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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

ROA RACKS WIN #1 ON "OVAL NATIONALS" NIGHT 2

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Perris, California....November 10, 2017 - Following his career-best third-place finish the previous night, Brody Roa stated that, just a year and a half ago, he would've been laughing had you told him he was going to be on the podium at the "Oval Nationals."

One night later, the question had to be asked. Who's laughing now?

"I'm still laughing, just for a different reason," Roa exclaimed. "This is, by far, the biggest one. To do it at Perris, a track I grew up at and have always wanted to win at, and to do it during 'Oval Nationals' weekend, even if it's on a prelim night, it's against all the same guys we're running against tomorrow."

The Garden Grove, California native led all 30 laps Friday night to capture his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory on night two of the Budweiser "Oval Nationals" presented by All Coast Construction. In doing so, he became the first driver to break into the win column for the first time in his career during the 2017 season, the latest in the year the series has had a first-time winner emerge.

Brody Roa captured his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory Friday night at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway on night two of the 'Oval Nationals.' (Rich Forman Photo)

An all CRA front row held down the front row when the green flag waved for the start of the 30-lap feature in memory of Evelyn Pratt. Roa wasn't content to bide his time and fall into line. He went on the attack, first sliding the now six-time CRA champ Damion Gardner for the advantage in turn one. Gardner quickly countered underneath Roa off turn two to retake the lead momentarily as Roa reached into his back pocket, pulled out the slingshot, and aimed his BR Performance/HD Industries - Burris Racing/Maxim/Shaver Chevy to the bottom of three before sliding back into the top spot.

By the fifth lap, Roa ran the fastest lap of the race on his way to constructing a half-straightaway lead over new second-place combatant Chad Boespflug. Roa's lead continued to grow ever larger to three-quarters of a straightaway when, on lap 13, Logan Williams climbed the turn two wall before coming back to earth on all four wheels to bring out the race's first caution.

From that point, Roa was in the midst of stop signs and red lights at seemingly every corner with a succession of incidents disrupting the rhythm of the race just on the other side of the halfway mark.

Stevie Sussex got upside down on lap 16, Austin Liggett found himself backward against the wall on lap 19, then ninth-running R.J. Johnson tagged the turn four wall with his right rear tire and tumbled over as Justin Grant, involved in a tight USAC National Sprint Car points race, barely escaped trouble. All drivers were uninjured.

On the restart with ten laps remaining, it became a battle between the green of Roa and the Mean Green of Boespflug. On prior restarts, Boespflug tested the waters with attempted sliders tossed at Roa to no avail as Roa kept his right foot glued to the throttle and powered away on the razor's edge of a cushion.

"On that first restart, I got a good enough start to where Chad showed me a nose, but he could never get there," Roa recalled. "I just kept trying to do the same thing over-and-over again. I knew our car had good forward bite and I could get down to turn one quickly. I just had to get to the center quick enough to where they couldn't slide me."

"I put it on the cushion getting into turn one on the restarts," Roa continued. "I think I had my left eye closed. If a slider was coming, I wasn't going to lift. I was going to drive around it. I didn't want to see it coming and screw up all my momentum. I tried not to look down the whole race. I just tried to keep my eye on my line and running the cushion around it. It was tough tonight, especially at the end, when it started taking rubber, I think. It started getting a little left rear tight on the cushion. A couple times off turn four, I jumped over it and I was just waiting for it coming down into one and it never happened."

'This is, by far, the biggest one. To do it at Perris, a track I grew up at and have always wanted to win at, and to do it during 'Oval Nationals' weekend, even if it's on a prelim night, it's against all the same guys we're running against tomorrow.' (Mike Grosswendt Photo)

Boespflug's Timehop revealed that it had been one year to the day since he scored an "Oval Nationals" prelim victory. On this night, it appeared that a repeat performance could be in the cards for Boespflug if there was any slip-up that Roa endured. On the 21st lap, that slip-up occurred, but, instead, it was Boespflug who became entangled in the ensuing web of misfortune.

Roa entered turn three and bounced his right rear rubber off the concrete. As he fought to regain control atop the cush, second-running Boespflug mimicked the same slap of the wall, but the result was much more intense. Boespflug climbed the wall, nearly flipping, before coming to a rest on the track. In the resulting madness, several cars became involved as they scrambled for safety, including top-ten runners Damion Gardner, Dave Darland and Chase Stockon. Robert Ballou was miraculously able to escape to daylight between the wall and the three sprinters that formed an auto blockade.

