Hudson O’Neal: “It’s just really humbling to run up front with these guys and realize that we can do it.”
Hudson O’Neal had the crowd erupting at Golden Isles Speedway last night. As Josh Richards was running away with the show, Hudson O’Neal was picking them off, one by one.
He started 15th. But, it was actually more impressive than that. On the initial start, Hudson O’Neal fell back even further, in what he thinks might have been 20th.
Once Hudson O’Neal found his line. He moved through everyone. Most of the field was already on the bottom. Even still, Hudson found a way of making passes, on the bottom.
The drive off was important for him tonight. He’d drag race them off the corner then out throttle them in a race to the bottom in the following corner. At many times, he was running lower than any car on the track.
A late race caution evaporated the gap to Josh Richards. He then made a pass for the lead in turn 3. However, a caution came out at that same time as Bloomquist was parked backwards in the middle of 3-4.
They reverted back to the previous lap. Hudson gave it another shot in turn 3 on the restart. He slipped, lost 3 cars lengths and had to settle for 2nd.
Tell me about your race. 15th to 2nd!
“Yeah, you know, that’s pretty awesome,” Hudson O’Neal told RacingNews.co. “I don’t want to say we ran out of laps because that wasn’t it at all.”
“I got shuffled back on that start and there was multiple things I could’ve done to get there earlier. I just didn’t do them.”
“Hats off to Josh and that whole team. It’s just really humbling to run up front with these guys and realize that we can do it.”
“I’m really excited to get unloaded tomorrow and get the rest of Speedweeks going.”
I wasn’t really paying attention to the back half of the field. It’s hard to watch it all at once. So, I don’t know exactly when it clicked for you. But, I felt like it was later in the race that you found something?
“Really I was good the whole race. It took me awhile to find the line I was running.”
“I got shuffled back there on the start, a couple spots. I think I was all the way back in like 20th. Unfortunate that we had to get shuffled back that far. I feel like that would have been the difference.”
“We were good all night, as far as the feature goes. We made a lot of gains. We weren’t very good early in the night. We just made solid gains all night. Hopefully, we can do the same tonight.”
This is far from the first LOLMDS podium for Hudson. He finished 3rd at Mansfield Motor Speedway in July 2017. The very next night he finished 2nd at Muskingum. In September, he finished 3rd at Brownstown. Now, this marks his 4th Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series podium.
Tonight, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series continues their stop at Golden Isles Speedway. The Super Bowl of Racing event comes to a close with a $12,000 to win main event.
Related
Results: Golden Isles Speedway – LOLMDS – February 2nd, 2018
Links
Hudson O’Neal | Golden Isles Speedway | LOLMDS | Shane Walters
