Cory Lawler, 00:15.995[9]; 13. 6-Clay Harris, 00:15.999[16]; 14. 79-Donald McIntosh, 00:16.397[17]; 15. 31C-Cole Henson, 00:16.401[19]; 16. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr, 00:16.427[10]; 17. 7J-Ryan Johnson, 00:16.433[1]; 18. 82-Jace Parmley, 00:16.446[7]; 19. 4X-Dalon Helm, 00:16.468[23]; 20. 18P-Shannon Parker, 00:16.547[21]; 21. 1K-Richard Kimberling, 00:17.214[20]; 22. 8:05-Robert Hough, 00:20.181[5]; 23. (DNS) 40B-Kyle Bronson

Qualifying Group B - 1. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.704[14]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.744[1]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal, 00:15.815[24]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:15.860[2]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert, 00:15.942[6]; 6. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:15.997[8]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.998[11]; 8. 1S-Jeremy Shaw, 00:16.101[22]; 9. 93-Carson Ferguson, 00:16.130[23]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:16.144[18]; 11. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:16.210[3]; 12. 7-Cole Wells, 00:16.217[4]; 13. 91-Chris Jones, 00:16.266[12]; 14. 15-Clay Stuckey, 00:16.270[10]; 15. 93M-Mason Oberkramer, 00:16.277[16]; 16. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:16.307[20]; 17. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 00:16.481[9]; 18. 1G-Bryan Glaze, 00:16.597[5]; 19. 19M-Spencer Hughes, 00:16.627[21]; 20. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel, 00:16.828[19]; 21. 65-Jon Binning, 00:17.264[15]; 22. S3-Joey Smith, 00:17.409[7]; 23. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt, 00:17.490[17]; 24. USA1-Chris Hawkins, 00:17.541[13]


Saturday schedule:

Pits and Grandstands open - 3 p.m.
Hellraizer Jacks Pit Crew Challenge (for top 18 locked-in or provisionals) - 3:30 p.m.
Nutrien Ag Solutions Lee Newton Pre-Race Concert on the Midway - 5-5:45 p.m.
Driver Autograph Session on Midway (top 18 locked-in) - 6:15-7 p.m.
Hot Laps - 7 p.m.
Nutrien Ag Opening Ceremonies - Following Hot Laps


Show-Me 100 admission:

Saturday, May 24th
General Admission Adults (13 and up) - $40
General Admission Seniors (62 and over)/Military with ID - $37
General Admission Youth (ages 6-12) - $10
General Admission Kids (5-and-under) - FREE
Pit Pass - $55
Pit Pass (5-and-under) - $10
Family pass - $90

For information on tickets or camping for any Lucas Oil Speedway event in 2025, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or email her at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.