The high line between turns three and four represented a figurative tightrope that drivers had to balance down the stretch. Navigating it required precise detail and poise to the utmost degree.

"It was about six inches of solid dirt against the K-Rail. It wasn't very forgiving," Roa noted. "I could drive to it and try to connect the dots. I would get in, drive it to the next point and keep the car rolling somewhat straight around it, but on the throttle enough that it wouldn't get tight. I got the thing rolling straight down the straightaway and I knew we had good forward bite even if I drove off it, which I started doing a little bit in turn two toward the end of the race. Turning down off and just getting it rolling straight down the hill, I just gave the wall a little kiss halfway down the back straightaway to get it to stop sliding and get into three. I never saw a nose. And honestly, I wasn't even looking for the nose. We were going to win it or wear it tonight."

Roa wore leftover remnants of white wall dust, but was no worse for the wear as he was in a class of his own for 30-straight laps. Even Thomas, arguably the most consistently fast driver of late, couldn't do much with Roa on the final restart. Roa was downright surgical down the stretch as he stitched this deal up on his way to what would also be the third USAC/CRA Sprint Car win of his career and first at Perris ahead of Thomas, Windom, Grant and Ballou.

Roa's performance over the two preliminary nights locked him into a guaranteed spot in Saturday's A-Main along with Windom, Leary, Grant, Stockon and Thomas. Though there was a big cause for celebration in the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning, Roa had plans to get some rest and be fresh for the following day with his mind set on the biggest prize - Saturday night's $25,000-to-win finale.

"It's going to be tough, but you have to get some sleep," Roa acknowledges. "But this isn't like a Saturday night win at a normal show. You have to put your head back down 14 hours from now and get after it again. We'll get up in the morning, service the car and go through it. It does take a little bit of stress off tomorrow being locked in. It's a big weekend. The best of the best come out here and bring their A-game, but we brought ours too."

Cullman, Alabama's Thomas was the high-point man for the weekend after finishing second Friday night in his KT Motorsports/Jeff's Jam-It-In Storage - Abreu Vineyards/DRC/Speedway Chevy. Despite the performance, he was not able to gain much ground in the race for the USAC National Sprint Car title with Windom and Grant finishing directly behind him in the running order. Now trailing by 67 points entering the final race and the reality of a 2017 USAC National championship appears to have dissipated.

Windom, of Canton, Illinois, and Grant came into the night's feature separated by just nine markers. With every position on the track worthier than gold at this moment, the fight for third came down to the final corner between the two with Windom besting Grant by a half-car length - and the extra three points - at the line in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.

With a single race left Saturday night at Perris, Windom leads Grant by 12 points (four positions). A maximum of 70 points are available to the driver who wins the event.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Arizona Speedway included Kevin Thomas, Jr. (ProSource/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier), C.J. Leary (Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers 1st Heat Winner), Danny Faria, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc./Brown & Miller Racing Solutions 2nd Heat Winner), Austin Liggett (Chalk Stix/Circle Track Performance 3rd Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Indy Race Parts/Keizer Aluminum Wheels 4th Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products/Saldana Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger), Logan Williams (Pyrotect Racing Cells 5th Heat Winner) and Max Adams (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 10, 2017 - Perris Auto Speedway - Perris, California - 22nd Budweiser "Oval Nationals" presented by All Coast Construction

