Mark Whitener is hopeful he can put the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series field on upset alert this weekend at All-Tech Raceway.

There’s no racetrack that means more to the 44-year-old than the half-mile track 45 minutes from his Middleburg, Fla., home. The memorial race for his uncle, Steve Whitener, is on the undercard this weekend alongside the Lucas Oil’s annual visit to the asphalt-turned-dirt oval.

The Whiteners are closely connected with the Georgia-Florida Speedweeks venue and there’s nothing more he’d like than to triumph over the next three nights. He likes his chances after Tuesday’s third-place run at Georgia’s Needmore Speedway where he set fast time and won his heat race with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series.

“Hell, I hope so. I hope so,” Whitener when asked if he has the car to contend with the sport’s superstars. “And I’m looking forward to running my Crate car there too. We are going to Lucas Oil with my Super. Hey, we’re looking forward to Speedweeks. We’re having a blast, you know what I mean?”

“We’re looking forward to it,” Whitener added. “I’ve gotten my ass kicked there a bunch. After the night we had (Tuesday), we’re looking forward to going there, for sure.”

If there’s any non-touring driver from the Sunshine State that could give Lucas Oil’s frontrunners a run for the $10,000, $12,000 and $15,000 top prizes, in that order, Thursday-Saturday, it’s Whitener.

He has countless laps at All-Tech and is DirtonDirt.com's reigning top driver from Florida after a 2024 season with 14 multidivision victories among six tracks that included a $10,000 CRUSA touring victory at All-Tech. The $20,000 Showdown on the Coast triumph in December at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga., a $7,500 payday at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City and $5,000 Southern Clash triumph at Needmore came along the way, too.

But Whitener is also a realist. He mostly competes in Crate and Limited Late Model events, but joins the open-competition engine action each winter with Lucas Oil and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series for Speedweeks events. He’s hoping his experience at All-Tech can make up for the lack of resources he has compared to the national touring teams.

“I just don’t it every week. I need to get in the Super more, but my funds just won’t let me do that,” Whitener said. “We have to run Crates to afford to buy new race cars and stuff like that. We do very good with the Crates and then buy cars to come play with the Supers.”

If all else fails, Whitener’s Super program prepares him well for his Crate-centric schedule that’s been quite profitable for him in recent years.

“I come here with the Supers to try and learn, and it picks my Crate program up that year,” Whitener said. “That’s just the way I look at it. And then I make money with the Crates to continue to race.”

Whitener looked mighty strong in his podium run Tuesday at Needmore, trailing eventual winner Hudson O’Neal aboard the Kevin Rumley-owned No. 6 down the stretch before hard-charging Ethan Dotson powered around him in the final laps for the runner-up finish.

Though he’s confident in his race program, he didn’t think he’d run that well at Needmore versus a field that featured eight of DirtonDirt.com's Top 25 drivers from last year.

“Not here I didn’t. When we unloaded with this thing, we were really, really fast,” Whitener said. “We was pleased with it. I’d just try to drive the s--- out of it to see what I can come up with.”

Whitener, who by virtue of the Needmore redraw started third despite going fast time and winning his heat, slipped back to fifth on the opening lap before making his way back to seventh on lap seven. He said that his 2023 Longhorn Chassis that has 24 races on it “picked up the front end to start with, and it kind of screwed me up, so I fell back.”

“I was able to keep my composure and pass a few cars. Got to second, and then didn’t have nothing for (O’Neal),” Whitener said. “At the end of the race, the holes were really, really treacherous for me. I hit it with the right-rear coming to the white flag and I pushed out of it.”

Even if Whitener didn’t have that hindrance, he said he didn’t have the optimal tire compound to compete with O’Neal and Dotson, the 1-2 finishers who rolled with an NLMT-2 compound on the right-rear that’s softer than Whitener’s NLMT-3.

“I’ll be honest with you: (O’Neal) had a 2 on and I had a 3,” Whitener said. “Dotson had a 2 on also. I think the 2 was the right tire. I think I went with the wrong tire. If I had a 2 on, I’d like to see how it’d feel then. That’s all I can say.”

Whitener was also glad to see Needmore, the D-shaped layout with unique corners, take the Georgia-Florida Speedweeks stage for a few nights. The Georgia track hosts its second-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series event Sept. 12, the first series date there since May 2011, a race won by Clint Smith.

“I love Needmore. (Track owner) Chance (Smith) does a good job,” Whitener said. “He puts his heart and soul into it. That’s what it takes. It was good. It had a little character to it, but nothing that didn’t make the racing better. If it’d been smooth, everybody would’ve just been cruising around. We had to move around and find what we needed.

“All in all, they did a good job with the track. Obviously Dotson came from the back to the front. It was good racing, so hopefully these big tours come back.”

Whitener’s main focus this week, though, remains on All-Tech. During Wednesday’s practice, he was fastest among a 16-car group that included O’Neal, Garrett Alberson, Ryan Gustin and the winner of last year’s Lucas Oil races at All-Tech, Tim McCreadie and Ricky Thornton Jr.

“It was like normal All-Tech. The track started slowing down and then it started wiping off because it got real slow,” Whitener said of Wednesday’s practice. “You just gotta adjust to your car to the racetrack at that point. I don’t think there’s any kind of magical setup. You just have to learn the racetrack. I hope it’s like that. It’ll probably be like every night.”

Whitener’s richest Super Late Model victory was his $9,000 payday in Sept. 2021’s Alabama State Championship race at East Alabama. Landing in victory lane on the national stage, particularly at Georgia-Florida Speedweeks, would be a dream come true.

“Hands down. That’s what we’re after,” said Whitener, who’s qualified two of four Speedweeks features in 2025, also finishing 21st in Jan. 17’s Lucas Oil opener at Golden Isles. “Lucas or a World of Outlaws win, that’s what we’re after.”