ROSSBURG, Ohio — In pursuit of his first $100,000 Dream victory at Eldora Speedway, Bobby Pierce’s week didn’t get off to a good start when he broke in Wednesday’s FloRacing Night in America consolation race.

The 29-year-old Oakwood, Ill.’s fortunes took a decided turn for the better Thursday as he charged from his seventh starting spot for a $30,000 preliminary feature victory, overtaking race-long leader Devin Moran on the 31st lap and keeping Tyler Erb at bay in the closing laps of the 50-lap feature.

"This team doesn't quit and we'll give it our best,” Pierce said in looking ahead to Saturday’s program with a six-figure payday up for grabs.

Pierce took the checkers 0.844 of a second ahead of Erb, the New Waverly, Texas, driver who rallied from 12th in his Best Performance Motorsports No. 51 that pays tribute to late NASCAR star Kyle Busch.

Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., improved six positions in finishing third while Dresden, Ohio’s Moran, who led the opening 30 laps, slipped back on a lap-34 restart and settled for fourth. Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., rallied from 20th to round out the top five in a race where all 26 starters were on the track at the finish.

"It’s a great relief, $30,000, that's awesome for a prelim night,” Pierce said in victory lane. “I don't think there's any event all year we raced for that much money for a prelim race, so that's really cool.

“Eldora was awesome tonight — it had a bottom, middle, top. It got really skatey in the middle, so the sliders were a lot of fun. We worked hard last night getting the motor changed and it wasn't really what I wanted for early in the night, but for that racetrack it was perfect.”

Pierce knows he’ll have some work to do in Saturday’s 100-lapper to outrun favorites that include Jonathan Davenport, winner of the previous three Dreams, and Nick Hoffman, Wednesday’s $20,000 winner. They’ll be in action during Friday’s preliminary program.

“There’s some cars that look pretty tough, and we got to get our car a little bit more than one-dimensional,” Pierce said. “I did feel pretty good on the bottom, too, like I made some passes down there. I think I'm just the fastest on top, but trying to get our car a little bit more than one-dimensional, get off the top and get it more in the middle.”

Erb, stung by a tech violation penalty Wednesday and a spin after a heat-race scrape Thursday, ended the night on the upswing, reaching fifth after a dozen laps and providing some pressure to Pierce with five laps remaining.

“It was really good, you know, obviously the heat race didn't work in our favor, but I was able to just keep tinkering on this thing,” Erb said. “I felt really good yesterday, you know, same deal, the tech man and the whole tech line deal didn't play into my favor. That's two days of s--- not playing into my favor and (I hope) Saturday everything just falls into place.”

Erb lost track of the lap count and "then I looked up at 17 to go and I was like, well dang, that's pretty good. I'm in second,” he said. "I'm having a blast and gonna relax tomorrow and see what we got Saturday.”

O’Neal, gaining significant positions like three others among the top-five finishers, quietly landed on the podium.

"Bobby and Tyler, they were just a little bit better than I was. I was a little too tight to really move off of that cushion … all in all, it was a good night,” he said, adding that he "just kind of weaseled our way up through that race. I think at times we had really good speed and especially when we got in traffic. I was really maneuverable. We just got to get a little bit better whenever we're in open air like them guys were, so we'll work on it and come back for Saturday’s program."

Notes: Bobby Pierce won his 12th race of the season … Two cautions slowed the 50-lapper, both for flat right-rear tires (Dan Ebert on the eighth lap and Kyle Bronson won the 34th lap). ... The 24-minute feature concluded at 10:03 p.m. with all 26 starters running at the finish. .... Sam Seawright was the top points earner in time trials and heats. He spun No. 3 on the inversion wheel to put Devin Moran on the pole for the 50-lapper. ... Moran received $900 for leading the 18th lap from Hellraizer Jacks in honor of late NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. ... Friday's action is an identical program for 40-plus other Dream entrants.

Feature lineup

(50 laps)

Row 1: Devin Moran, Garrett Alberson
Row 2: Sam Seawright, Chris Ferguson
Row 3: Josh Rice, Dallon Murty
Row 4: Bobby Pierce, Michael Leach
Row 5: Hudson O'Neal, Tim McCreadie
Row 6: Ethan Dotson, Tyler Erb
Row 7: Jake O'Neil, Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 8: Kyle Bronson, Mark Whitener
Row 9: Jackson Hise, Eli Johnson
Row 10: Shane Clanton, Ricky Thornton Jr.
Row 11: Dalton Cook, Dillon McCowan
Row 12: K.C. Burdette, Justin Duty
Row 13: Seth Daniels, Dan Ebert

Consolation race results

(12 laps; top three transfer)

First consolation: Dalton Cook, K.C. Burdette, Seth Daniels, Rod Conley, Ryan Johnson, Mario Gresham, Greg Williams, Tim Lance. Scratched: Chris Madden, Dustin Nobbe, Benji Hicks, Mike Spatola.

