Bubak and Howard pick up Night 2 Hockett-McMillin Memorial feature victories at Lucas Oil Speedway

| September 14, 2024

Jake Bubak’s late pass sent him to the POWRi 410 Sprint feature victory while Chase Howard scored the POWRi WAR wingless triumph on Night 2 of the 14th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial on Friday night at Lucas Oil Speedway. (GS Stanek Racing Photography)

 

WHEATLAND, MO. (Sept. 13, 2024) – Night 2 of the 14th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial saw Jake Bubak and Chase Howard both score come-from-behind feature victories at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Bubak, of Arvado, Colo., chased down race-long leader Jace Park with two laps remaining to score a thrilling win in the POWRi 410 Sprints. Earlier, Howard took command just past the midpoint and went on to grab the POWRi WAR feature for non-winged sprints.

Drivers used the action on Thursday and Friday nights to accumulate points for Saturday night’s championship round. The POWRi 410 winged feature winner will collect $10,000 with the WAR drivers chasing a $3,077 prize.

The Hockett-McMillin Memorial pays tribute to the legacy of Jesse Hockett, who was a star in both the winged and non-wing sprint divisions when he lost his life in a shop accident in 2010. His cousin and crew chief, Daniel McMillin, was killed in an automobile accident in 2006.

If the 410 winged feature on Friday is any indication, the final night ought to be a classic. Park, of Overland Park, Kan., appeared to be a lopsided winner as he built a big lead with only a handful of laps remaining.

But Bubak, who started sixth, came charging to steal the $3,000 win. His winning pass after a lap 23 restart and just after a previous pass for the lead was wiped out as a caution flew before the lap was completed.

“That was a bummer,” Bubak said of having to go back to second and do it all over again. “But I kind of found the top there right before the yellow and knew it was there, so I just committed to it.

“I’m happy to be in victory lane. I really wanted to win that one. We’re happy to be here and I love this track and this facility.”

Park was the driver to beat most of the way. He out-sprinted fellow front-row starter Chase Randall for the lead at the start and those two stayed nose-to-tail through eight laps. They were staging a tremendous battle for the lead on lap nine, but as Randall was trying to complete the pass he drifted too high, got into the cushion and flipped his car in turn four.

Park quickly opened a 1.7-second lead after the restart over Noah Gass with Bubak lurking in third. But Park kept pouring it on, extending the gap to 3.2 seconds by lap 17, as Bubak got around Gass for the runner-up spot.

Bubak started to immediately cut into Park’s margin, pulling within .668 seconds with four circuits remaining as the two battled each other and lapped traffic. Bubak made the pass the next time around on the backstretch, but the caution came out for a spinning car in turn four.

With scoring reverting to the last completed lap, Park was scored the leader over Bubak with Gass in third for a final restart. Bubak made the winning move on the outside heading down the backstretch on lap 24.

“It was big,” he said of the momentum preceding his winning pass. “I had it the lap before and he opened his entry up enough that I had to hit the brakes and try it again the next lap.”

Bubak held on from there to beat Park by .847 seconds.

“I knew after that restart that Jake had something going for him when he showed his nose,” Park said. “I kind of got saved by the bell when that caution came out.”

Gass wound up third with Joe B. Miller fourth and Scott Bogucki fifth.

Howard roars to POWRi WAR win: Chase Howard roared to the lead after a restart on lap 14 and rolled from there, capturing his second career POWRi WAR victory as he beat Kobe Simpson.

Howard, a 20-year-old from Nesbit, Mississippi., scored his sixth overall victory of the season and second in the POWRi WAR Sprints. He earned $2,000 for the victory and set himself up for a prime starting spot for Saturday’s feature.

“I didn’t think I was gonna catch Kobe for a minute, but he chose the outside and the bottom came in,” Howard said of the key restart. “I just got lucky, because I sure don’t have the motor to be competing on this track.”

It didn’t take long for Howard, who started 10th, to make his way into contention in a race that was filled with cautions the first half of the way.

Xavier Doney got the good start from his outside front-row starting spot and took the early lead, a half-second in front of Simpson when the caution flew on lap five. Simpson used the restart to shoot to the lead on lap six with Howard second and Doney shuffled to third before another caution waved.

After they rolled to green again, Simpson had a .603-second advantage over Howard when the event’s third caution came out on lap 10. Simpson again opted to restart on the outside, which had been the fast line for him, but the start was negated with a red flag for a five-car accident on the backstretch.

Simpson opened a race-high one-second lead by lap 13 when another red came out as Keith Martin’s car took a wild tumble between turns one and two. He emerged from the damaged car unhurt.

This time on the restart, Howard got a great jump and squeezed past Simpson on the inside out of turn four to grab the lead on lap 14.