PROSOURCE/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-16.302; 2. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-16.517; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.599; 4. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.722; 5. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-16.738; 6. Dave Darland, 73, Ford-16.778; 7. Damion Gardner, 4, Alexander-16.791; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-16.802; 9. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-16.814; 10. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-16.851; 11. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-16.870; 12. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-16.878; 13. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-16.883; 14. Kyle Edwards, 39E, Edwards-16.936; 15. Stevie Sussex, 42, Cheney-16.941; 16. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-16.956; 17. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-16.958; 18. Mike Spencer, 4s, Gansen-16.987; 19. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-16.995; 20. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-17.002; 21. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-17.006; 22. Danny Faria, Jr., 17GP, Dutcher-17.028; 23. Austin Liggett, 56, Phulps-17.033; 24. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-17.035; 25. Logan Williams, 5J, Jory-17.045; 26. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-17.070; 27. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.113; 28. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-17.135; 29. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.161; 30. Carson Macedo, 73T, Ford-17.169; 31. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.213; 32. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-17.216; 33. Trent Williams, 52v, Williams-17.243; 34. Michael Pickens, 81, Watt-17.309; 35. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-17.326; 36. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-17.336; 37. Thomas Meseraull, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-17.383; 38. Jeremy Ellertson, 98, Ellertson-17.441; 39. Verne Sweeney, 98v, Tracy-17.474; 40. Shon Deskins, 42x, Cheney-17.669; 41. Gary Marshall, Jr., 72, Marshall-18.018; 42. Ronnie Gardner, 7K, Kruseman-18.022; 43. Randy Waitman, 90, Waitman-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Leary, 2. Courtney, 3. Thomas, 4. Martin, 5. Malcolm, 6. Darland, 7. J. Vander Weerd, 8. Bender, 9. Marshall. 2:48.26

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI)/BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Faria, 2. Chapple, 3. D. Gardner, 4. A. Williams, 5. Bacon, 6. Grant, 7. Meseraull, 8. Gile, 9. R. Gardner. 2:50.28

CHALK STIX/CIRCLE TRACK PERFORMANCE THIRD HEAT (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Liggett, 2. Spencer, 3. Stockon, 4. Johnson, 5. Schuerenberg, 6. T. Williams, 7. Gansen, 8. Waitman, 9. Ellertson. 2:51.16

INDY RACE PARTS/KEIZER ALUMINUM WHEELS: FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Ballou, 2. Adams, 3. Windom, 4. Roa, 5. C. Williams, 6. Pickens, 7. Edwards, 8. Sweeney. 2:50.15

PYTROTECT RACING CELLS FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. L. Williams, 2. Sussex, 3. R. Vander Weerd, 4. Boespflug, 5. Swanson, 6. Deskins, 7. McCarthy, 8. Macedo. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Macedo, 3. Swanson, 4. Darland, 5. Malcolm, 6. Bender, 7. Meseraull, 8. J. Vander Weerd, 9. Gansen, 10. T. Williams, 11. Edwards, 12. Pickens, 13. Gile, 14. Ellertson, 15. Deskins, 16. Sweeney, 17. Waitman, 18. Marshall, 19. C. Williams, 20. Schuerenberg, 21. Bacon, 22. McCarthy. NT

EVELYN PRATT FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Brody Roa (1), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 3. Chris Windom (4), 4. Justin Grant (7), 5. Robert Ballou (23), 6. Tyler Courtney (10), 7. Richard Vander Weerd (16), 8. C.J. Leary (21), 9. Brady Bacon (25), 10. Jake Swanson (9), 11. Mike Spencer (14), 12. Chase Stockon (5), 13. Max Adams (15), 14. Danny Faria, Jr. (18), 15. Damion Gardner (2), 16. Austin Williams (11), 17. Isaac Chapple (22), 18. Austin Liggett (19), 19. Mike Martin (17), 20. Jeremy Ellertson (27), 21. Chad Boespflug (3), 22. Dave Darland (8), 23. R.J. Johnson (12), 24. Stevie Sussex (13), 25. Carson Macedo (24), 26. Logan Williams (20), 27. Cody Williams (26). NT
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**Sussex flipped on lap 16 of the feature. Johnson flipped on lap 21 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Roa.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS/ROD END SUPPLY HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (23rd to 5th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Max Adams

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Windom-2229, 2-Grant-2217, 3-Thomas-2162; 4-Courtney-2120, 5-Stockon-2000, 6-Boespflug-1910, 7-Leary-1846; 8-Ballou-1762, 9-Bacon-1742, 10-Darland-1482.

NEW USAC AMSOIL CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-D. Gardner-1498, 2-Roa-1420, 3-Swanson-1343, 4-Spencer-1171, 5-A. Williams-1019, 6-C. Williams-925, 7-L. Williams-831, 8-Adams-776, 9-Gansen-743, 10-Thomas-686.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 11 - Perris Auto Speedway - Perris, California - 22nd Budweiser "Oval Nationals" presented by All Coast Construction

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

STOCKON REELS OFF 2ND STRAIGHT WIN ON NIGHT 1 OF "OVAL NATIONALS"

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Perris, California....November 9, 2017 - It's almost a shame the racing season is nearing its end. After all, Chase Stockon's season feels like it's just beginning.

