Jeff Letson is now two-for-two with the Modifieds of Mayhem Tour in 2024, but Friday's win at Five Flags Speedway did not come without late-race drama.
Letson took the lead from Tim Moore with four laps remaining in the 50-lap event, completing the pass while both drivers negotiated their way around lapped traffic.
Letson acknowledge Moore likely had the better car on the night, but ultimately it was the Madison, Alabama native taking the win for the second time this season and the 11th time in his career with the Modifieds of Mayhem.
"Out front was the place to be," said Letson in victory lane. "He was actually better. We've got a little bit more work to do, really, when we're behind people like that. Awesome run, I enjoy racing those guys. They're awesome. My crew have really worked hard and put their minds together on everything lately. I couldn't do it without them.
Letson admitted it was tough working around lapped traffic at times, but understood they were in battles of their own.
"It was, but really, they were racing their race, too. You just had to find somewhere they weren't. You go to the top and it gets really slick, so you have to tip-toe around there. Everybody wants the bottom. I don't know what to say. It was a good run.
"I quit mashing the gas pedal as hard out of four trying to keep up with him and I started picking it up a little bit. Other than that, he was a good bit better, actually."
However, Moore couldn't help but feel a win had been taken away from him by what he felt was a lack of respect from the lapped traffic.
"All except one [driver]," said Moore. "He owed me one from Nashville last year, I guess. We'll deal with that later. I won in my eyes. I had the best car, checked out. The thing stayed under me the whole race. He'd catch me in lapped traffic and I'd pull back away. It's all good. We got a second-place finish."
Moore did take solace in a strong showing in the first race for his car since it had been rebuilt following a crash one year ago at Montgomery Motor Speedway.
"I destroyed this car the first race last year at Montgomery. From the ground up, it's all brand-new and this is the first race. It's a testament to what we did to get back to the track."
Defending Modifieds of Mayhem champion Jaxon Bishop finished third, giving him two podium finishes in as many races to start the year. However, Bishop said he's not looking for good points nights and is eager to get back in victory lane.
On Friday night, Bishop qualified fourth and started sixth following the redraw before finishing third.
"You just can't start in the back," said Bishop. "It is what it is. We raced hard. I felt like at one point we could have paced through them if it played out right. It just sucks having to qualify well and then work your butt off to drive from the back forward.
"We're just here to win. I'm getting tired of running third."
Jeremy Williams finished fourth, with Richie Smith rounding out the top five.
There were also three other feature races as part of Friday's racing program at Five Flags. Parker McDonald won in a close battle with James Patrick for the Dock of Pensacola Beach Sportsman to close out the evening.
Logan Boyett was credited with the win in the Faith Chapel Outlaw feature following post-race technical inspection. Derrick Griffin and Scooter Grice finished first and second on the track, but were both disqualified afterwards, turning the win over to Boyett.
-Photo credit: Reid Scott, Liberty Racing Review
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS - MOM NIGHT AT THE RACES
FIVE FLAGS SPEEDWAY, MAY 10
MODIFIED OF MAYHEM TOUR
