BARBERVILLE, Fla. - Feb. 14, 2011 - Ty Dillon dominated The Gator Championship for DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on Monday night during the 40th DIRTcar Nationals by University of Northwestern Ohio at Volusia Speedway Park.
Dillon, whose brother Austin won the opener at the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH last week, took the green flag on the pole and led each lap on the bottom as Ryan Gustin kept taking shots at him on the top of the half-mile dirt oval. The two darted through traffic, splitting cars as they charged to the checkered flag in the 30-lap feature event.
Coming off the final corner, Dillon swept to victory while Clint Bowyer, a three-time winner over the past week at the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, surged by Gustin to take second-place.
"This is really cool," said Dillon, of Welcome, N.C. "I've been coming down here for a long time and I've watched my brother win a lot of races here as well as Clint Bowyer. To finally get my first win here, and have it on The Gator Championship night with an awesome trophy, just to be with these guys and have UNOH on the car, these students work so hard it's just cool to see."
Dillon, who on Saturday was the polesitter for the ARCA event at Daytona International Speedway, returned to the dirt determined to win.
"It was real slick and the lapped traffic was really tough," Dillon said. "It was almost déjà vu to me. Last year I was leading with two to go and got passed in lapped traffic. I knew this year I wasn't going to let that happen again. Gustin rolled me on the outside, once I saw that I tried to take his line. I blocked that off and was still able to pass come cars."
