Michael Norris riding momentum heading into Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway

Michael Norris has had some excellent years at Lernerville Speedway, but what he’s done so far this year may be his most impressive run yet.

There have been six super late model races contested at the Buffalo Township track this year, and he has won five of them, including four in a row.

Norris, a three-time track champ and Sarver native, will look to keep it rolling this weekend when the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series comes to town for the 18th annual Firecracker 100 weekend Thursday through Saturday.

“My crew has given me a great car every single week,” Norris said. “That’s really been the biggest part. We’re all working together well. I’m just trying to ride the wave because it’s not always like this. I don’t try to get too high or too low.

“I’m hoping we can keep the momentum rolling. I enjoy (the Firecracker 100) so much, and I want to put on a good show for everybody and really (show off) the capabilities of our team and our car.”

Thursday and Friday are preliminary races leading into the 100-lap, $50,000-to-win main event Saturday. The Rush crate late models are also on the card for the Bill Emig Memorial, which pays $20,000 to the winner of Saturday’s feature.

Norris spent last year driving the Joe Corrado-owned No. 10 car, but he is back in his family-owned No. 72 rocket chassis for 2024. Norris credited his grandparents with helping him get a new car for this season.

So far, he’s been dominant.

The only race he didn’t win was May 24 when his car suffered a flat tire midway through the race. After pitting, he rebounded to finish sixth. Tyler Dietz took the win.

Now the challenge will be replicating what he’s done so far against national racers.

Ricky Thornton Jr., the current Lucas points leader, is the defending champion. No driver has won the event two years in a row.

There have been 12 winners in 17 Firecracker 100s.

Jonathan Davenport is second in points and will look to finally cross winning the Firecracker 100 off his list. He’s fresh off winning his third 100,000-to-win Dream at Eldora two weeks ago.

Devin Moran sits third in points, followed by two-time Firecracker champ Tim McCreadie and Mike Marlar.

The prelim nights for the Firecracker 100 will have split fields and two 25-lap feature races, which pay $5,000 to the winner. It’s the second year for the format.

A split field gives most of the racers in attendance a chance to run a feature each of the first two nights. It also gives local racers more track time with the professional touring drivers.

“When we’re at our day jobs, they’re thinking about making their race cars faster,” Norris said. “We’re a little behind the 8-ball in a sense, but at the same time we can be a little fresher and maybe a little more motivated. We’re happy to be here, and I’m fortunate to have equipment to run with them if I drive it right and set it up right.”

Norris has won two Firecracker prelim features in his career. He did so in consecutive years in 2018 and ’19. He’s been in the top 10 on numerous occasions in the Firecracker 100, including a seventh-place run last year.

Trying to break through against late model racing’s best in a 100-lapper is a tall challenge, but Norris will put his best foot forward to try and pull the upset this weekend.

“Every time you run that race, you get to add to your notebook,” Norris said. “We don’t get the opportunity to run a lot of long-distance races, so every time we run one, we learn something different. Home-track advantage certainly helps. The new national tire came out last year, and it really threw a lot of us for a loop with setup stuff and how the car reacted. We have a full year with them now.

“The biggest hurdle, though, is the competition coming in. They get better every year. I feel like we get better, too, but that’s a tough crowd, so as long as we can be competitive, I’ll be happy.”