WHEATLAND, MO. (October 2, 2020) – The defending Big Buck 50 champ served notice Friday night that he’s going to be tough to dethrone.

Peyton Taylor of Batesville, Arkansas, won his heat race and then took Dash 1 – for the heat-race winners – earning him the pole for Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win Street Stocks main event at the 7th annual Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt.

Taylor, of Batesville, Arkansas, drove from the tail of the field to take the lead midway through Dash 1 and went on to win by 6.9 seconds over runner-up Heath Philpot.

Taylor drove to victory in the 2019 Big Buck 50 a year ago, taking over the lead just past the midway point from David Hendrix. He will go for a repeat on Saturday in what he says will be his final Street Stock race before moving to Modified racing full time.

Taylor quickly moved forward as attrition took its toll, with half the eight-car field out of the race by lap four. Philpot beat out Richie Tosh and TJ Herndon in a tight battle for second to earn the outside front-row position to start the big race on Saturday.

In Dash 2, Toby Ott took over the lead on lap six from Hendrix and took the victory. That earned Ott, 2017 and 2019 Lucas Oil Speedway track champion, starting position No. 8 in the main event.

Hendrix, meanwhile, will start ninth as he will be looking to improve upon his runner-up finish a year ago.

Kyle Slader was scheduled to start in Dash 1 but was unable to make it due to mechanical issues. He will start the feature 16th.

The top two from each of Friday night’s eight heats locked themselves into the Big Buck 50 feature. The two “dashes” then determined starting order of positions 1-8 and then 9-16 in the main event.

Jones takes ULMA Late Model feature: Veteran driver Larry Jones of El Dorado Springs captured the $1,000-to-win Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature victory, leading the final 23 of 25 laps.

Jones had failed to finish in the top five during any regular season feature, but has numerous wins during his lengthy career. He was in top form on Night One of the Lucas Cattle Company ULMA Late Model doubleheader.

Chad Richwine was reeling Jones in, pulling to within two car lengths with five laps remaining. But Richwine clipped the tractor tire guarding the inside of turn four, completing lap 22, and rolled to a stop.

That left Jones needing to navigate a restart with three laps to go. The veteran from El Dorado Springs did just that and beat runner-up Justin Russell at the checkers by 1.3 seconds.

“I didn’t have any more, I had it on the floor,” Jones said of the final laps. “If they’re gonna get me they’re gonna have to get me because I had her wide open. She had no more.

“I needed that one,” Jones added. “I’d like to thank all my sponsors. Without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Lucas Cattle Company ULMA points leader Cole Henson wound up third and padded his points lead entering Saturday’s season finale. Johnny Fennewald finished fourth and Dalton Imhoff fifth.

Larry Ferris, the closest pursuer to Henson in the ULMA national points chase 32 behind as the night began, had a rough outing and lost ground. Ferris was involved a first-lap, first-turn incident and wound up on his roof – but was not injured.

Able to make repairs for the feature, Ferris drove from 15th to finith sixth.

Saturday action starts one hour earlier: Gates will open at 3 p.m. Saturday with hot laps at 5:30 p.m. Opening ceremonies and racing action follows at 6:05 with the “Alphabet” features, beginning with the E, leading to the B Feature, filling out the starting lineup for the Big Buck 50.

Two Lucas Oil Speedway provisional starters will be added to the Big Buck 50 field, based on final 2020 track points.

The Lucas Cattle Company ULMA Late Models will run another full program, with heats and a feature and crown a series champion.

7th annual Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt

Friday’s unofficial results

O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks

Dash 1 – 1. 01-Peyton Taylor[8]; 2. 525-Heath Philpot[3]; 3. 11T-Richie Tosh[2]; 4. 1-TJ Herndon[5]; 5. (DNF) 31R-Erik Maggard[6]; 6. (DNF) 18X-Blake Schmidt[4]; 7. (DNF) 94-Kenny Carroll[7]; 8. (DNS) 357-Kyle Slader

Dash 2 – 1. 27OTT-Toby Ott[6]; 2. 54-David Hendrix[2]; 3. 42-James Flood[7]; 4. 327-Dale Richardson[5]; 5. 30C-Clayton Campbell[1]; 6. 66-Tyler Worley[8]; 7. (DNF) 1G-Tony Anglin[3]; 8. (DNF) 04B-Brian Worley[4]

Heat 1 – 1. 357-Kyle Slader[1]; 2. 30C-Clayton Campbell[3]; 3. 88B-Ben Waggoner[2]; 4. 10 4J-Cody Jones[4]; 5. 7X-John Scott[8]; 6. 46-Tony Wyatt[10]; 7. 78-Marlin Cathey[6]; 8. 7M-Scott Johnson[5]; 9. 56-Mark Davis[9]; 10. 1K-Jim Kimbell[11]; 11. (DNF) 10-Steve Beach[7]

Heat 2 – 1. 11T-Richie Tosh[1]; 2. 54-David Hendrix[2]; 3. 69-Brian Brown[3]; 4. 7C-Collin Parmer[6]; 5. 38-Jessie Shearin[4]; 6. 1XM-Mitchell Mourot[7]; 7. 5D-Dustin Tiger[9]; 8. 24-Toby Lindell[8]; 9. 164-Michael Muskrat[10]; 10. (DNF) 41M-Donnie Miller[5]; 11. (DNF) 15X-Harry Palmer[11]

Heat 3 – 1. 525-Heath Philpot[1]; 2. 1G-Tony Anglin[3]; 3. 04-Cody Frazon[6]; 4. 27-Bob Barnett[2]; 5. 67I-Devin Irvin[8]; 6. 14-Larry Ferris[5]; 7. 88-Jason Winkle[4]; 8. 4G-Garry Tackitt[10]; 9. (DNF) 53S-Jess Sims[9]; 10. (DNF) 7-Brandon Hays[11]; 11. (DNF) 777-Jeff Douty[7]

