CONCORD, N.C. — On one of the wildest nights of the 23rd annual Bojangles’ Summer Shootout to date, one driver finally broke through to victory lane and a defending champion seized the day after making it through one of the wildest crashes of the summer.

Reigning In Light Wellness Legends Car Pro division titlist Jordan Black took a major step towards defending his crown by winning the 25-lap premier class main event, leading the final four laps en route to victory after contact between then-leader Stevie Johns Jr., Austin Green and Alex Pacheco sent five of the top seven cars into the grass in turns one and two — with Black slipping through the chaos to steal the victory.

Black led fellow Floridian Michael Torres home to the checkered flag for his sixth-career Pro win at the Shootout and second of the summer.

“There was a whole bunch of mayhem,” Black said of the late-race contact. “The 48 (Green) and a whole bunch of guys got together, and I chose the bottom, and for the first time in a while I was right. Luckily it’s a self-cleaning race track. They went to the high side and I was right there (to get by).”

“This is a big win for us. We needed some positive momentum, and after being able to announce my future sports car plans with Weistec Engineering this week, a trophy is a tremendous way to cap things off.”

The race appeared like Jared Irvan would avenge his technical DQ from round five by dominating the event. He took the lead from Johns on lap four after the latter started from the pole, running out to a three-second lead over Dawson Cram before Cram spun out of second place a lap prior to the halfway mark.

The restart did nothing to faze Irvan, who took a handy lead again before grinding to a halt down the backstretch with a motor failure on lap 21, drawing the caution and setting up the four-lap dash that parted the Red Sea for Black.

John Holleman grabbed his career-best finish in the Pro class by rounding out the podium in third, followed by Johns and Austin Green.

The AAA Carolinas Legends Car Semi-Pro class saw a caution-laden feature but ended with Tyler Truex, cousin to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Martin Truex Jr., finally breaking through for his first class win of the summer.

Truex took the lead from Gus Dean at lap four but had to survive six yellow flags before he could celebrate in victory lane, holding off Matt Mead on successive restarts with four, three and two laps to go before finally pulling away on a green-white-checkered restart for his first-career Shootout win.

“Man, for all the times we’ve been close here, and all the traveling I’ve had to do this year, it’s all worth it when you’re standing up on-stage with the trophy,” Truex smiled. “I was worried on those last few restarts! (laughs) Mead had the best car all night, I think, but this team showed why you never give in and lay down. Hard work pays off if you keep trying, and we kept trying and finally got us a win tonight. Hopefully it’s the first of many.”

“I did not want to see any of those cautions … it was killing me to keep having to do restart after restart! It all worked out, though. I’m so thankful to finally celebrate one of these. Charlotte is a special place and I’ll remember this win for a long time.”

Behind Truex and Mead, Dean, Scott Joy and Grant Winchester rounded out the top five.