Nitrogen management in winter wheat in the southern Great Plains, USA has traditionally relied on early application strategies. The use of these methods can be attributed equipment, labor, perceived cost, and knowledge constraints. Work completed globally has suggested the use of split application methodologies as a way to increase nitrogen use efficiency in agronomic systems. Research completed in this region has supported the use of single in-season nitrogen applications in lieu of other management strategies, and has been shown to optimize yield and grain nitrogen concentration. Current research however has not evaluated the response of various genotypes in a delayed nitrogen management system. These studies were conducted to evaluate varietal performance across varying nitrogen management strategies including single in-season application. Two experiments were conducted in north central Oklahoma, the first experiment consisting of fourteen winter wheat varieties and two nitrogen management strategies; an early management method and late. This study suggests that environmental conditions will influence performance of the late nitrogen management strategies. However, even under stressful conditions, in fifty-six of the eighty-four observations grain yield was optimized by the late single in-season application. Additionally, grain nitrogen concentration was optimized by the late in-season application seventy-seven of eighty-four observations. The second experiment evaluated two distinct winter wheat varieties (Gallagher and Green Hammer) across twelve nitrogen application strategies, including various two-way, three-way, and single applications. This study suggests that there is no significant improvement to grain yield or grain nitrogen concentration with the use of split applications compared to as timely single in-season nitrogen application. Additionally plant components measured were not influenced by application timing for either variety evaluated. When evaluated together both of these studies suggest that single in-season nitrogen applications are well supported for winter wheat rainfed systems of the southern Great Plains.