Hudson O'Neal Teases Next Move As Lucas Oil Series Heads To Georgetown
Hudson O'Neal Teases Next Move As Lucas Oil Series Heads To Georgetown
Hudson O'Neal has teased his next full-time ride with a photo posted to Facebook.
Hudson O'Neal has had the Dirt Late Model world wondering what his next move is going to be since leaving the Rocket Chassis house car team last month.
A photo posted on his Facebook racing updates page Saturday night has at least one piece of the puzzle solved.
The reigning Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion has teased he'll be racing a Longhorn Chassis as part of his next full-time deal that's yet to be fully disclosed.
From Nov. 2022 through March 14 of this year, O'Neal had been the driver of Mark Richards' venerated Rocket1 Racing team, steering the powerhouse Shinnston, W.Va., team to four wins in nine races to start this season as well as first-ever titles in the World 100 and Lucas Oil Series during a 2023 season he piled up $1.2 million in earnings.
In an exclusive March 24 story to FloRacing's DirtonDirt.com while racing for Longhorn engineer Kevin Rumley in the interim, the Martinsville, Ind., driver confirmed his next deal would feature Longhorn Chassis and that "hopefully this is a connection (between he, Rumley and Longhorn) that will go on for the years to come.”
He also added then "I think we know the direction we’re going, we just have to put all the pieces together, and see what happens."
The 2019 season is the last time O’Neal had raced a Longhorn Chassis on a full-time basis. He won five times that year, including the Jackson 100 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway and a World 100 prelim at Ohio's Eldora Speedway to boot.
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With Rumley, O'Neal got the chance to log six races in his preliminary return to the Longhorn brand, posting finishes of sixth, 22nd, seventh, sixth, and two more seventh-place finishes at April 6-7's XR Super Series Spring Thaw at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn.
Sometime before Friday's Lucas Oil Series return from its month-long break at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway, needless to say, is when O'Neal's latest endeavor will be announced and made known to the general public.
Then from there, business will pick up on the tour as the Lucas Oil Series heads to Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway on Saturday and Sunday at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, the place O'Neal swept $55,000 at last August — victories that snapped a two-month winless drought and gave him the momentum to win the World 100 and Lucas Oil Series title in the following weeks.
O'Neal sits fourth in the series standings, 75 points behind leader Ricky Thornton Jr. and 55 points ahead of Mike Marlar for the fourth and final playoff spot, heading into the Georgetown half-mile on Friday.