Day 2 of the 2024 Winter Nationals was filled with an extra race and a half, on top of the regularly scheduled slate of feature racing. New, old, and repeat faces visited victory circle on Tuesday. The day began with the postponed Masters Feature and the remainder of the Bandits Feature from Monday following a weather delay. 

For Round 1 Masters, Doug Stevens started P1 and held strong to finish there, too. Through a caution-filled race with cars being carted off, second-place Scott Moseley fought hard to take the top spot, but Stevens was able to secure the first Masters win of Winter Nationals.

Zooming into the final 10 laps of the interrupted Round 1 Bandits race, the drivers lined up as they left off on Monday with Wyatt Coffey, Bentley Thompson and Brexton Busch in the front three spots. Coffey wasted no time creating distance from the pack, but the fight behind him didn’t cease. Between Busch, Thompson and 38 Gerald White III, second place was up for grabs until Busch made his way to the front of the pack, bumper to bumper with Coffey. Busch continued to try to go on the inside of Coffey to scoot by him but as the checkered flag waved, Coffey sealed the deal to win Round 1 and begin his defense of his Winter Nationals crown.

The action-packed Young Lions Round 2 race was filled with a number of lead changes and hard racing as a last-second maneuver secured Max Reaves his second consecutive win. Starting in front was Neal Dulin, Nathan Lyons and Kai Johnson but as soon as Lap 1 ended, the field continued to scramble as the battle for top spot changed each lap. Dulin kept a fairly large lead up until Lap 9 where Johnson met him up at the front as they drove side by side until a series of cautions came.

As drivers came in and out of the hot pits and made their way back into line, Lap 10 kicked off with Keelan Harvick making his way to the front and holding onto the No. 1 spot for eight laps with Johnson and Reaves behind him. As cautions continued to come the restarts became single file causing bumper-to-bumper action through the field. The tension peaked in Lap 18 when Johsnon and Reaves were able to slide past Harvick and both made some distance between the ongoing fight for third behind them.

With the heightened competition, the nose-to-tail single-file restarts resulted in many cautions while trying to complete Lap 23 with the top spot still up for grabs. With two laps to go, Johnson was still leading the way with Reaves right on his back until the final turn of Lap 25, where Reaves took the inside approach and was able to speed past Johnson using the bump and run, securing the win in the last seconds of Round 2.

The Bandits Round 2 race started with a bang as Wyatt Coffey quickly made his way to the top spot setting the stage for a thrilling battle. With Coffey heightening his gap between competitors, the fight for the second place spot was intense as Brexton Busch who started in the field raced his way through the competition to battle it out with Bentley Thompson for second place.

Amidst the battle for second between Busch and Thompson, the competition remained fierce behind them as White III and Jack Smith were neck and neck looking to get ahead as well. It wasn’t until Lap 12 that Busch was able to finally make his way around Thompson securing his second-place spot. Coffey remained untouched during the race winning by almost two full seconds sending him back to victory lane for the second time that day and sealed his unstoppable performance

Round 2 for the Beginner Bandos started off strong as right on the green flag the top three were in a three-wide race with Rhylee Hutchins, Corbin Cannon and Roo Reaves all trying to get in the front early. Throughout the race, Hutchins was able to stretch her gap from Cannon in second place to almost two seconds. As the final laps approached, Cannon continued with his efforts to close in on Hutchins but she was able to hold her ground securing her two-for-two performance so far.

The 15-lap Charger feature consisted of a consistent battle between Matthew Laprade and Makenna Crocker as they left the pack behind in their battle for first place. After a few cautions, the race ended much how it started with Laprade in front, Crocker following and Samuel Macedo in third.

In the second Masters race of the day, Round 2, drivers were able to keep it race until the end when the competition got high. After restarting the 25th and final lap for the third time following competitive cautions and various lead changes, Scott Mosely was able to take it by 0.3 of a second followed by Brandin Wrisley.

The Pros Division kept it professional as the duel for first place only got more exciting as the race went on. With Joel Smith leading the pack followed by Landon Rapp, Cameron Bolin and Jake Bollman, the top five were scrambled up within moments of the green flag. Bolin and Bollman traded places between second and third for the majority of the race while Smith tried to maintain his lead. It wasn’t until the final five laps that Bolin and Smith were neck and neck following each other around to the last second where Smith was able to pull through and sustain his top spot in a clean hard-ran race.

The Round 2 Outlaws race had a slow start as it took almost nine full minutes to get a full lap completed followed by Lap 3 at 14 minutes. As the green flag waved, TJ Moon took it away as Owen Zacharias had to fight off the pack to remain in second. As the last few laps rolled around and racers prepared for a single file restart, Moon and Zacharias emerged as the frontrunners going bumper-to-bumper to see who could cross the checkered first. As Moon went wide around the final Turn 4, he was able to scoot around Zacharias and race to the finish line leaving a 0.340 gap, taking his second win of Winter Nationals.

