Talk about crashing the party. When the original roster of 48 invitees for the Dirt Late Model Stream was released, Kyle Strickler’s name wasn’t even on the list. But when four drivers opted not to participate in the unique $50,000-to-win weekend at the Tony Stewart-owned half-mile, Strickler, of Mooresville, N.C., was among the four alternates.

Watch the Eldora Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational June 4-6 on FloRacing

On Thursday Strickler made the most of his opportunity. With a dominating drive from the pole position, he led flag-to-flag to win the Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational opener, a 30-lap preliminary feature worth $10,000. Strickler took the lead on the opening lap, built an advantage of more than three seconds midway through and then negotiated lapped traffic over the final seven circuits to finish 1.164 seconds ahead of third-starting Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga.

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Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., moved forward from 12th to finish third, while eighth-starting Ricky Thornton Jr., of Chandler, Ariz., finished fourth. Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., completed the top five after starting 13th.

“We left (North Carolina) late last night because … I don’t know if everybody knows or not, but I’m not even supposed to be here,” said Strickler in victory lane. “I missed the fan vote. I texted (Eldora general manager) Roger (Slack) and was really upset, not with him, but with the format ‘cause I wanted to be here so bad. Man, thanks to all my fans who voted me up, or however the system works. Thanks to everybody at DirtonDirt and everybody who’s been helping me get my Late Model deal going. We got in as an alternate and you see what can happen here at Eldora.”

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Strickler qualified ninth fastest and finished second in his heat behind fast qualifier Chris Ferguson of Mount Holly, N.C. He started from the pole position following an invert of the six fastest qualifiers who managed to finish either first or second in their respective heat. He shot into the lead at the opening green and quickly pulled away. His only stutter came on lap 12 when he slipped over the cushion and banged his right rear off the wall. It left the right rear of his Longhorn Chassis crumpled, but still plenty fast.”

“I didn’t know I had that much damage,” he said after climbing from his car and surveying his mangled quarterpanel. “It’s huge here. At the Dream last year I was leading and leading and I knocked the quarterpanel off of it and I didn’t want to do that again. I was paying attention to my signal man so much and watching (crew chief) Vinny (Giuliani), that I screwed up off of (turn) two and got into the fence and man I thought I gave it away. So I barely even looked at him the rest of the way. I just focused on my line."

The former open wheel modified star, who, in just his second season in the full-fendered division, admitted he’d considered quitting and heading back to the modified ranks “because we were struggling so bad” said that while he’s “won a lot of mod races … this is a career win.”

“I just tried to keep the boys positive and told ‘em if we get the car right and find what I’m looking for as far as feel, that we would be there,” said Strickler.

Though Clanton fell nearly a straightaway behind, the 2015 World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series champion managed to reel in the leader once Strickler began navigating lapped traffic. After the lead ballooned to nearly four seconds, Clanton pulled his Capital Race Car to within .813  of a second in the waning laps, but could never draw close enough to take a stab at the lead.

Click here for full Feature results from the Eldora Dirt Late Model Stream

“I could see (Strickler) was running like a dog chasing that rabbit,” said Clanton. “I don’t know if he can make it 100 laps up there (on the cushion), but 30 laps and he made it. Hat’s off to him. He drove a hell of a race.”

Clanton said his tire choice could’ve been the difference.

“Our car was pretty good there,” Clanton said. “We went with a little harder tire than Strickler did. I was hoping he would uses his stuff up and have a caution later on and he’d blister a tire or whatever. Overall we had a good car and if we can make some more adjustments for (Friday), we’ll be pretty good I think.”

Sheppard’s charge from 12th to third left the Rocket Chassis house car chauffeur feeling as though he not only has a machine capably of contending on Friday and Saturday, but that he could have contended for a win in the opener had he had a little better starting position.

“I think I definitely had a winning car tonight,” said last year’s Dream winner. “My car was so good. I could run wherever I wanted to all over the racetrack. I hope Saturday I can stand up here and tell you the same thing because that thing was just so good. You know we had a good car all night long really.

“We qualified in the wrong line on the racetrack and that kinda set us up to start in the back of the feature. I’ve been preaching that all year this year. We’ve got to start up front. That’s were we messed up tonight too … started fifth in our heat and luckily we were able to get third there and that put us starting 12th in the feature. You gotta start up front in these races to be able to really have a good shot at winning ‘em.”