January 31, 2026 | By Matt Skipper, DIRTcar Racing PR

Mefford Parks UMP Modified in DIRTcar Nationals Victory Lane at Volusia

BARBERVILLE, Fla.—Over the last three years, Charlie Mefford has pieced together his ideal driving style around Volusia Speedway Park.

The Belton, KY native earned his fifth Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals win on Friday by wheeling his No. 13 Elite Chassis UMP Modified around the middle lane of the slick half-mile track in preparation for hunting his first career Big Gator championship from Feb. 2-7.

Kenny Wallace brought the field of 24 Modifieds to the opening green flag with Thursday winner Ricky Thornton Jr to the outside. Using the bottom lane to gain momentum, Wallace got clear of the lead and protected the inside line as Thornton attempted to create speed on the cushion.

Through the early stages, Wallace grew the gap to Thornton by 1.6 seconds as Mefford experimented with different lanes in third place until the first caution waved on Lap 6.

On the restart, the St. Louis, MO driver escaped the pack as Thornton faced a position battle from Mefford. “Chargin’ Charlie” used the bottom lane of Turns 3-4 to gain clearance of the reigning Late Model Big Gator champion on Lap 8.

As Wallace kept the No. 36 Modified glued to the low lane and jumped to a 1.6-second lead, Mefford found speed in the middle groove and cut the lead to 0.2 seconds when the caution was displayed once again on Lap 13.

The ensuing restart saw Mefford ride the middle lane to reach the right-rear of “The Herminator” at the exit of Turn 2, then outgassed Wallace through Turns 3-4 to take the lead. Trevor Neville noticed Mefford’s success and passed Wallace for second place in Turns 3-4 through the middle on Lap 14.

Secure in the top spot, the 19-year-old flew to a 3.6-second advantage over Neville in the final six circuits around the Barberville, FL grounds to capture the twin checkered flags at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” for a fourth consecutive year.

“Those first six or seven laps, we were all following Kenny,” Mefford said. “Ricky went to the top, and I was like, ‘Man, I got to try the middle,’ and I kept a lot of momentum through the center of the corner like [Scott Bloomquist] would. I drove by [Thornton], and then the caution came, so I knew I had to capitalize then. If it wasn’t for that caution, I don’t know if I could have gotten by [Wallace].”

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[3]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[6]; 3. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 4. 25-Tyler Nicely[13]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 6. 35A-Michael Altobelli[11]; 7. K9-Will Krup[5]; 8. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 9. 66-Cole Falloway[16]; 10. 35-David Stremme[7]; 11. 99H-Justin Haley[10]; 12. 97-Mitch Thomas[8]; 13. 45H-Kyle Hammer[22]; 14. 99-Cole Hilton[14]; 15. 114K-Evan Koehler[17]; 16. 43A-Mark Anderson[18]; 17. 77D-George Dixon[9]; 18. 56-Chris Wilson[15]; 19. 51-Dalton Lanich[21]; 20. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[23]; 21. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[12]; 22. 12L-Lucas Lee[19]; 23. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[20]; 24. 05-Dave Wietholder[24]


Up Next: The opening week of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals closes with the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds hunting a $2,500 payday as the American Sprint Car Series crowns a second Big Gator champion on Saturday, Jan. 31. With the frigid temperatures later in the evening, grandstand gates will open at 3 p.m, and Hot Laps will roll at 4 p.m.

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FRIDAY DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIEDS (71 entries)

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[3]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[6]; 3. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 4. 25-Tyler Nicely[13]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 6. 35A-Michael Altobelli[11]; 7. K9-Will Krup[5]; 8. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 9. 66-Cole Falloway[16]; 10. 35-David Stremme[7]; 11. 99H-Justin Haley[10]; 12. 97-Mitch Thomas[8]; 13. 45H-Kyle Hammer[22]; 14. 99-Cole Hilton[14]; 15. 114K-Evan Koehler[17]; 16. 43A-Mark Anderson[18]; 17. 77D-George Dixon[9]; 18. 56-Chris Wilson[15]; 19. 51-Dalton Lanich[21]; 20. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[23]; 21. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[12]; 22. 12L-Lucas Lee[19]; 23. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[20]; 24. 05-Dave Wietholder[24]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps): 1. 114K-Evan Koehler[1]; 2. 51-Dalton Lanich[3]; 3. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[2]; 4. 28-Mason Lobb[6]; 5. 15X-Justin Stone[4]; 6. 7G-Seth Geary[8]; 7. 71-Pierce McCarter[5]; 8. 26-Adam Ogle[11]; 9. 17X-Richard Michael Jr[7]; 10. 14-Dalton Lane[13]; 11. 10X-Billy Uptegraff[14]; 12. 72-Todd Neiheiser[10]; 13. 11D-Brian Diveley[12]; 14. (DNS) 28B-Jason Brookover

