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Parker 400 2024: Conner McMullen Wins 2024 Parker 400 Unlimited Race
After a dramatic final-lap shake-up, Conner McMullen declared the return of Class 1 in a big way in the Parker 400 Unlimited Race, the opening round of the 2024 UNLTD Off-Road Racing Series season. McMullen worked his way up from seventh place in qualifying to hang tough with top qualifier Justin Lofton and his 4WD Unlimited Truck all day, and capitalized on an unlucky break for Lofton just miles from the finish line to score a statement overall victory for UNLTD’s premier open-wheel class.
Lofton, Cole Potts, and McMullen were the clear-cut front-runners early in the day, with the two 4WD Unlimited Truck racers surprisingly nipped on corrected time by McMullen’s Class 1 car at the conclusion of the first lap. That battle would last through the second lap, until Potts made an extended stay in the pits with driveshaft issues that took him out of the battle for the overall.
From there, it was up to Lofton to keep it together. He had a three-minute advantage on McMullen going into the final lap, and both were well clear of Adam Householder, who himself had plenty of cushion on anyone nearby. Then, with less than 15 miles to get to the finish line, heartbreak: Lofton’s truck came to a halt as McMullen continued to move, making the pass for the lead just before 4PM local time.
The Unlimited Truck SPEC battle was every bit as intense as the fight for the overall win, with Jergensen and Davis on top of each other for much of the race, but it had last-lap attrition of its own to cut it short. Jergensen was scored the leader on corrected time after the first lap, but Davis was 12 seconds faster after the second. They’d stay closely matched until Jergensen stopped just short of halfway on the final lap; he’d face an extended delay that would drop him to 10th in class.
Davis would carry on to take not only the class victory, but also a new Chevrolet 525RLB race engine from Auto-Nation Chevrolet. He would also earn second place overall, as he had almost 12 minutes on Householder on corrected time. Class 1 runner-up Mario Fuentes Zaragoza and fellow Unlimited Truck SPEC podium finishers Brent Fox and Jack Olliges were the remaining drivers to complete three laps of the 142-mile course in under seven hours.
Unlimited Race results from the 2024 Parker 400 were as follows:
#140 Conner McMullen, 6:36:02.603
#285 Justin Davis, 6:41:13.703
#24 Adam Householder, 6:53:10.242
#179 Mario Fuentes Zaragoza, 6:53:55.255
#282 Brent Fox, 6:54:58.861
#227 Jack Olliges, 6:59:16.704
#L53 Wade Porter, 7:04:38.960
#129 Madix Bailey, 7:19:08.517
#91 Alexander Wacker, 7:24:03.238
#267 Bret Jeffers, 7:28:27.756
Source: Untld Off-Road Racing