Tyler Erb Gets Redemption in Win at Brownstown Bullring

By Colby Trotter

BROWNSTOWN, IL -- Twenty-four hours after a good run gone bad on the Hell Tour, Tyler Erb put it behind him and won his fifth DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Model race of the season Friday night at Brownstown Bullring. 

Erb said it was not easy to move on after Thursday night’s incident racing for the lead with Jason Feger, which left him with a 15th-place finish after leading the first 26 laps.

But in a way only the driver known as “Terbo” can, he blew off plenty of steam overnight. 

“You listen to Suicideboys as loud as you can possibly listen to it in the rig,” Erb said, referring to the popular Louisiana hip-hop duo. “And then when that runs out, you listen to Slipknot and when that runs out, you listen to Limp Bizkit and then at 5:30 in the morning you take six Melatonins and go to sleep.” 

Of all five races he’s won on tour this summer, Erb said getting redemption Friday night ranks near the top. 

“Fairbury was number one, this is definitely number two,” Erb said. “Just because last night sucks, especially leading the whole race and not finishing like I should. Winning never gets old.” 

Erb started the main event from sixth on the grid and moved up to third by Lap 6 using the momentum of the high side of the 1/4-mile oval. Going into Turn 3 on Lap 10, Erb moved down to the bottom and went side-by-side with second-place Daryn Klein coming out of Turn 4, but Klein beat him to the start/finish line to hold onto second. 

Erb kept his line going into Turn 1 on Lap 11 and his decision paid off as he got even with Klein coming out of Turn 2 and made the pass going down the backstretch. With the momentum rolling, Erb then set his sights on leader Tanner English, who was nearly a full second ahead. 

Lap-by-lap, Erb reeled-in English as they dipped into lapped traffic. Going into Turn 3 on Lap 17, Erb dove down to the bottom and slid up in front of English in Turn 4 to take the spot. 

“I just kind of had it in my mind I was going to run the top most of the race,” Erb said. “I passed Klein in the middle following him in the cushion then passed [English] in the middle. 

“Was just able to get a good run off of [English] on (Turn) 2 and he was floating out, just running where he thought was right and I saw an opportunity to slide him and slid him and felt like I was able to control the race from there.” 

Once Erb got by English, he led the remaining 24 laps unchallenged and crossed the finish line over three seconds ahead of second-place finisher Ryan Unzicker – who came all the way from 11th and collected the Hard Charger honors – to bank the $10,000 grand prize. 

UP NEXT 

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals next head for Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Saturday, June 22, racing alongside the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals. 

Tickets will be on sale at the gate. If you can’t be there to watch in person, catch all the action live on DIRTVision. 

ABBREVIATED RESULTS

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[6]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[11]; 3. 96-Tanner English[4]; 4. 25F-Jason Feger[3]; 5. 10K-Daryn Klein[1]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[10]; 7. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[13]; 8. 33M-Devin McLean[2]; 9. 52-Matt Bailey[7]; 10. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[9]; 11. 24H-Mike Harrison[5]; 12. 58-Tyler Clem[12]; 13. 33-Kye Blight[18]; 14. 44-Blaze Burwell[16]; 15. 26M-Bob Gardner[19]; 16. 10-Garrett Smith[8]; 17. 27M-Rodney Melvin[15]; 18. 22R-Will Roland[22]; 19. 18-Shannon Babb[17]; 20. 10J-Jordan Bauer[14]; 21. 16-Rusty Griffaw[20]; 22. 6K-Michael Kloos[21] 

It was only a matter of time before Tyler Nicely got his first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature win of the season. Nicely had finished runner-up in the first two races of Week 2 and finally broke through Friday night at Brownstown Bullring. 

The 2023 Summit Modified champion didn’t compete on the Hell Tour in Week 1 but decided to join the second week as part of his pick-and-choose schedule. 

“This year I decided I really didn’t want to chase any points, just go race when I want to and have fun,” Nicely, of Owensboro, KY, said. “My crew guy Austin, he’s been itching to go run a whole week and picked this week.” 

Although Nicely came out on top, Trevor Neville led the field around in the opening laps, trying to make it back-to-back wins after his triumph at Spoon River Speedway on Thursday. Neville took the lead at the drop of the green flag and created a sizeable gap between himself and the field. Then came a caution on Lap 16. 

The caution period restacked the field and allowed Nicely to make a run for the lead. Neville got a good jump on the restart and led the next two laps but Nicely was making a charge around the top side. 

With a big run out of Turn 2 on Lap 18, Nicely zoomed past Neville down the backstretch and sealed the pass on the high baking on Turns 3 and 4. Once Nicely got the lead, he led the rest of the way with no challenge from his competition. 

“When we got that caution out we were both kind of running the same speed around the bottom,” Nicely said. “I done had my mind made up that I was going to the top on the restart and just try to get some momentum. 

“My stick guy told me the guy in third was making a little bit of time up there so it just helped me know there was stuff up there and Trevor left us a lane and was able to get by him.” 

UP NEXT 

The Summit Modifieds return to action with a visit to Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Saturday, June 22, racing alongside the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models. 

Tickets will be on sale at the gate. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision. 

ABBREVIATED RESULTS

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[3]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[2]; 3. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 4. 22-Josh Harris[1]; 5. 36-Kenny Wallace[7]; 6. 66-Cole Falloway[6]; 7. 10Y-Trent Young[5]; 8. 18L-Michael Long[12]; 9. 24-Zeke McKenzie[8]; 10. 12L-Lucas Lee[18]; 11. 95-Rick Salter[16]; 12. 14C-Rick Conoyer[17]; 13. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[14]; 14. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[11]; 15. 58R-Ryan Hamilton[13]; 16. 13-Charlie Mefford[15]; 17. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[10]; 18. 14-Dalton Lane[19]; 19. 72-Todd Neiheiser[9]; 20. 27-Michael Turner[22]; 21. 25B-Greg Belyea[23]; 22. 21T-Talen Beard[21]; 23. 59R-Jacob Rexing[20]