What won the race: Securing his first career series victory in a photo finish over Hudson O'Neal, second-starting Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., earned a $10,000 Valvoline Iron-Man Racing Series victory Friday in the 23rd annual Pete Abell Memorial.

Quotable: “We’ve had a rough go of it that last month or two," said Marlar, who's chasing the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series this season. "We got up in the Lucas points. We got within decent distance there and could see the leaders. Then we had just a whole list of problems. Blew a motor or two, just all kinds of stuff. Our program’s been off, but we came back and kind of went back to some older stuff we ran and got to come back to a home track and try it out and it really worked good.”

Key notes: Polesitter and 2017 Pete Abell Memorial event winner Hudson O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind., settled for the runner-up position, just a tenth of a second behind Marlar at the checkers after leading 27 laps. ... Ninth-starting Jason Jameson of Lawrenceburg, Ind., piloting a Hatcher Motorsports entry, advanced six positions to finish third. ... Michael Chilton of Salvisa, Ky., winner of the previous Iron-Man event at Ponderosa, finished fifth. ... After winning his heat race earlier in the evening, Spencer Hughes of Meridian, Miss., suffered a broken J-bar on lap 37 and finished 13th. ... After earning fast qualifier honors in his Ponderosa debut, Jensen Ford of Johnson City, Tenn., completed only five laps and finished 19th. ... With heavy track conditions, a red flag was displayed on lap 25, allowing crew members to bring drivers a new helmet or additional tearoffs. ... While still under red, the bank of lights went out in turns one and two at 11:38 p.m. and took several minutes to repair. ... The race had several slowdowns and lasted 48 minutes with a dozen competitors completing 50 laps. The race ended shortly after midnight. ... The event honored late racer Pete Abell, a former competitor at Ponderosa Speedway and other area tracks. ... The series returns to Ponderosa on Oct. 1.

On the move: Scott James of Bright, Ind., started 15th and finished seventh.

Winner's sponsors: Marlar’s Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Delk Equipment Sales, Tri-Rivers Enterprise (Mark and Kim Dotson), Rockets Convenience Plus, Can-Am Auto Salvage, RS Equipment Sales & Rentals, BruceBilt Performance, Midwest Sheet Metal.

Points chase: Entering the weekend, Jensen Ford of Johnson City, Tenn., led the Southern tour points while Dustin Nobbe of Batesville, Ind., led the Northern tour points.

Current weather: Clear, 72°F

Car count: 24

Fast qualifier: Jensen Ford

Time: 12.757 seconds

Polesitter: Hudson O'Neal

Heat race winners: Hudson O'Neal, Spencer Hughes, Mike Marlar, Tyler Erb

Consolation race winners: Tristan Chamberlain

Provisional starters: Ted Nobbe, Chris Combs

Next series race: August 7, Brownstown Speedway (Brownstown, IN) $10,000