Jeff Sparks Holds Off Gary Ledbetter for First Victory in New Year's Bash

NOTE: Following the publication of this story, Jeff Sparks was disqualified in post-race technical inspection, with Gary Ledbetter, Jr. declared the winner of the race. The results in this story have been updated to reflect this. To read more about the disqualification, click here.

Jeff Sparks will finally be able to add his name to the prestigious list of New Year's Bash winners, after a dominant performance in Sunday's event from Dillon Motor Speedway, the 14th iteration of the 100-lap Street Stock event.

The Acworth, Georgia native became the ninth different winner of the event on Sunday, after holding Gary Ledbetter, the winning driver in the history of the New Year's Bash, behind him in the race's closing laps.

After starting the race from seventh place, Sparks moved through the field methodically, making passes on both the inside and outside lines in the opening 10 laps of the event, before the first two cautions were displayed back-to-back.

It would take just 13 laps for Sparks to challenge for the lead of the race, quickly making his way around Ricky Locklair, Jr. on an early-race restart, making use of a single-green flag lap to take control of the event.

From that point forward, despite the nine more caution flags and restarts that followed throughout the 100-lap contest, it was pretty clear that Sparks was going to be untouchable, as he quickly marched away from the pack on every single restart.

That was a testament to the strong piece underneath Sparks for Sunday's New Year's Bash, which he would later describe as the best vehicle he's ever driven.

"We had a really good car, thanks to Brendan Davis, he’s worked on it for two straight weeks. We reclipped it again after the throttle hung twice on it, it’s been destroyed," said Sparks after climbing from the car in Victory Lane.

"This is our second race of the year with this car, there’s been a lot of work done to it, but it was badass tonight. It hooked that bottom and it just – hell, I was afraid to let up, I felt like I was saving tires, it was just I could run it as far as I wanted, it was the best car I’ve ever had, it was badass."

Sparks managed to finish the 100-lap contest more than a half-second ahead of the runner-up, Gary Ledbetter, a five-time winner of the Dillon, South Carolina-based event.

"I mean, you always want more shots, but his car was pretty hooked up," said Ledbetter. "I was pretty good there, we'd get seven or eight laps and then the brakes started to get a little hard, but congratulations to them, and Ron. I thought we had the best car the last couple of years, and he had the best car this race, it just didn't work out like we needed it too."

After maintaining a spot up front throughout the entire race, Alby Ovitt finished in third place. Adam Gray was fourth, and Ricky Locklair, Jr., the race's early leader, rounded out the top five.

Josh Sage came home in sixth place, while Josh Way, driving the Tim Richmond-inspired throwback scheme, finished in seventh place, after his involvement in a pair of incidents throughout the event, including one with 15 laps remaining in the event.

Chris Buffone was another accident-prone driver who managed to rebound for a top-10 result, finishing in eighth place after being involved in three separate incidents throughout the afternoon, including one inside the final 20 laps.

Tommy O'Sullivan rebounded for a ninth-place result after sustaining some damage in a mid-race accident, while Joey Pontbriand rounded out the top-10. Joshua Way, the 13-year-old son of Josh Way, finished 11th, with Chris Riendeau, Adam Cartwright, and Adam Rowe rounding out the 14 lead-lap finishers in the event.

After scoring the pole on Saturday, Ronnie Bassett, Jr. didn't show the same speed throughout the event, drifting back to around the top five throughout most of the event, before a throttle linkage issue sent the No. 62 to the pit lane, finishing 23rd.

Adam Cartwright was the highest-finishing driver who didn't lock into the New Year's Bash via their qualifying time on Saturday, starting the race in 21st place after winning the first B-Main, and finishing on the lead-lap in 13th.

Race Results: 2024 New Year's Bash at Dillon Motor Speedway

Photo Credit -- Will Bellamy, Racing America