Jason Garver made the 750-mile trip north from his Florida home to compete with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals in search of his first touring Modified series win. Inside the lines of The Natural State, he finally got it.
Garver, 49, of Starke, FL, picked up his first career Summit Modified triumph Tuesday night at Old No. 1 Speedway, leading all 25 laps of the main event around the Arkansas oval to score the win over Hunter Breland and Dalton Lane.
At the drop of the green, Garver used his pole starting spot to dart away with the lead over Breland, a Mississippi native.
Lap traffic became a factor on Lap 16 as Garver continued to work the inside lane, but Breland was working the top lane around the 1/4-mile oval and was able to close the gap.
With four laps-to-go, Breland pulled alongside Garver with a strong run off the bottom of Turn 2. But Garver stayed strong and won the drag race into Turn 3, maintaining his lead off Turn 4.
Garver continued to work through lap traffic in the closing circuits and opened up a gap on the rest of the field, one that he carried across the finish line with him to score the $1,500 prize.
“This history of the Hell Tour is why we came and did it,” Garver said. “We wanted to be a part of history. The way we ran the first two races, I really didn’t think we were going to be capable of winning. We worked on the car today and got some help from David Stremme and it all came together.”
Breland finished second, Lane was third, Zeke McKenzie finished fourth, and Landon Meilke finished fifth.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals return to action at Farmington Empire Speedway in Farmington, MO on Wednesday, July 1.
How can you watch every Summit Modifieds race? Every race is streamed live on DIRTVision.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 27G-Jason Garver[1]; 2. 21B-Hunter Breland[2]; 3. 14-Dalton Lane[5]; 4. 24-Zeke McKenzie[7]; 5. 14M-Landon Meilke[6]; 6. 7-Grayson Moore[4]; 7. 97-Chad Williams[9]; 8. 57-Tyler Cox[8]; 9. 60-Blake Bass[14]; 10. 7A-Travis Agee[10]; 11. 789-Henry Gustavus[12]; 12. 56-Hunter Alls[13]; 13. (DNF) 29-Colby Richardson[11]; 14. (DNS) 99-Justin Haley