Second consolation: Dillon McCowan, Justin Duty, Dan Eberts, Carson Ferguson, Shannon Babb, Carson Hocevar, Lane Snook, Jerry Bowersock, Brody Smith, Jeff Roth, Ryan Payne. Scratched: Mike Hildebrand.

Heat race recap

Josh Rice led all the way in the first heat, finishing ahead 2.75 seconds ahead of Group A fast qualifier Sam Seawright in the nonstop heat. ... Eli Johnson got the first heat's fifth and final transfer spot by a hair over Chris Madden, who tangled with Johnson earlier in the heat. ... The second heat had a lap-second yellow when Tyler Erb spun in turn two battling for the point with Ethan Dotson (Dotson apologized for the contact after winning the heat). Two laps later, Erb tangled with Benji Hicks, who smashed the turn-two wall, collecting Greg Williams. ... Dotson won the second heat over Tim McCreadie while Erb salvaged a fourth-place finish (Dalton Cook was sixth after missing time trials because he got a hole in his radiator in hot laps). ... In the third heat, Eldora rookie Dallon Murty led all the way after the Skyline Motorsports team (with an assist from others) had to change the right-front suspension and put new headers on his car after hitting the wall in time trials. Devin Moran finished second with ninth-starting Ricky Thornton Jr. third. ... Carson Hocevar slowed on the eighth lap for the lone heat-three caution. ... In the final heat, Garrett Alberson led all the way after Hudson O'Neal and Mark Whitener touched on the first lap. O'Neal ended up second and Whitener slipped to fifth.

Heat race results

(10 ltops; top five transfer)

First heat: Josh Rice, Sam Seawright, Bobby Pierce, Dennis Erb Jr., Eli Johnson, Chris Madden, Mario Gresham, Seth Daniels, Tim Lance, Ryan Johnson. Scratched: Mike Spatola.

Second heat: Ethan Dotson, Tim McCreadie, Chris Ferguson, Tyler Erb, Jackson Hise, Dalton Cook, K.C. Burdette, Rod Conley, Dustin Nobbe, Benji Hicks, Greg Williams.

Third heat: Dallon Murty, Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., Jake O'Neil, Shane Clanton, Dillon McCowan, Carson Ferguson, Shannon Babb, Carson Hocevar, Dan Ebert, Ryan Payne.

Fourth heat: Garrett Alberson, Hudson O'Neal, Kyle Bronson, Michael Leach, Mark Whitener, Justin Duty, Brody Smith, Mike Hildebrand, Jerry Bowersock, Lane Snook, Jeff Roth.

Pre-qualifying notes

The first of two Dream XXXII preliminary programs is being run on another spectacular day with sunny skies and an afternoon high in the low 80s. The forecast remains promising for Friday’s second preliminary show but officials are watching the forecast for Saturday’s finale with a chance of rain entering the equation. … With only half the field in action tonight hot laps were pushed back roughly 15 minutes from the original start time of 6:30 p.m. … Dale McDowell makes his prelim run on Friday so he’s joining announcers James Essex and Dustin Jarrett in the booth as a color commentator for tonight’s FloRacing broadcast. … Coming off a DNQ in Wednesday’s FloRacing Night in America event because of a busted oil pump belt while leading the B-main, Bobby Pierce changed the engine in the new Longhorn machine he debuted last night. … Ricky Thornton Jr. has regrouped for this evening’s prelim competition after scratching from Wednesday’s consolation because he “really struggled to comfortable.” … Sam Seawright debuted a new Coltman Farms Racing Longhorn Chassis on Wednesday but had the machine sidelined for the rest of the weekend after being involved in a B-main accident that sent the rear end of the car into the outside wall between turns three and four. Damage to the car’s rear clip prompted him to pull out his backup vehicle, a car that was new at the beginning of the 2026 season. … Kyle Bronson led the first 16 laps of Wednesday’s 50-lap FloRacing tour feature before steadily fading through the remainder of the caution-free race and finishing one lap down in 11th place. What went wrong? He said he apparently “just went too hard early,” wearing out both of his car’s rear tires and causing him to tumble from contention. … After struggling on Wednesday and missing a transfer spot by seven positions in a B-main, Shannon Babb is getting a little help from a friend. Eldora dominator Jonathan Davenport makes his prelim start on Friday, so the Georgia superstar and his Double L Motorsport crew are turning wrenches on Babb’s Longhorn Chassis tonight. Babb’s hauler is parked in the upper pit area but he’s moved his car into the infield to work out of Davenport’s trailer. … Jackson Hise’s night started in frustrating fashion: as he was slowly rolling around the half-mile oval before taking the green flag for hot laps, his car’s left-front wheel came off on the backstretch. He limped into the pits and he crew quickly put a tire and wheel back on, allowing him to turn some practice circuits despite experiencing the mishap. ... A crewman for Mike Spatola handed in his scoring transponder in the media center following hot laps, withdrawing for further competition this weekend after the Illinois driver was unable to even get his car on the track for practice circuits. Spatola was plagued by pesky mechanical trouble from the start of Wednesday's action and decided to head home to decipher the problem before entering upcoming DIRTcar Summer Nationals events.