A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 131-Jeff Letson[4]; 2. 57-Tim Moore[1]; 3. 2B-Jaxon Bishop[6]; 4. 81-Jeremy Williams[8]; 5. 42-Richie Smith[3]; 6. 72-LJ Grimm[2]; 7. 31-Brad Stell[9]; 8. 00-Brandon Curren[7]; 9. 26-Peyton Burba[5]; 10. 2-Brad Bowman[12]; 11. 1-Shane Jones[15]; 12. 7-Parker Pugh[10]; 13. 7C-Chris Cotto[13]; 14. 36-Lance Blacker[16]; 15. 62-Jody Anderson[14]; 16. 35-Michael Curry[17]; 17. F216-Michael Fields[11]; 18. 88H-Larry Hughes[18]
Qualifying 1: 1. 131-Jeff Letson, 00:17.520[15]; 2. 00-Brandon Curren, 00:17.691[1]; 3. 81-Jeremy Williams, 00:17.700[2]; 4. 2B-Jaxon Bishop, 00:17.730[7]; 5. 72-LJ Grimm, 00:17.771[14]; 6. 42-Richie Smith, 00:17.810[11]; 7. 26-Peyton Burba, 00:17.868[6]; 8. 57-Tim Moore, 00:17.895[10]; 9. 31-Brad Stell, 00:18.031[8]; 10. 7-Parker Pugh, 00:18.079[18]; 11. F216-Michael Fields, 00:18.107[4]; 12. 2-Brad Bowman, 00:18.207[9]; 13. 7C-Chris Cotto, 00:18.479[13]; 14. 62-Jody Anderson, 00:18.801[16]; 15. 1-Shane Jones, 00:18.860[12]; 16. 36-Lance Blacker, 00:18.930[3]; 17. 35-Michael Curry, 00:19.800[5]; 18. 88H-Larry Hughes, 00:19.803[17]
OUTLAW
Faith Chapel A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 1-Logan Boyett[6]; 2. 23-Gary Goodwin[5]; 3. 92W-Bubba Winslow[2]; 4. 9/23-Carter Taylor[3]; 5. 31-Wayne Niedecken Jr[7]; 6. 15-Kevin Chase[8]; 7. 3-Jesse Smith[10]; 8. (DNS) 21-Jason Welch; 9. (DQ) 29-Derrick Griffin[4]; 10. (DQ) 234-Scooter Grice[1]
Faith Chapel Qualifying 1: 1. 9/23-Carter Taylor, 00:17.596[8]; 2. 92W-Bubba Winslow, 00:17.704[10]; 3. 1-Logan Boyett, 00:17.801[1]; 4. 23-Gary Goodwin, 00:17.803[3]; 5. 31-Wayne Niedecken Jr, 00:17.911[6]; 6. 15-Kevin Chase, 00:18.210[2]; 7. 21-Jason Welch, 00:18.462[9]; 8. 3-Jesse Smith, 00:18.693[7]; 9. (DQ) 29-Derrick Griffin, 00:17.555[5]; 10. (DQ) 234-Scooter Grice, 00:17.738[4]
SPORTSMAN
Dock of Pensacola A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 29-Parker McDonald[2]; 2. 11-James Patrick[5]; 3. 19-Daryl McDonald III[4]; 4. 07-Jim Pokrant[3]; 5. 99-Robert Lavery[1]
Dock Of Pensacola Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 19-Daryl McDonald III[3]; 2. 11-James Patrick[4]; 3. 07-Jim Pokrant[1]; 4. 29-Parker McDonald[2]; 5. 99-Robert Lavery[5]
CROWN STOCK
Story and Bleich Roofing A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 62-Doug Thorpe Jr[4]; 2. 6S-Chris Salter[5]; 3. 22-Chris Mitchell[3]; 4. X-Braeden Kitchen[8]; 5. 4-Adam Salter[7]; 6. 83-Noah Carter[23]; 7. 26-Blaise Boykin[15]; 8. 12-Dee Davis[16]; 9. 19-Garrison Story[18]; 10. 48-Okie Mason[1]; 11. 69-Zachary Dickerson[22]; 12. 1776-Steve Sidner[17]; 13. 98-Payton Guy[9]; 14. 26P-Buddy Pitts[19]; 15. 47B-Tony Boyd[6]; 16. 25H-Cody Hobbs[21]; 17. 75R-Colton Rutherford[14]; 18. 92-Taylor Ortiz[11]; 19. 43-Dean Clark[12]; 20. 15-Marty Bean[13]; 21. 4T-John Taylor[10]; 22. 1010-Donnie Martin[24]; 23. 17M-Ryan Maxwell[2]; 24. 81-Blake Merideth[25]; 25. (DNS) 11-Cody Griggs
Story and Bleich Roofing Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 6S-Chris Salter[9]; 2. 17M-Ryan Maxwell[7]; 3. 4-Adam Salter[5]; 4. 4T-John Taylor[4]; 5. 15-Marty Bean[2]; 6. 12-Dee Davis[1]; 7. 26P-Buddy Pitts[8]; 8. 69-Zachary Dickerson[6]; 9. 81-Blake Merideth[3]
Story and Bleich Roofing Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 62-Doug Thorpe Jr[2]; 2. 48-Okie Mason[3]; 3. X-Braeden Kitchen[4]; 4. 92-Taylor Ortiz[6]; 5. 75R-Colton Rutherford[7]; 6. 1776-Steve Sidner[8]; 7. 11-Cody Griggs[5]; 8. 83-Noah Carter[1]
Story and Bleich Roofing Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Chris Mitchell[2]; 2. 47B-Tony Boyd[1]; 3. 98-Payton Guy[4]; 4. 43-Dean Clark[6]; 5. 26-Blaise Boykin[5]; 6. 19-Garrison Story[8]; 7. 25H-Cody Hobbs[7]; 8. 1010-Donnie Martin[3]