“He was running a really good line the entire time,” Howard said. “If he had picked the bottom, he could have probably blocked it. But that’s how the choose cone works.”

Howard was able to extend his lead to 1.2 seconds by lap 20 as the race finally settled into a rhythm after the five previous stoppages. Howard drove away to beat Simpson by 1.9 seconds at the finish.

“He kind of outsmarted and all-around got me on that last restart,” Simpson said. “But all-around it was a good night. I could have done a few things better throughout the race, but I’ll take this down as a good run.”

Doney settled for third with Shawn Westerfield fourth and Mario Clouser finishing fifth.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (Sept. 13, 2024)
14th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial
POWRi 410 Winged Sprints
TRD A Feature – 1. 27B-Jake Bubak[6]; 2. 45X-Jace Park[2]; 3. 20G-Noah Gass[3]; 4. 51B-Joe B Miller[9]; 5. 1X-Scott Bogucki[11]; 6. 91-Riley Kreisel[10]; 7. 74-Xavier Doney[15]; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel[22]; 9. 19-Ayrton Gennetten[13]; 10. 21-Gunner Ramey[8]; 11. 98P-Miles Paulus[16]; 12. 3-Howard Moore[17]; 13. 44-Chris Martin[5]; 14. 4W-Jamie Ball[14]; 15. 17-Zach Hampton[18]; 16. 79-Kyle Jones[4]; 17. 22M-Rees Moran[7]; 18. 99X-Dalton Stevens[20]; 19. 12X-Chase Randall[1]; 20. 77-Jack Wagner[19]; 21. 23-Lance Moss[12]; 22. 44H-Derek Hagar[21]

MPI B Feature – 1. 3-Howard Moore[2]; 2. 17-Zach Hampton[1]; 3. 77-Jack Wagner[4]; 4. 99X-Dalton Stevens[6]; 5. 44H-Derek Hagar[9]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel[13]; 7. 9$-Kyle Clark[8]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn[14]; 9. 24-Elijah Gile[11]; 10. 75X-Glen Saville[12]; 11. 74N-Natalie Doney[3]; 12. 6AU-Brayden Cooley[5]; 13. 23B-Brian Bell[10]; 14. 14E-Kyle Bellm[7]

Flying A Motorsports Heat 1 – 1. 44-Chris Martin[2]; 2. 45X-Jace Park[4]; 3. 51B-Joe B Miller[3]; 4. 3-Howard Moore[1]; 5. 77-Jack Wagner[5]; 6. 99X-Dalton Stevens[6]; 7. 44H-Derek Hagar[8]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn[7]

Eibach Racing Heat 2 – 1. 20G-Noah Gass[2]; 2. 27B-Jake Bubak[3]; 3. 21-Gunner Ramey[5]; 4. 4W-Jamie Ball[6]; 5. 98P-Miles Paulus[7]; 6. 6AU-Brayden Cooley[8]; 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 8. 23B-Brian Bell[4]

Auto Meter Heat 3 – 1. 79-Kyle Jones[2]; 2. 23-Lance Moss[1]; 3. 91-Riley Kreisel[3]; 4. 19-Ayrton Gennetten[4]; 5. 17-Zach Hampton[7]; 6. 14E-Kyle Bellm[5]; 7. 75X-Glen Saville[6]

Engler Machine & Tool Heat 4 – 1. 12X-Chase Randall[4]; 2. 22M-Rees Moran[2]; 3. 1X-Scott Bogucki[3]; 4. 74N-Natalie Doney[1]; 5. 74-Xavier Doney[7]; 6. 9$-Kyle Clark[5]; 7. 24-Elijah Gile[6]

Start2Finish Qualifying 1 – 1. 45X-Jace Park, 00:13.289[2]; 2. 51B-Joe B Miller, 00:13.316[6]; 3. 44-Chris Martin, 00:13.482[3]; 4. 3-Howard Moore, 00:13.535[1]; 5. 77-Jack Wagner, 00:13.578[8]; 6. 99X-Dalton Stevens, 00:13.630[4]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:13.631[7]; 8. 44H-Derek Hagar, 00:13.868[5]

Start2Finish Qualifying 2 – 1. 23B-Brian Bell, 00:13.060[2]; 2. 27B-Jake Bubak, 00:13.205[7]; 3. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:13.288[6]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 00:13.296[8]; 5. 21-Gunner Ramey, 00:13.427[3]; 6. 4W-Jamie Ball, 00:13.518[5]; 7. 98P-Miles Paulus, 00:14.066[1]; 8. 6AU-Brayden Cooley, 00:14.401[4]

Start2Finish Qualifying 3 – 1. 19-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:13.235[2]; 2. 91-Riley Kreisel, 00:13.454[5]; 3. 79-Kyle Jones, 00:13.456[3]; 4. 23-Lance Moss, 00:13.493[1]; 5. 14E-Kyle Bellm, 00:13.841[6]; 6. 75X-Glen Saville, 00:14.711[4]; 7. 17-Zach Hampton, 00:16.651[7]