Heat 4 – 1. 18X-Blake Schmidt[2]; 2. 04B-Brian Worley[3]; 3. 68M-James McMillin[1]; 4. 73-Francisco Escamila[7]; 5. 1B-Nick Gibson[8]; 6. 17-Jeremy Tharp[9]; 7. 99W-Edwin Wells[10]; 8. 02-Aaron Gustin[4]; 9. 2XM-Carl Murphy[11]; 10. (DQ) 127-Andrew Morris[5]; 11. (DQ) 1XX-Steven Crocker[6]

Heat 5 – 1. 1-TJ Herndon[1]; 2. 327-Dale Richardson[3]; 3. 35-Johnny Coats[2]; 4. 5H-Eric Hammons[5]; 5. 23-Kevin Salter[11]; 6. 76J-Jeremy Russell[4]; 7. 94C-JT Carroll[6]; 8. 3J-Josh Halbrook[7]; 9. 54ML-David Higgins[10]; 10. (DNF) 28K-Chris Kircher[9]; 11. (DNF) 440-Brandon Rowland[8]

Heat 6 – 1. 31R-Erik Maggard[5]; 2. 27OTT-Toby Ott[2]; 3. 27D-Derek Henson[4]; 4. 4-Jared Hays[1]; 5. 89-Mark Mullins[8]; 6. 2J-Johnny Fennewald[11]; 7. 10 4-Billy Wheeler[7]; 8. 27O-Joe Walkenhorst[3]; 9. 22J-Joey Holdren II[9]; 10. (DNF) 111-Tim Brown[6]; 11. (DNF) 64M-Terry Muskrat[10]

Heat 7 – 1. 94-Kenny Carroll[2]; 2. 42-James Flood[5]; 3. 11-Derek Brown[4]; 4. 40-Taylor Carver[3]; 5. 19-Tyler Barker[6]; 6. 9X-Austin Vincent[11]; 7. 83K-Denny Fitzpatrick[10]; 8. (DNF) 1N-Dale Nelson[1]; 9. (DNF) 3-Dale Douty[9]; 10. (DNF) 26B-Bobby Brown[8]; 11. (DNF) 70-Bobby Bryant[7]

Heat 8 – 1. 01-Peyton Taylor[1]; 2. 66-Tyler Worley[4]; 3. 1X-Kris Lloyd[2]; 4. 60-Chuck Knight[3]; 5. 31-Ed Griggs[6]; 6. 77DD-Danny Mckenzie[8]; 7. 27B-Terry Schultz[5]; 8. 20-Robbie Jones[9]; 9. 89D-Daniel Deason[11]; 10. (DNF) 22M-Danny Monroe[7]; 11. (DNF) 53-Danny O’Neal[10]

Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models

A Feature -1. 99-Larry Jones[3]; 2. 12J-Justin Russell[16]; 3. 31C-Cole Henson[6]; 4. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 5. 69-Dalton Imhoff[12]; 6. 51-Larry Ferris[15]; 7. 1T-Tucker Cox[8]; 8. 15-John Aitken[11]; 9. 16-Ashlee Lancaster[13]; 10. 66T-Matt Becker[1]; 11. (DNF) 42H-Chad Richwine[10]; 12. (DNF) 14C-Jerry Croney[14]; 13. (DNF) 3P-Matt Patton[9]; 14. (DNF) 5-Todd Shute[5]; 15. (DNF) 50-Kaeden Cornell[7]; 16. (DNF) 74-Jon Melloway[2]; 17. (DNS) 7-Jay Fields

Heat 1 – 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[2]; 2. 66T-Matt Becker[8]; 3. 5-Todd Shute[7]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[3]; 5. 15-John Aitken[5]; 6. 3P-Matt Patton[9]; 7. (DNF) 51-Larry Ferris[4]; 8. (DNF) 12J-Justin Russell[6]; 9. (DQ) 7-Jay Fields[1]

Heat 2 – 1. 99-Larry Jones[4]; 2. 74-Jon Melloway[8]; 3. 31C-Cole Henson[2]; 4. 50-Kaeden Cornell[6]; 5. 42H-Chad Richwine[1]; 6. 69-Dalton Imhoff[5]; 7. 16-Ashlee Lancaster[3]; 8. 14C-Jerry Croney[7]

Saturday’s Big Buck 50

Partial starting lineup

1, Peyton Taylor, Batesville, Arkansas

2, Heath Philpot Greenwood, Arkansas

3, Richie Tosh Salado, Arkansas

4, TJ Herndon Atwood, Tennessee

5, Erik Maggard Brighton, Missouri

6 Blake Schmidt, Jonesboro, Arkansas

7, Kenny Carroll, Camdenton, Missouri

8, Toby Ott, Wheatland, Missouri

9, David Hendrix, Waynesville, Missouri

10, James Flood, Crane, Missouri

11, Dale Richardson, Muskogee, Oklahoma

12, Clayton Campbell, Otterville, Missouri

13, Tyler Worley, St. Genevieve, Missouri

14, Tony Anglin, Walnut Ridge, Arkansas

15, Brian Worley, St. Mary, Missouri

16, Kyle Slader, Muskogee, Oklahoma

Saturday’s schedule:

3 p.m. – Gates open

5:30 p.m. – Hot laps

6:05 – Racing begins

Saturday’s admission:

Adults (16 and over) $20

Seniors (62 and over)/Military $17

Youth (ages 6-15) $10

Kids (5 and under) FREE

Family pass $50

Pit pass $40

For ticket questions or information for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.