Cody Stickler Bounces Back for Modifieds of Mayhem Tour New Smyrna Victory

After a trying week during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway, Cody Stickler went to victory lane on Saturday night in the Rogers-Dabbs Performance Modifieds of Mayhem Tour event at the Florida half-mile.

Stickler entered Saturday's race as one of the favorites, with 17 career Modifieds of Mayhem Tour wins and eight career World Series of Asphalt wins in the Florida Modified division. He opened the week with a second-place finish to Kaden Honeycutt, but finished 21st and 20th on Thursday and Friday night with mechanical issues.

Stickler led 27 laps on Thursday, but fell out of the race just shy of halfway with an oil leak. He was running second on Friday night when a broken axle ended his evening early.

There were no such dilemmas on Saturday night. Stickler took the lead from Chuck Barnes on the seventh lap out of 60 and kept the top spot the rest of the way to end the World Series of Asphalt in victory lane.

"We struggled, man, we had a bad week," said Stickler. "I didn't have the fastest car the first night, I'll give them that. Then we had our struggles the next two nights. I think we had the best car those two nights, if something didn't break. It all paid off tonight. We got the one that counts."

A late caution set up a green-white-checkered restart, giving Barnes a final shot to snag the victory from Stickler's grasp. However, Stickler remained calm and confident in his car's ability.

"It got going on restarts good, stayed good. We weren't really worried about it."

While Barnes settled for second, he had a similar bounce-back from a disappointing week. He and his team spend Friday night and Saturday morning resolving engine woes to answer the call on Saturday.

"At 9 o'clock last night, we were getting machine work done so we could put the motor together this morning and let the silicone dry before practice," said Barnes. "Just grateful to have guys in the pits. Everybody just walked by and they'd shake their head looking at us. I was shaking my head, wondering what they hell we were doing as well.

"I'll take this as a win. That guy is good and damn near unstoppable other than the 30. I'll take this all day long. Coming home in the top three after the week we went through, very happy."

Jared Maupin entered the final night of the World Series of Asphalt trailing Brad Bowman by 10 points in the battle for the Florida Modifieds World Series championship. Bowman had not finished worse than fifth at any point during the week.

However, Maupin finished third to Bowman's 10th in the finale, unofficially giving him the championship by four points.

"Honestly, I didn't think we were in the points contention, so that's kind of a huge surprise," said Maupin. "The qualifying run didn't show. I know we practiced really, really well. Going out first after those Sprint Cars, either the tires didn't like each other or them sweeping it right before I went out, it just didn't cooperate.

"I tried not to get too discouraged. I knew we had a hot ride. Starting 19th is tough, but we just tried to keep the nose clean and just worked our way to the front."

Brian Nester finished fourth, with Derrick Griffin rounding out the top five.

Originally, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor and Snowball Derby winner Kaden Honeycutt planned on competing in Saturday's event, coming off two wins in the Florida Modifieds this week. However, he offered his seat in Saturday's race to Matthew Laprade, after Laprade's car was involved in a major crash on Friday night.

"I'm fortunate enough that I get to run a truck full-time, and he's running for the Modifieds of Mayhem championship," said Honeycutt before the race. "I know there's a drop week, but he needs to race. I want him to continue to learn and figure out what he needs to do to be better.

"The kid's only 14, right? He's done a great job all week, I just want to see him finish it off right. I know Ricky [Moxley], I was going to drive the car [Laprade]'s going to drive. It doesn't really matter to me, honestly. I just want to go out and see him race and improve every step that he goes into."

The next event for the Rogers-Dabbs Performance Modifieds of Mayhem Tour is scheduled for Saturday, March 7. The Hunt for the Bear 62 at Montgomery Motor Speedway welcomes the open-wheel warriors as part of the prestigious Alabama 200.

-Photo credit: Reid Scott/Rogers-Dabbs Performance Modifieds of Mayhem Tour

Rogers-Dabbs Performance Modifieds of Mayhem Tour
World Series 60 Unofficial Results