Start2Finish Qualifying 4 – 1. 12X-Chase Randall, 00:13.236[6]; 2. 1X-Scott Bogucki, 00:13.638[4]; 3. 22M-Rees Moran, 00:13.777[2]; 4. 74N-Natalie Doney, 00:13.820[5]; 5. 9$-Kyle Clark, 00:13.891[7]; 6. 24-Elijah Gile, 00:13.899[3]; 7. 74-Xavier Doney, 00:13.955[1]

POWRI WAR Sprints
TRD A Feature – 1. 13-Chase Howard[10]; 2. 21K-Kobe Simpson[1]; 3. 74-Xavier Doney[2]; 4. 4J-Shawn Westerfeld[3]; 5. 6-Mario Clouser[7]; 6. 21-Caleb Stelzig[22]; 7. 73-Samuel Wagner[5]; 8. 16-Anthony Nicholson[13]; 9. 11WX-Chris Morgan[17]; 10. 24-Casey Shuman[14]; 11. 5-Jesse Vermillion[4]; 12. 15-Matt Sherrell[6]; 13. 79-Keith Martin[12]; 14. 2H-Luke Howard[15]; 15. 26-Zachary Clark[21]; 16. 57-Chase Parson[19]; 17. 6X-Frank Rodgers[20]; 18. 27-Justin Johnson[18]; 19. 15EX-Jason Earls[9]; 20. 33W-Rece Wommack[11]; 21. 33-Bryson Smith[8]; 22. (DNS) 15B-Quinton Benson

Flying A Motorsports Heat 1 – 1. 5-Jesse Vermillion[2]; 2. 4J-Shawn Westerfeld[6]; 3. 6-Mario Clouser[5]; 4. 13-Chase Howard[4]; 5. 2H-Luke Howard[1]; 6. 24-Casey Shuman[7]; 7. 57-Chase Parson[8]; 8. 26-Zachary Clark[3]

Eibach Racing Heat 2 – 1. 73-Samuel Wagner[2]; 2. 74-Xavier Doney[4]; 3. 33W-Rece Wommack[1]; 4. 79-Keith Martin[5]; 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson[3]; 6. 11WX-Chris Morgan[6]; 7. 6X-Frank Rodgers[7]

Auto Meter Heat 3 – 1. 21K-Kobe Simpson[4]; 2. 15-Matt Sherrell[3]; 3. 33-Bryson Smith[5]; 4. 15EX-Jason Earls[7]; 5. 15B-Quinton Benson[1]; 6. 27-Justin Johnson[6]; 7. (DNS) 21-Caleb Stelzig

Start2Finish Qualifying 1 – 1. 13-Chase Howard, 00:15.812[8]; 2. 26-Zachary Clark, 00:15.846[2]; 3. 5-Jesse Vermillion, 00:15.933[5]; 4. 2H-Luke Howard, 00:15.949[6]; 5. 6-Mario Clouser, 00:15.952[7]; 6. 4J-Shawn Westerfeld, 00:16.097[4]; 7. 24-Casey Shuman, 00:16.120[3]; 8. 57-Chase Parson, 00:16.729[1]

Start2Finish Qualifying 2 – 1. 74-Xavier Doney, 00:15.490[3]; 2. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 00:15.876[7]; 3. 73-Samuel Wagner, 00:15.968[5]; 4. 33W-Rece Wommack, 00:15.987[6]; 5. 79-Keith Martin, 00:16.010[2]; 6. 11WX-Chris Morgan, 00:16.187[4]; 7. 6X-Frank Rodgers, 00:17.443[1]

Start2Finish Qualifying 3 – 1. 21K-Kobe Simpson, 00:15.325[7]; 2. 15-Matt Sherrell, 00:16.169[5]; 3. 21-Caleb Stelzig, 00:16.235[6]; 4. 15B-Quinton Benson, 00:16.292[1]; 5. 33-Bryson Smith, 00:16.320[4]; 6. 27-Justin Johnson, 00:16.447[3]; 7. 15EX-Jason Earls, 00:17.052[2]

Racing concludes on Saturday night: Action concludes on Saturday as pit gates open at 3 p.m. with grandstands at 4, hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6:35 p.m.

Saturday admission:
Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) – $32
Adults (13 and up) – $35
Seniors (62 and up)/Military – $32
Youth (6 to 12) – $10
Kids (5 and under) – FREE
Family Pass – $80
Pit Pass – $45

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.

For information about Lucas Oil Speedway, including schedules, point standings and other news, please visit LucasOilSpeedway.com.

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Category: Lucas Oil Speedway, Missouri

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