In a fairly clean Semi-Pro battle, Michael Crafton was able to run away with the win. After each restart, Crafton was able to separate himself from his fellow racers while Brody Gunter kept up his battle for second with Cooper Gaul. Fortunately, most of the race was able to run without any yellow flags as the top 10 didn’t see many lead changes. As the last two laps rolled around Gunter was able to gain on Crafton to possibly slide into first but as they came around Turn 4 in the final laps, Crafton was able to maintain his lead to get to Victory Lane.

Buckle up for more racing action as the 2024 Winter Nationals will resume on Wednesday from Citrus County Speedway as another set of eight features will kick off Round 3. All features can be streamed on uslegendcars.tv beginning at approximately 12:30pm ET.

RESULTS

PRO DIVISION

Round 2 Feature (25 Laps): 1. 24S-Joel Smith[1]; 2. 67-Cameron Bolin[3]; 3. 71-Jake Bollman[4]; 4. 5-Garrett Gumm[9]; 5. 24-Richie Davidowitz[12]; 6. 19-TJ DeCaire[11]; 7. 32-Jensen Jorgensen[6]; 8. 75-Nick Woodall[10]; 9. 19MA-Jase Mongeon[7]; 10. 124-Jackson Denton[14]; 11. 98-Sean McElearney[8]; 12. 40-Nick Lascuola[15]; 13. 91-Martin Gatzulis[13]; 14. 28R-Landon Rapp[2]; 15. 25-Gage Gilby[16]; 16. 25G-Jaron Giannini[5]

SEMI-PRO DIVISION

Round 2 Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9-Michael Crafton[1]; 2. 01-Brody Gunter[2]; 3. 8-Cooper Gaul[4]; 4. 24-Ayden Christensen[6]; 5. 60-Dylan Faulkner[5]; 6. 29-Cole Robie[3]; 7. 97-Isaac Kitzmiller[14]; 8. 09-Chase VanHouten[13]; 9. 0W-Tanton Woodridge[12]; 10. 95-London McKenzie[8]; 11. 31M-Sam Mazzo[11]; 12. 5X-Jesse Martinez[19]; 13. 09P-Josh Parsons[9]; 14. 38W-Cameron White[10]; 15. 64-Devin Deshaies[17]; 16. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[24]; 17. 21-Mitch Wright[18]; 18. 81-Hunter Jordan[21]; 19. 23-Josh Lowe[22]; 20. 35-Preston Wrisley[7]; 21. 26-JT Poole[23]; 22. 85-Bradley Swift[20]; 23. 0-Jerrod Holle[16]; 24. 12B-Ayrton Brockhouse[15]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 81-Hunter Jordan[2]; 2. 26-JT Poole[1]; 3. 38-Galen Clark[5]; 4. 16-Mason Walters[3]; 5. 10-Tyler Garreston[6]; 6. 33-Clayton Bohanon[7]; 7. 23D-Teagan Dempsey[8]; 8. 9B-Michael Bradshaw[10]; 9. 12-Travis Walker[9]; 10. 78-Gracie Crocker[4]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Josh Lowe[1]; 2. 27N-Nicholaus Bulkeley[3]; 3. 2B-Stephen Brucker[5]; 4. 84-Noah Healey[2]; 5. 25-Nate Morris[6]; 6. 22C-Chase Burgeson[4]; 7. 74-Jacob Linc[8]; 8. 51-Rose Borntreger[7]; 9. 97B-Jake Baker[9]

MASTERS DIVISION

Round 1 Feature (makeup) (25 Laps): 1. 77S-Doug Stevens[1]; 2. 00-Scott Moseley[5]; 3. 15-Bill Plemons Jr[7]; 4. 5-Brandin Wrisley[6]; 5. 81-Lee Jordan[9]; 6. H20-Darrell Buckingham[11]; 7. 2-Jim Sylvester[8]; 8. 21-Brad Vanhouton[10]; 9. 47-Brad Hall[13]; 10. 24-Kevin Nowak[2]; 11. 65-Mike Floyd[15]; 12. 15S-Tim Skinner Jr[14]; 13. 17-Patrick Owens[18]; 14. 31-Giles Martin[12]; 15. 77W-Robbie Woodall[3]; 16. 93-Kevin Rollins[4]; 17. (DNS) 2B-Chris Byerly; 18. (DNS) 21M-Josh Mullins

Round 2 Feature (25 Laps): 1. 00-Scott Moseley[3]; 2. 5-Brandin Wrisley[6]; 3. 31-Giles Martin[9]; 4. 24-Kevin Nowak[5]; 5. 47-Brad Hall[13]; 6. 81-Lee Jordan[8]; 7. 2-Jim Sylvester[12]; 8. 93-Kevin Rollins[1]; 9. H20-Darrell Buckingham[10]; 10. 15-Bill Plemons Jr[7]; 11. 21-Brad Vanhouton[11]; 12. 65-Mike Floyd[14]; 13. 15S-Tim Skinner Jr[15]; 14. 77S-Doug Stevens[2]; 15. 77W-Robbie Woodall[4]; 16. 17-Patrick Owens[16]; 17. 2B-Chris Byerly[17]; 18. 21M-Josh Mullins[18]

