GEORGETOWN, Del. (Aug. 24) — Ross Robinson’s roller-coaster ride of a night came to an emotional halt when he was asked to summarize Thursday’s homecoming at Georgetown Speedway in a single word.

“I don’t think there was a word for it,” the 33-year-old said as tears welled in his eyes, the aftereffects of a night that didn’t live up to Robinson’s lofty expectations. “I was flat-out mad because I put immense pressure on myself coming into this. And that’s not good to do. But I know me here.”

After a battery issue sidetracked him earlier in the night, the 19th-starting Robinson salvaged an 11th-place finish in the 49-lap, $18,049-to-win feature on Thursday, which buzzed in support of the hometown driver. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. led the final nine laps.

When Robinson is grinding it out on the nationwide series, it's often he and his wife and crew chief Amanda going it alone. Thursday’s Melvin L. Joseph Memorial, meanwhile, attracted an especially large amount of family, friends, fans and supporters that showed out for Robinson's sake. Robinson’s car owner, Ken Adams, is also co-owner of the Georgetown half-mile and is the grandson of Joseph, the speedway’s 1949 founder.

Though overwhelming at times, Robinson was grateful for the teeming support.

“It’s cool to have all our friends and family here,” Robinson said. “The list of people goes on and on. It’s cool to see the support we have coming home. I didn’t give the fans the finish I was wanting to give them, but at least maybe I put on a show.”

Robinson told himself that no matter what happened Thursday, he didn’t want to let down his closest supporters. In the end, he feels he delivered on that goal with his best finish of this Lucas Oil Series season.

“I feel like we salvaged the night,” Robinson said. “Being here helped that, but I was just flat-out mad. I said I’m going to drive it like I was going to wreck it. That’s what we did.”

If there was ever a place for Robinson to notch a dreamy first victory with the Lucas Oil Series, it’d undoubtedly be at the big Delaware oval less than a mile from his home. Robinson knows the sandy, half-mile surface through and through, evidenced by the fact that five of his six Dirt Late Model feature wins since the start of 2021 have come at his backyard racetrack.  

“If I’m right and my car is halfway close, I know I can get around this place; I don’t care what the competition is,” Robinson said. “I feel good here. Have the night going like it was, I was beside myself.”

Robinson is so accustomed to things going his way at Georgetown, when the battery master switch shorted out at the outset of hot laps, he couldn’t believe the predicament he found himself in.

“I’m just always nervous about stuff. When that happened, I was like, ‘My God, here we go,’ ” Robinson said. “Honestly, when that did that, I thought the motor blew. I was like, ‘Oh my, God.’ Then I got really hot really quick and the helmet quit blowing. I looked down at the gauges and I knew what it was. I knew it was a fairly simple fix.”

Robinson qualified eighth in his group, which lined him up fourth in the final heat race. One misstep in the eight-lap heat race cost him an outright transfer to the main event, which wedged Robinson between another rock and a hard place.

“We almost didn’t make it out for the B-main because we said, ‘The hell with it, I’m going to change it to what I know this place needs,’ ” Robinson said. “I felt really good in the B-main. I was going to change a couple things, but they showed me lap times and I said, ‘Hell with it. Bolt another right-rear tire on and let’s go. I’ll just drive the s--- out of it.’ That’s what we did.”

If it wasn’t for losing the handle of his car in the feature that sent him over the turn-three berm— a mistake on Robinson’s part because he ran too closely behind Max Blair entering the corner — he would’ve likely registered a top-10 finish.

The lap-19 miscue dropped Robinson four positions, knocking him out of 10th and down to 14th. He regained three positions and battled hard with the sport’s frontrunners, Hudson O’Neal and Jonathan Davenport, who finished ninth and 10th.

Still, Robinson is relieved to secure his best full-field finish of the Lucas Oil Series season, even if it’s not a top-10 at his home track. As the season winds down, he’s trying to get back to the basics of having fun while thinking freely when it comes to setups. Recently, Robinson admits the grind of Dirt Late Model racing has taken its toll, causing him to then second-guess every little detail.

“And I’m not one that’s real big on self-confidence, you know what I mean? I believe in myself. I believe I can do it. But I’m not one that can openly express it,” Robinson said. “I’m not one of those guys. A lot of (people), everybody, try to get that out of me. But it’s hard for me to do that because it’s how I was raised. I was raised to be humble and appreciate everything given to you. When a bad hand is dealt to you, you roll with it and keep working. That’s what we did.

Robinson is 13th in Lucas Oil Series points, a distant 770 points behind 12th-running Spencer Hughes. It's a tough spot on series that awards points fund checks to the top 12 in series points ($25,000 for 12th).

As for the rest of the season, Robinson remains fully committed to finishing what he and his team started. He’s off to Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway this weekend before the series travels to Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park and Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., next weekend.

“We said we’re going to do it so we’re going to dig our heels in and grind it out, good or bad,” Robinson said. “Port Royal’s been kind of bittersweet because I’ve run everywhere on the podium, but never won. I feel comfortable there, too. Hopefully we can take this and build for the weekend; try to give ourselves something to finish the year off with.”

Robinson is skipping Sept. 7-9's World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, for a weekend to regroup for the last leg of the Lucas Oil season.

Four lucrative big events complete the Lucas Oil Series season: Sept. 14-16’s Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, Sept. 23’s Jackson 100 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, Sept. 30’s Pittsburgher at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania’s Motor Speedway, and of course the Oct. 20-21 Dirt Track World Championship that moves to Eldora for 2023.

While Thursday's homecoming didn't live up to the hype and a potential World 100 start isn't in the cards, Robinson has plenty to forward to.

“We’re just going to keep digging,” Robinson said. “That’s all we can do. I appreciate everybody that helps us do this. Especially Amanda. I can’t say that enough.”