Time trials

Group A
Driver (car no.), hometown, time (unofficial)

1. Sam Seawright (16), Rainsville, Ala., 14.972
2. Chris Ferguson (22), Mount Holly, N.C., 15.140
3. Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 15.141
4. Tyler Erb (51), New Waverly, Texas, 15.157
5. Josh Rice (11), Crittenden, Ky., 15.179
6. Tim McCreadie (9), Watertown, N.Y., 15.247
7. Dennis Erb Jr. (28), Carpentersville, Ill., 15.252
8. Ethan Dotson (74x), Bakersfield, Calif., 15.253
9. Ryan Johnson (7j), Aurora, Mo., 15.296
10. Chris Madden (44), Gray Court, S.C., 15.299
11. Jackson Hise (388), Ocala, Fla., 15.385
12. Tim Lance (48), Brimfield, Ill., 15.401
13. Dustin Nobbe (5N), Batesville, Ind., 15.501
14. Eli Johnson (55), Clewiston, Fla., 15.525
15. Benji Hicks (55), Mount Airy, N.C., 15.651
16. Mario Gresham (21), Rome, Ga., 15.745
17. K.C. Burdette (13), Parkersburg, W.Va., 15.773
18. Seth Daniels (S21), Jackson, Ohio, 15.788
19. Rod Conley (71r), Wheelersburg, Ohio, 15.869
20. Greg Williams (17), Haubstadt, Ind., 16.087
21. Mike Spatola (89), Manhattan, Ill., no time
22. Dalton Cook (44D), Smiths Station, Ala., no time

Group B

1. Dan Ebert (60), Lake Shore, Minn., 14.964
2. Michael Leach (09), Sun River, Mont., 15.052
3. Devin Moran (99), Dresden, Ohio, 15.160
4. Garrett Alberson (58), Las Cruces, N.M., 15.174
5. Dallon Murty (13), Chelsea, Iowa, 15.191
6. Jake O’Neil (0), Tucson, Ariz., 15.213
7. Hudson O’Neal (71), Martinsville, Ind., 15.240
8. Mark Whitener (5), Middleburg, Fla., 15.388
9. Shannon Babb (18), Moweaqua, Ill., 15.428
10. Kyle Bronson (40B), Brandon, Fla., 15.476
11. Carson Ferguson (93), Lincolnton, N.C., 15.492
12. Brody Smith (17sr), Dade City, Fla., 15.543
13. Shane Clanton (25), Zebulon, Ga., 15.599
14. Justin Duty (15), Molalla, Ore., 15.620
15. Dillon McCowan (8), Urbana, Ill., 15.644
16. Jerry Bowersock (95j), Wapakoneta, Ohio, 15.715
17. Ricky Thornton Jr. (20rt), Chandler, Ariz., 15.884
18. Lane Snook (15L), Port Royal, Pa., 15.898
19. Carson Hocevar (77), Portage, Mich., 15.965
20. Mike Hildebrand (39), Goshen, Ohio, 16.059
21. Ryan Payne (12r), Pennsboro, W.Va., 16.065
22. Jeff Roth (14r), Bentonville, Ark., 17.232

Thursday’s schedule

(All times local)
11 a.m. - Ticket office opens (ticket and pit pass sales)
Noon - Pits open
1 p.m. - Grounds cleared and secured
2 p.m. - All gates, suites and concessions open
2 p.m. - Turn one camping opens
2 p.m. - Ballroom opens
2:30 p.m. - Tech and registration (new entrants)
3 p.m. - Ballroom dinner buffet begins
5:30 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting (infield)
6 p.m. - Ballroom dinner buffet ends
6:30 p.m. - Hot laps
8 p.m. - Ballroom closes
8 p.m. - Opening ceremonies
Competition
- Late Model time trials
- Late Model heats (10 laps)
- Late Model consolations (12 laps)
- Late Model feature (50 laps)
Following last checkered flag: Live music (fan zone)