Last Chance Showdown 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12L-Lucas Lee[1]; 2. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[2]; 3. 25CS-Curt Spalding[10]; 4. 09-Michael Ledford[6]; 5. 9-Ken Schrader[5]; 6. 77B-Ray Bollinger[3]; 7. 17W-Mikey Wilson[9]; 8. 17-Chris Wilson[8]; 9. X-Wyatt Scott[7]; 10. 0-Glenn Styres[4]; 11. 60-Jim Manka[12]; 12. 29C-Joey Cotterman[14]; 13. 3G-Bryce Graber[11]; 14. (DNS) 114-Jordan Koehler

Last Chance Showdown 3 (8 Laps): 1. 43A-Mark Anderson[2]; 2. 45H-Kyle Hammer[1]; 3. 57-Charlie Sandercock[5]; 4. 1H-Ben Harmon[3]; 5. 90-Jason Beaulieu[12]; 6. 27-Jason Garver[6]; 7. 17C-Coleman Evans[4]; 8. 52-Mikey Kopka[7]; 9. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[11]; 10. 11-Dylan Drake[14]; 11. 15H-Gator Hise[13]; 12. 2ONE-Tim Czarneski[10]; 13. 24-Zeke McKenzie[9]; 14. 3-Josh Sanford[8]

Last Chance Showdown 4 (8 Laps): 1. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[1]; 2. 05-Dave Wietholder[2]; 3. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[4]; 4. 155-Peyton Harlow[3]; 5. 7-Brad DeYoung[8]; 6. 1-Eric Kinney II[5]; 7. 17T-Tyler Evans[6]; 8. 3F-Rob Fuqua[13]; 9. 99W-Wade Olmsted[12]; 10. T23-Keith Tincher[9]; 11. T9-Zack Tate[10]; 12. (DNF) 21B-Hunter Breland[7]; 13. (DNS) 5B-Bobby Bagley

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[2]; 2. 77D-George Dixon[1]; 3. 114K-Evan Koehler[3]; 4. 51-Dalton Lanich[5]; 5. 71-Pierce McCarter[8]; 6. 17X-Richard Michael Jr[6]; 7. 28B-Jason Brookover[4]; 8. 26-Adam Ogle[9]; 9. 14-Dalton Lane[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[1]; 2. 35A-Michael Altobelli[5]; 3. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[2]; 4. 15X-Justin Stone[4]; 5. 28-Mason Lobb[6]; 6. 7G-Seth Geary[8]; 7. 72-Todd Neiheiser[3]; 8. 11D-Brian Diveley[9]; 9. 10X-Billy Uptegraff[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. K9-Will Krup[2]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[1]; 3. 12L-Lucas Lee[4]; 4. 77B-Ray Bollinger[6]; 5. 9-Ken Schrader[8]; 6. X-Wyatt Scott[7]; 7. 17W-Mikey Wilson[5]; 8. 3G-Bryce Graber[9]; 9. (DNF) 114-Jordan Koehler[3]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 35-David Stremme[1]; 2. 56-Chris Wilson[4]; 3. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[3]; 4. 0-Glenn Styres[2]; 5. 09-Michael Ledford[7]; 6. 17-Chris Wilson[6]; 7. 25CS-Curt Spalding[5]; 8. 60-Jim Manka[8]; 9. 29C-Joey Cotterman[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 99H-Justin Haley[5]; 3. 45H-Kyle Hammer[2]; 4. 1H-Ben Harmon[4]; 5. 57-Charlie Sandercock[3]; 6. 52-Mikey Kopka[7]; 7. 24-Zeke McKenzie[6]; 8. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[9]; 9. 15H-Gator Hise[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[1]; 2. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[4]; 3. 43A-Mark Anderson[2]; 4. 17C-Coleman Evans[5]; 5. 27-Jason Garver[7]; 6. 3-Josh Sanford[3]; 7. 2ONE-Tim Czarneski[8]; 8. 90-Jason Beaulieu[6]; 9. 11-Dylan Drake[9]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 777-Trevor Neville[1]; 2. 99-Cole Hilton[4]; 3. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[3]; 4. 155-Peyton Harlow[5]; 5. 1-Eric Kinney II[7]; 6. 21B-Hunter Breland[6]; 7. T23-Keith Tincher[9]; 8. (DNF) 5B-Bobby Bagley[2]; 9. (DNF) 3F-Rob Fuqua[8]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Mitch Thomas[2]; 2. 66-Cole Falloway[1]; 3. 05-Dave Wietholder[3]; 4. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[6]; 5. 17T-Tyler Evans[4]; 6. 7-Brad DeYoung[5]; 7. T9-Zack Tate[8]; 8. 99W-Wade Olmsted[7]

Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 77D-George Dixon, 00:18.004[5]; 2. 13-Charlie Mefford, 00:18.042[3]; 3. 25-Tyler Nicely, 00:18.169[4]; 4. 35-David Stremme, 00:18.342[12]; 5. 36-Kenny Wallace, 00:18.383[36]; 6. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:18.385[7]; 7. K9-Will Krup, 00:18.396[20]; 8. 0-Glenn Styres, 00:18.435[6]; 9. 114K-Evan Koehler, 00:18.455[35]; 10. 72-Todd Neiheiser, 00:18.471[2]; 11. 114-Jordan Koehler, 00:18.503[25]; 12. 1TS-Tyler Spalding, 00:18.505[16]; 13. 28B-Jason Brookover, 00:18.520[9]; 14. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:18.559[14]; 15. 12L-Lucas Lee, 00:18.561[21]; 16. 56-Chris Wilson, 00:18.617[30]; 17. 51-Dalton Lanich, 00:18.635[8]; 18. 35A-Michael Altobelli, 00:18.667[13]; 19. 17W-Mikey Wilson, 00:18.715[29]; 20. 25CS-Curt Spalding, 00:18.721[10]; 21. 17X-Richard Michael Jr, 00:18.784[23]; 22. 28-Mason Lobb, 00:18.795[22]; 23. 77B-Ray Bollinger, 00:18.801[19]; 24. 17-Chris Wilson, 00:18.804[28]; 25. 14-Dalton Lane, 00:18.865[1]; 26. 10X-Billy Uptegraff, 00:18.943[17]; 27. X-Wyatt Scott, 00:18.957[24]; 28. 09-Michael Ledford, 00:18.989[32]; 29. 71-Pierce McCarter, 00:19.076[15]; 30. 7G-Seth Geary, 00:19.086[34]; 31. 9-Ken Schrader, 00:19.243[18]; 32. 60-Jim Manka, 00:19.313[31]; 33. 26-Adam Ogle, 00:19.321[33]; 34. 11D-Brian Diveley, 00:19.396[11]; 35. 3G-Bryce Graber, 00:19.678[27]; 36. 29C-Joey Cotterman, 00:19.894[26]

Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:18.365[21]; 2. 96M-Mike McKinney, 00:18.452[4]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:18.556[20]; 4. 66-Cole Falloway, 00:18.592[30]; 5. 45H-Kyle Hammer, 00:18.691[3]; 6. 43A-Mark Anderson, 00:18.702[13]; 7. 5B-Bobby Bagley, 00:18.761[11]; 8. 97-Mitch Thomas, 00:18.765[35]; 9. 57-Charlie Sandercock, 00:18.766[29]; 10. 3-Josh Sanford, 00:18.773[9]; 11. 31G-Stephen Pedulla, 00:18.858[14]; 12. 05-Dave Wietholder, 00:18.868[15]; 13. 1H-Ben Harmon, 00:18.893[28]; 14. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski, 00:18.914[27]; 15. 99-Cole Hilton, 00:18.962[10]; 16. 17T-Tyler Evans, 00:18.974[5]; 17. 99H-Justin Haley, 00:18.975[19]; 18. 17C-Coleman Evans, 00:19.001[31]; 19. 155-Peyton Harlow, 00:19.039[23]; 20. 7-Brad DeYoung, 00:19.067[26]; 21. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 00:19.104[25]; 22. 90-Jason Beaulieu, 00:19.117[17]; 23. 21B-Hunter Breland, 00:19.130[22]; 24. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr, 00:19.157[1]; 25. 52-Mikey Kopka, 00:19.185[2]; 26. 27-Jason Garver, 00:19.229[7]; 27. 1-Eric Kinney II, 00:19.454[12]; 28. 99W-Wade Olmsted, 00:19.523[18]; 29. 15H-Gator Hise, 00:19.553[33]; 30. 2ONE-Tim Czarneski, 00:19.656[34]; 31. 3F-Rob Fuqua, 00:19.679[8]; 32. T9-Zack Tate, 00:19.731[24]; 33. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt, 00:19.785[16]; 34. 11-Dylan Drake, 00:20.073[6]; 35. T23-Keith Tincher, 00:20.221[32]