MECHANICSBURG: There will be no sweep by the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series regulars. Not this time.

When the Posse faithful talked about who could slip into Victory Lane at Williams Grove Speedway over the the July two-day show, a few names were mentioned. The hopes seemed to rest with Brian Montieth, Don Kreitz Jr. and Lucas Wolfe.

It's almost like Greg Hodnett, the most accomplished local driver against the traveling band since 2008, was forgotten.

Big mistake.

Hodnett loves higher-paying shows. That's when he brings his A-game, just like Friday night when he tracked down Brent Marks and Joey Saldana to capture the 25-lap Summer Nationals lid-lifter and bank an $8,000 payday.

Part of the reason Hodnett might have been overlooked is that he hasn't been happy with his car of late. That changed, as he was one of the quickest mounts in the 45-car field.

"We've been trying different things on the car, moving the motor around, and might have found a good combination," Hodnett said. "We used this car in the middle of Speed Week, and it didn't perform the way we wanted.

"We changed it a little bit, and it's helped quite a bit. We are going to enjoy tonight, because you never know when you are going to get another one."

Hodnett started fourth on the grid and remained there, as Saldana took the lead over Justin Barger and Marks.

Saldana opened up a half-straightaway lead by lap 8. Meanwhile, Barger, Marks and Hodnett ran under a blanket.

Marks slid Barger for second in Turns 3 and 4 on lap 10. Hodnett followed one lap later in the same corner and took third.

Saldana was pressed up against the cushion. Marks chopped into his advantage and was five car-lengths back when the red flag was displayed with 15 laps down.

Cody Darrah and Kerry Madsen spun coming down the frontstretch. Madsen, last week's Kings Royal winner, got upside down and came down on all fours. Both drivers were OK.

The restart belonged to Hodnett. He slid in front of Marks in Turn 1 and was in Saldana's tracks over the next two corners.

Hodnett made the winning move on lap 17. He hit the bottom perfect in Turn 1 and slid across the track in front of Saldana to take the lead.

"I was trying the bottom-middle throughout the night," Hodnett said. "I knew if I could get slow enough, I could do it.

"I got a good run off the bottom down the frontstretch, and I tried not to slip the tires. I kept pushing, pushing, pushing and moving Joey up. I was trying to get a good, clean run off the bottom, and fortunately, that is what happened."

Saldana couldn't recover. Two laps later, Marks got by Saldana coming out of Turn 4 an set sail after Hodnett.

"I was pretty good way too soon," Saldana said. "To win these races, you have to be good at the end and not at the beginning.

"We missed it a little bit, but you have to learn from your mistakes."

Hodnett moved to the top of the speedway, but he couldn't pull away. Not with the charging Marks lurking.

Marks started to catch Hodnett in the closing laps. With one to go, the Myerstown ace was five car-lengths off the pace.

But Hodnett, who now has 55 wins at the Monroe Twp. oval, nailed the cushion. He had just enough at the end to take the victory over Marks by .426 seconds.

"I think Donny Kreitz and Stevie [Smith] have shown us all year that sooner or later, you have to run someplace other than the top," Hodnett said. "But the top was so good that it didn't warrant coming off it until you had to.

"The guys did a great job. We could run dead last tomorrow, but we'll take tonight."

Marks, who placed seventh at Lincoln on Thursday, had his career-best finish with the World of Outlaws.

"I didn't need that red, but we had a great car all night," Marks said. "I stumbled the motor on the restart, and that gave Greg a shot at us.

"Good job by him. I wish we would have gotten to lapped traffic sooner because we were right on his bumper at the end, and I wanted to throw one last slider."

Saldana slipped to third, with Shane Stewart finishing fourth. Daryn Pittman, who came from 13th, won a title battle with Paul McMahan to finish fifth.