Kyle Purvis Wins Fifth 'Run for the Gun 50' at Winchester Speedway

The Run for the Gun 50 at Winchester Speedway came down to a late-race battle between two of the best in the Midwest Modifieds Tour powered by Wheeler Trucking, with Kyle Purvis prevailing for his fifth Winchester Rifle trophy.

With a 45-lap green flag run to the finish in the 19th annual edition of the event, Purvis and Brian Nester battled each other while weaving through lapped traffic, often racing three-wide around the treacherous high banks of Winchester Speedway.

With seven laps to go, Purvis finally found a way around Nester and pulled away for the victory.

The mutual respect between the two competitors shone through in their post-race remarks, with Purvis grateful for a clean battle to the finish.

"I just had a really, really good car," said Purvis. "The first few laps, we fell back. We knew we had a good race piece there at the end. If it wasn't for Brian and racing clean, we wouldn't have been able to battle like that. Hats off to him, because he has always raced me clean and I try to do the same to him."

While it was Purvis' fifth Run for the Gun win, it was also evident that winning the event on the eve of the Winchester 400 still mattered a great deal to the veteran racer.

"All these people behind me is what makes this deal work," said Purvis. "I've worked hard the past month. We're in victory lane.

"It's real special. We worked really hard the past month on this thing. It showed."

Nester settled for second place after leading the first 43 laps of the Run for the Gun 50.

"The car was good to begin with," said Nester. "I thought I was riding, but it got free. When you race with somebody like that, he's fast every time you come here. He raced me clean. That's all you can ask for."

Matt Dimit had already secured the 2024 Midwest Modifieds Tour championship, with no finishes worse than fourth during the season. Dimit wrapped up the championship bid with a third-place finish in the Run for the Gun 50.

"A great race car and a great team behind me, just a little bit of luck, and it goes a long way," said Dimit. "Brian Nester and Dennis Craft give me good race cars. It's a great piece. I love it.

"Purvis had a rocket all weekend. We were 1-2 all weekend long. Man, I was really hoping for a caution there. We had a really good short-run car. I would have liked to see what would happen going into one [on a restart].

The Run for the Gun 50 was part of an action-packed Saturday of racing at Winchester Speedway. Chris Shannon won the CRA Late Model Sportsman Series' Vores Welding & Steel 40, while Zach Stacy was crowned series champion. Shannon led all 40 laps of the feature race for the victory.

Heath Helton won the 40-lap feature for the CRA Street Stock Series, passing Andrew Teepe with three laps to go for the victory. Dalton Conner secured the championship in that series with a fourth-place finish.

Xavier King won the Thunder Roadster feature, while J.J. Schafer won the Crown Vics feature.

Saturday also featured qualifying for the 53rd Winchester 400 presented by Vores Welding & Steel. Casey Roderick won the pole and will lead the field to green in Sunday's race.

-Photo credit: CJ Photography/Midwest Modifieds Tour