When Dan Ebert reached Batesville Motor Speedway’s frontstretch late Saturday night following the 33rd annual Nutrien Ag Solutions Topless 100 presented by Big River Steel, he soaked in his surroundings.

On the victory lane stage was Jonathan Davenport. Right over the inside wall, runner-up Chris Madden. And Ebert? He parked right between third-finishing Devin Moran and fifth-finishing Brandon Sheppard.

• How Dick Trickle's Mentorship Lives On With Lucas Oil Rookie Dan Ebert

Placing fourth and being right in the mix among the sport’s best overwhelmed the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series rookie from Lake Shore, Minn., with all kinds of feel-good emotions.

“I’m speechless honestly. We had a good car honestly all weekend,” the 37-year-old Ebert said. “Made some minor tweaks. (Rocket Chassis co-owner) Mark (Richards) really helped us, the Rocket1 team there today. We learned a little more of what their package was. Started really good, mid-part of the race I got really free. The bottom worked there at the end.”

Ebert’s career-best run in one of the more attrition-filled races this season was possible for two reasons. First and foremost, he made his tires go the distance, something only seven of 27 starters did Saturday. And secondly, he could adjust and maneuver his No. 60 Rocket Chassis XR2 machine with the ever-changing track conditions.

“This is our career-best run. I’m just so proud of our team, we’ve come so far,” Ebert said. “I mean, honestly, it’s like we won the race. I consider this a huge win for us.”

Ebert has certainly taken his lumps and endured his growing pains going from full-time modified racing to full-blown national touring Dirt Late Model action this season. Saturday’s finish marked his first full-field top-five of the season. He’s 12th in the Lucas Oil Series standings and a ways behind Donald McIntosh — 445 points to be exact — in the tour’s Rookie of the Year race.

At times, he’s felt his aspirations could be so overzealous he’s second-guessed whether he’s truly ready for the herculean effort.

“Oh, there’s been times for sure. Definitely been times of, ’Hey, should we have done a series?’” Ebert said. “Maybe we could’ve done a season of MLRA or this series of local racing. Honestly, it’s almost the same amount of work. We’re used to traveling with USMTS, (United States Modified Touring Series), so let’s just jump in.”

Ebert’s eyes have been open wide to just how different the two disciplines are. When asked if his modified mindset to keep the car straight while running through the middle of tracks helped him Saturday, Ebert wasn’t so convinced.

“I would like to think so, but being brutally honest with you, there’s not much that translates from a modified to a Late Model,” Ebert said. “It’s a whole new level with dirty air and conservation, and just race craft in general. If you had a definition of modified race craft and Late Model race craft, they wouldn’t even be on the same page of the dictionary.”

Until Lucas Late Model Dirt Series officials called him to the scales Saturday, the touring rookie had no idea he finished fourth. He knew he ran an efficient race, only falling outside of the top-10 for three of 100 laps, but he was still unsure where he shook out at the finish.

“No, I didn’t. I honestly didn’t,” Ebert said. “That’s why after the checkered flag there I stopped because I didn’t want to miss the scale. I thought I gained quite a bit there at the end, but I really didn’t know for sure.”

Ebert is well aware most of his struggles lie within simply finishing races. In 44 features he’s qualified for, he has 16 finishes of 19th or worse. He has shown flashes of success when he’s able to pace himself and find a suitable balance, like his seventh-place in the Silver Dollar Nationals at Brandon, S.D.’s Huset’s Speedway.

But more often than not this season, Ebert has found himself in the wrong places at the wrong time.

“You got to have a little luck in racing. I hate to play the luck card, but here lately, we haven’t had the greatest luck,” Ebert said. “So to have everything come together with the car and setup and tires and the racetrack, I just couldn’t be more happy.”

Ebert added that his lack of results isn’t entirely hinged around fortune.

“Man, I don’t know,” he said. “I put myself in bad situations, and if there was a chance it could go good, it definitely didn’t. This is just a huge booster for our team.”

As far as the heartbreaks that have stung the most this year, it’s hard for Ebert to forget about Dustin Sorensen snatching Eldora Speedway’s final Dream XXXI transfer spot from him in the final corner of the first consolation race.

“That was the biggest gut punch,” Ebert said. “It’s just part of racing, and we knew that going into this deal we’re going to have to change our goals. You got to celebrate small victories, and this is a huge victory for us.”

Ebert has stood on the belief that results like Saturday’s are possible for him and his Jim Trantina-owned team. He can’t help but get his hopes high when Richards’s Rocket1 team is often pitted alongside him, offering guidance anyway he can.

“Mark has been great. And honestly, it’s kind of developing a feel and a setup that works for me,” Ebert said. “He’s been great and very open to what Shepp’s doing. But it’s getting to where it works for me and works for our team. And all these new tracks. First time here, and most of these places, I’ve never been before.”

Ebert was one of the first Rocket Chassis customers to field one of Richards’s new-version XR2 race cars. The Minnesotan felt he was making strides in his XR1.2, but doesn’t deny that the XR2 gives him more to work with.

“I think it’s been good. It’s a nice improvement,” Ebert said. “I will say, we were getting our XR1.2 working pretty good there. We had a good run, a career-best run at Huset’s. But I think this puts us in a little more of the right direction.”

Overall, Ebert has momentum on his side as he returns to a trio of racetracks for the second time these next three weekends: Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway on Aug. 22-23, Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., on Aug. 29-30 and Eldora Speedway for the World 100 on Sept. 5-6.

“It’s just a huge confidence booster. With racing, it’s an emotional and physical roller coaster, but we’re going to celebrate this week as a huge win,” Ebert said. "But we can’t hold our head too high for too long because next week is a new track and a new race. We just have to stay humble about it.

“I have to thank everyone and James Trantina for putting this team together and honestly believing in myself and the team. He really stuck his neck out for this. We’re slowly starting to check some boxes.”