What won the race: Holding off early challenges from Travis Stemler then late-race pressure from Brandon Thirlby, second-starting Eric Spangler of Lake City, Mich., led all but the first of 50 laps to dominate Saturday's ninth annual Dan Salay Memorial at Crystal Motor Speedway. Spangler muscled his way through traffic and pulled away in the final laps, winning by 0.973 of a second over Devin Shiels for the $11,000 victory.

Quotable: “This is a real big win. The track was real racy probably until the last 15 laps, I think it got locked down, there was a lot of rubber in the lane. It was a great weekend,” Spangler said, adding that Travis Stemler and Brandon Thirlby “have been running here all year and they’re both super tough. Travis schooled me last night leading the feature with five (laps) to go, so hopefully I learned a little bit last night.”

Key notes: Spangler won for the first time since Aug. 30 at Merritt Speedway. ... It's his first special since Sept. 4, 2022, worth $4,000, and largest payday since Aug. 6, 2022's $34,000 Wood Tic, both at Merritt. ... Last season's race winner Travis Stemler, winner of Friday's $2,000 prelim feature, challenged Spangler on a lap-26 restart before slowing with a punctured radiator on the next lap. ... Polesitter Brandon Thirlby led the first lap and challenged Spangler shortly after a lap-37 restart, closing within 0.238 of a second as Spangler muscled through traffic on the 44th lap, but didn't have enough to take the lead; Devin Shiels stole the runner-up slot from Thirlby on the final lap. ... Fourteenth-starting Kody Johnson took fourth on a lap-36 restart. ... The race was slowed by seven cautions, the first on lap five when Dillon Kohn spun from eighth, collecting Logan Nickerson; Kohn spun in turn four again on lap 11 and retired. ... Brayden Wellman left the turn-two racing surface on lap 14, forcing a lengthy caution to retrieve his car from the mud. ... Seventh-running Ryan Lanphierd retired with apparent engine failure just before the lap-14 caution. ... Jerid Bisson spun for the fourth stoppage on lap 26 before Josh Loomis left the track in turn two on the ensuing restart attempt. ... Billy Marenich had solo spins to draw the final two yellow flags on laps 36 and 37. ... The event honored Dan Salay, a former racer and longtime crew chief for Thirlby who died in 2017 after a short bout with cancer. ... The 50-lapper lasted 41 minutes with with 11 starters completing the distance. ... Josh Knoll of Lake, Mich., led all 30 laps of Thursday's Thirlby Throwdown, a $2,000 invitational for non-winners.

On the move: Derrick Hilliker of Midland, Mich., started 21st and finished eighth.

Winner's sponsors: Spangler’s MasterSbilt Race Car is sponsored by Spangler Heating & Cooling, Forbes Construction & Excavation, Senior Insurance Solutions, Atkins Electric, Super-Flite Oil Company, J&H Iron and Metals, Goodman Furnaces and Taco Bob & Kris.

Points chase: Crystal points before Friday: 1. Derrick Hilliker (224); 2. Brandon Thirlby (191); 3. Travis Stemler (180); 4. Mike VanderMark Jr. (177); 5. Zach Calkins (171).

Current weather: Broken Clouds, 70°F

Car count: 33

Fast qualifier: Devin Shiels

Time: 14.316 seconds

Polesitter: Brandon Thirlby

Heat race winners: Eric Spangler, Dona Marcoullier, Devin Shiels, Mike VanderMark Jr.

Consolation race winners: Logan Nickerson, Josh Loomis

Provisional starters: Derrick Hilliker, Billy Marenich, Zack Swarts, Wyatt Baker