YOUNG LION DIVISION

Round 2 Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88-Max Reaves[6]; 2. 7-Kai Johnson[3]; 3. 00-Caden Tufts[11]; 4. 23-Trayc Walker Scott[14]; 5. 62-Keelan Harvick[7]; 6. 87-Anastasia Markovic[10]; 7. 17-Ben Morabito[5]; 8. 79-Neal Dulin[1]; 9. 46-Nicholas Denton[9]; 10. 4Z-Ryan Zima[8]; 11. 99-Spencer Bradshaw[12]; 12. 26-Laquan McCoy[17]; 13. 21-Nathan Lyons[2]; 14. 15-Alison Johnson[15]; 15. 7B-Karter Beattie[18]; 16. 62B-Dylan Bongiovanni[16]; 17. 17M-Taylor Mayhew[13]; 18. 20A-Ashton Williams[4]; 19. (DNS) 4-Tyler Lupton

OUTLAWS DIVISION

Round 2 Feature (20 Laps): 1. 9M-TJ Moon[1]; 2. 35-Owen Zacharias[3]; 3. 8-Carter Erickson[4]; 4. 80-Bryson Nichols[2]; 5. 9-Carson Sherman[10]; 6. 37-Carson Cauble[8]; 7. 33-Cullen O'Connor[7]; 8. 000-Lincoln Johnson[9]; 9. 12-Jay Hemenway[5]; 10. 87-Chloe Mazzagatti[12]; 11. 2B-Owen Byerly[17]; 12. 2-Lily Whynot[16]; 13. 75-Allee Johnson[13]; 14. 41-Mandi Lee[15]; 15. 13-Addison Martinez[11]; 16. M00-Lily Impellizzeri[6]; 17. 7K-Kamryn Mallette[14]

BANDITS DIVISION

Round 1 Feature (makeup) (20 Laps): 1. 2-Wyatt Coffey[1]; 2. 22-Bentley Thompson[3]; 3. 18B-Brexton Busch[5]; 4. 9-Jack Smith[7]; 5. 38-Gerald White III[2]; 6. 7-Harley Johnson[4]; 7. 1J-James Behnke[10]; 8. 55-Landon Thrasher[8]; 9. 38L-Billy Lee[14]; 10. 66-Evan Johnson[12]; 11. 11-Bryson Carlbert[6]; 12. 007-James Faulkner[19]; 13. T2-Camden Truett[11]; 14. 4-Wesley Baumeister[9]; 15. 13-Luka Dib[13]; 16. 83-Hudson Ruff[16]; 17. 84-Delaney Gray[15]; 18. 5-Chris Flynn[17]; 19. 4B-Jordan Bauer[18]

Round 2 Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2-Wyatt Coffey[3]; 2. 18B-Brexton Busch[8]; 3. 22-Bentley Thompson[5]; 4. 9-Jack Smith[11]; 5. 007-James Faulkner[6]; 6. 38L-Billy Lee[4]; 7. 38-Gerald White III[1]; 8. 55-Landon Thrasher[9]; 9. 1J-James Behnke[13]; 10. 11-Bryson Carlbert[12]; 11. 7-Harley Johnson[2]; 12. 66-Evan Johnson[7]; 13. T2-Camden Truett[19]; 14. 4-Wesley Baumeister[10]; 15. 84-Delaney Gray[15]; 16. 4B-Jordan Bauer[17]; 17. 83-Hudson Ruff[14]; 18. 13-Luka Dib[16]; 19. 5-Chris Flynn[18]

CHARGERS DIVISION

Round 2 Feature (15 Laps): 1. 18-Matthew Laprade[1]; 2. 75-Makenna Crocker[2]; 3. 16-Samuel Macedo[3]; 4. 46-Lane Christensen[4]; 5. 19-Ryan Pomposelli[13]; 6. 9F-Will Franklin[5]; 7. 9-Abi Johnson[12]; 8. 38-Emma Britt[7]; 9. 22-Austin Warner[14]; 10. 24A-Dylan Abramo[6]; 11. 29-Kendall VanHouten[9]; 12. 13-Ben Mack[10]; 13. 84-Kaden Bradshaw[8]; 14. 19B-Victoria Beaner[11]

BEGINNER BANDO DIVISION

Round 2 A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 15-Rhylee Hutchins[2]; 2. 5-Corbin Cannon[4]; 3. 8-Bristol Monroe[5]; 4. 18-Michael Mazzagatti[7]; 5. 00-Tinsley Meyers[6]; 6. 51-Brody Thompson[8]; 7. 12B-Jaxon Burnett[3]; 8. 40-Roo Reaves[1]; 9. (DNS) 16P-Maci Prowell

Round 2 B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 16-Tayton Monroe[3]; 2. 31-Colton Murphy[6]; 3. 05-Charlee Hutchins[5]; 4. 88-Chase Bohanon[1]; 5. 11-Addison Veinotte[9]; 6. 18V-Leighton VanHouten[7]; 7. 7B-Kylea Beattie[4]; 8. 9-Maverick Bradshaw[2]; 9. (DNS) 7-Camden Powers