Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: McCowan's rare national tour feat
In a new feature appearing regularly on DirtonDirt, senior writer Kevin Kovac will offer readers five things worth mentioning from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (index to previous Take Fives):
No. 1: Dillon McCowan of Urbana, Mo., pulled off an amazing accomplishment with his sweep of the weekend’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series doubleheader at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. How often does a driver register a victory on one of the sport’s two national tours — Lucas Oil and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series — and then follow it with another triumph in the circuit’s next event? I went to the DirtonDirt history page to do some research and found that a racer going back-to-back for their first two checkered flags on the national tours is an rare occurrence worthy of praise. Looking back through the launch of both series in 2004 (I’m not including the 1988-89 WoO seasons in this discussion), the Lucas Oil Series has had three instances and the WoO circuit six instances of a driver winning a first-ever full-field feature and then coming right back for their second victory in the tour’s next race.
No. 2: McCowan’s breakout double-dip marked the first time it’s happened on the Lucas Oil Series since 2010, when Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., scored his first career tour win on Sept. 17 at Winchester (Va.) Speedway and was victorious again the following night at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica. Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., did it in 2009 during the Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla., famously ripping off three straight wins in a 24-hour span on Feb. 5-6 driving Ernie Davis’s No. 25 to join the Lucas Oil winner’s list in dramatic fashion. The feat was also achieved by Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., in 2004 — the year what would become the Lucas Oil Series began albeit under the NARA name — when he went back-to-back on Aug. 7 at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky., and Aug. 27 at Barren County Speedway in Glasgow, Ky.
No. 3: The six World of Outlaws instances of a driver winning their first two features in consecutive series events includes the most recent instance before McCowan, in 2025 when Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., won Jan. 25 and Feb. 13 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. The other breakout back-to-back winners: Tanner English of Benton, Ky., on Aug. 26-27, 2022, at Iowa’s Davenport Speedway; Kyle Strickler of Mooresville, N.C., on Jan. 16 and Feb. 10, 2021, at Volusia; Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, on Sept. 28-29, 2018, at Atomic Speedway in Alma, Ohio; Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., July 11-12, 2008, at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and Estevan (Saskatchewan) Motor Speedway; and Rick Eckert of York, Pa., in 2004 on April 24 at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and April 30 at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn.
No. 4: Looking back to find these stats jogged my memory of one race that I consider among the best I’ve ever seen: Brady Smith’s July 11 WoO triumph at River Cities. I’ll never forget that 50-lapper on the high-banked, quarter-mile bullring. Shannon Babb, then driving for NASCAR regular Clint Bowyer’s new Dirt Late Model team, led the first 25 laps before Smith moved in front. Then Babb dogged Smith but couldn’t make a pass before losing second to Shane Clanton on lap 43. That reignited Babb to press harder, however, and on lap 48 he sailed by Clanton and quickly caught Smith. Babb swung high through turns three and four on the final lap and vaulted off the corner three-wide with Smith on the bottom and a lapped car in the middle. It appeared Babb had the momentum to reach the finish line first, but the opening between the outside wall and the lapped car closed just a little too much, causing the right-front of Babb’s car to climb the guardrail as Smith won by a mere 0.121 of a second. I can still remember the crowd buzzing over the finish and seeing Babb drive his car, with its right-front spindle broken, right off the track in turn one. What a finish — and what a first career WoO victory it was for Smith.
No. 5: It’s notable that two drivers who know the feeling of following up a first-ever national touring series victory with another in the next race — Jonathan Davenport and Garrett Alberson — were in the field racing against McCowan at Lucas Oil Speedway. In fact, Davenport led both races (he was third Friday) and Alberson was the runner-up to McCowan in Saturday’s Diamond Nationals. And speaking of Davenport, I wondered how many Lucas Oil Series starts he had under his belt when he ripped off his back-to-back victories on the tour in 2010. I found that Davenport, who was 26 at the time of his first two Lucas Oil wins and wouldn’t run the series as a regular until 2012 when he drove for Clint Bowyer (and went winless that season), scored his initial triumph in his 22nd career feature appearance. His best previous finish had been second in ’10 at West Virginia Motor Speedway.
