Jason Feger, Tyler Nicely Take Summer Nationals Trips to Highland Victory Lane

📸 Tyler Carr

HIGHLAND, IL — June 28, 2025 — Jason Feger wants his second DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models title to come in 2025.

The Bloomington, IL native began the 2025 campaign with two wins and the Week 1 title, but a string of mishaps through Week 2 and the start of Week 3 cost Feger the points lead, leaving Springfield Raceway.

Feger needed a spark of momentum to reset his title chase, and he got his mojo back with the win at Farmer City Raceway on Friday night to help him retake the points lead.

Feger’s spirits continued to climb as he scored the fourth victory of his 2025 Hell Tour in a flawless drive around the “World Famous” Highland Speedway on Saturday night.

Feger began the night with the win in Heat 4, then drew the Pole Position for the night’s 40-lap Feature, and he quickly took command by diving to the bottom to get clear of outside front row starter Rodney Melvin, then hit the cushion off of Turn 2 to claim the spot.

Feger’s in-state competitor, Shannon Babb, placed his No. 18 Longhorn Chassis in contention for the win by beating Melvin to the cushion of Turns 1-2, then completed the pass with a run off of Turn 4.

Babb had a two-second difference to eat away to run down Feger, and the factor of lap traffic helped the Moweaqua, IL driver reach Feger's spoiler by the start of the Feature’s second half.

While Babb found speed by running the bottom lane, Feger kept running the high side until he cut down to the bottom.

Feger managed to squirm by the pack of traffic while Babb was unable to pass one lapped car, solidifying the 34th Summer Nationals win for the “High Side Hustler” in Highland.

“This place has been really good to me over the years," Feger said. "We've won a lot of races here, and awesome fans here, as always. It's a fun little bullring. I love these bullrings. I gotta thank my crew for busting their butts (and) all my sponsors."

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 25F-Jason Feger[1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[4]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[7]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[5]; 5. 1-Tyler Erb[17]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 7. 27M-Rodney Melvin[2]; 8. 10K-Daryn Klein[3]; 9. 4G-Bob Gardner[11]; 10. 75-Dillon McCowan[13]; 11. 14JR-Trey Mills[19]; 12. 5-Mark Whitener[10]; 13. 31M-Tyler Millwood[9]; 14. 4-Jordan Suhre[18]; 15. 388-Jackson Hise[22]; 16. 17SS-Brenden Smith[14]; 17. 29-Christian Hanger[12]; 18. 15-Clay Stuckey[20]; 19. 28B-Carson Brown[15]; 20. 35-Claude Walker[21]; 21. 78-Chad Zobrist[8]; 22. 6K-Michael Kloos[16]

Tyler Nicely Leaves Highland Victorious for First Summit Modifieds Win of 2025

Tyler Nicely is back to full form.

The Owensboro, KY driver returned to DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Victory Lane for the first time in over a year in a limited schedule aboard a DIRTcar UMP Modified.

Nicely began the 25-lap dash from the pole and took immediate command over Daniel Adam entering the first set of corners. Tour points leader Trevor Neville swung by Adam for second place on the bottom lane of Turns 1-2.

The pilot of the No. 5 Elite Chassis established his place at the front while withholding a one-second advantage over the Mackinaw, IL driver of Neville while racing around the 1/4-mile bullring by using the bottom lane. At the same time, Neville attempted to run the middle and top side to try and close the gap on Nicely.

When Nicely had to maneuver around lapped traffic in the late stages of the Feature, he was able to place cars between himself and Neville, while the No. 777 Lethal Chassis had to face the challenge of Mike Harrison riding the cushion for second place.

With Neville and Harrison racing against each other for the podium position, it made them the first drivers to witness Nicely earning his 12th career Summit Modifieds win to tie Michael Long for fifth on the all-time tour wins list.

“It feels real good," Nicely said. "We've only raced a handful of times with this thing, and it's been really good. To knock the first Summer Nationals win off with a couple of good buddies with me that's helping. Charlie Mefford, he took off not racing to come out here and do this deal with me, and it feels really good."

Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals head southeast to Tennessee’s Clarksville Speedway for the Week 3 finale on Sunday, June 29.

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every DIRTcar Summer Nationals race live on DIRTVision.

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[1]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[3]; 3. 24H-Mike Harrison[7]; 4. 95S-Rick Salter[12]; 5. 52JR-Cole Knebel[5]; 6. 45H-Chase Holland[4]; 7. 77-Ray Bollinger[6]; 8. 787-Cody Zobrist[15]; 9. 87Z-Zeb Moake[10]; 10. 21T-Talen Beard[8]; 11. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[9]; 12. 81-Kevin Cole[13]; 13. 75-Daniel Adam[2]; 14. 19-Jimmy Cummins[19]; 15. 88L-Christian Lee[21]; 16. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[18]; 17. 35S-Zach Fair[16]; 18. 29H-Cale Hartnagel[24]; 19. 63V-Cody Ventimiglia[20]; 20. 16E-Todd Eyman[22]; 21. 6-Jeremy Pate[25]; 22. 69-Noah Sugg[11]; 23. 27E-Tory Ernst[17]; 24. 28-Tom Smallwood[14]; 25. (DNS) E55-Chad Sellers