BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Recapping the 46th annual DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park with a list of superlatives from two World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series and two UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned events at the half-mile oval near Daytona Beach (complete Speedweeks coverage):

Best driver: Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga. While the 41-year-old didn’t match his spectacular 4-for-5 performance of the 2015 DCN, he certainly stood out from the crowd. He won Friday night’s fog-shortened WoO MORE

GIBSONTON, Fla. — Recapping the 41st annual Wrisco Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park with a list of superlatives from four Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events at the third-mile oval near Tampa (complete Speedweeks coverage):

Best driver: Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who showed no dropoff in his sterling East Bay performance with his move to the Best Performance Motorsports team. His Tuesday-night win put him in victory lane at the track for the third consecutive year and he MORE

Arguably one of the biggest factors in producing a memorable race is track prep. Unfortunately, this is far from an exact science.

When it’s done right, it’s usually the drivers who get the credit for putting on a great show. And it often falls on these same drivers’ shoulders to step up and give credit where credit is due. Most of the time, they do so.

How many times have you heard a driver in victory lane giving credit to the promoter or track prep guy after coming out on top of an MORE

The off-season — what little there is anymore — is typically spent refurbishing equipment, from replacing chassis components and new bodies to buying new tires and upgrading wheels. It seems as though spending money to go fast is an endless chore. | Story

Spending money to stay safe has gotten more expensive as well.

For those drivers and teams that are trying to make a living in this sport, competing 50-60 times a year or more, racing against the best in the business, spending that money is a MORE