After waiting more than 15 months to get his ninth career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory last Saturday night at Arizona Speedway, the Fort Branch, Indiana driver had to wait just five more nights to get his 10th on night one of the Budweiser "Oval Nationals" presented by All Coast Construction at Perris Auto Speedway, tying him with Tony Stewart for 46th on the series' career win list.

Additionally, he's just the third driver in the history of the series to win his first two USAC National Sprint Car features of the season after the month of November, following in the steps of Damion Gardner in 2005 and Kevin Swindell in 2008.

Chase Stockon won his second consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature Thursday night at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway during night one of the 'Oval Nationals.' (Mike Grosswendt Photo)

Stockon has achieved success when the series has traveled west in prior years, but had not yet tamed Perris where he has a second-place finish to his credit during an "Ovals" prelim in 2013. That was the same era in which the team has based their recent set-ups on over the past month, and by all accounts, appears to be paying large dividends for Stockon and his 32 TBI Racing/Superior Tank & Trailer - Crescent Electric Supply/DRC/Fisher.

"We changed some stuff around in the shock package to get things a little more comfortable for me," Stockon reiterated from his interview following last week's 'Western World' victory. "On our own, with this setup and the rest of the racecar, we went back to four or five years ago and did kind of the same thing with the shock package. We've got something that works really well for us and it seems like we've been trying to hit that all year, but have struggled finding it. I'm trying to stay humble, but we go race-by-race and it can always change tomorrow."

With seemingly a new lease on life in racing terms, Stockon secured the lead at the drop of the green from his outside front row starting position and was quickly able to split to a near half-straight lead while C.J. Leary and Brody Roa worked the bottom to slip underneath pole sitter Danny Faria, Jr. on the ensuing two laps to snag second and third, respectively.

By the 11th lap, Stockon was Neil Diamondesque as he served as a solitary man, all by his lonesome, at the front of the field possessing a 1.7 second advantage. However, Josh Hodges engine began to billow with smoke as he slowed in turn two to bring out the yellow flag, bringing an end to his night and his "Oval Nationals" weekend in one fell swoop.

With the lead now erased, Stockon blasted from the launching pad and quickly constructed a sizable advantage over Leary and Roa yet again. However, soon after the halfway mark, that deficit began to shrink and the tension started to grow as Leary was close enough to duck a nose underneath Stockon in a bid for the lead on lap 19.

One lap later, Leary used a picture-perfect run on the high side of turns three and four to glide around Stockon for the race lead. Undeterred, Stockon fought his way back into the frame to rip the spot away from Leary with a turn three slider on lap 21.

'We changed some stuff around in the shock package to get things a little more comfortable for me. On our own, with this setup and the rest of the racecar, we went back to four or five years ago and did kind of the same thing with the shock package. We've got something that works really well for us and it seems like we've been trying to hit that all year, but have struggled finding it. I'm trying to stay humble, but we go race-by-race and it can always change tomorrow.' - Chase Stockon -
(Rich Forman Photo)

Stockon's trusted line of high in turns one and two and on the bottom of three and four became a rug tugged away from him as he entered lapped traffic with Leary in tow throughout the final two-thirds of the 30-lapper. With track conditions everchanging, no piece of real estate was off-limits as the pair searched high, low and middle.

"It was kind of a tough race for me," Stockon explained. "I could feel myself slowing down in (turns) three and four as the bottom started to wear out. With C.J. behind me, I knew he was going to be charging the top. With lapped cars up there, I started moving around down in three and four. I was still able to get above a few of them before they came out to the wall on the front stretch. For the longest time, I thought the lapped cars were helping me out a little bit in that aspect. Then I kept seeing C.J.'s nose. For the whole race, he kept pressuring me and pressuring me, making me drive a little harder."

With three laps remaining, Leary raised the stakes and made his bid for the lead, entering turn one low as Stockon rode high. The two drag-raced side-by-side down the back straight as they followed the lapped car of Austin Liggett into turn three. Stockon lunged ahead entering the third turn while Leary followed him on the cushion. As the two came off four, Leary appeared poised to set up a turn one slider on Stockon. Instead, the caution was displayed for the former CFL quarterback and current Southwest Sprint Car regular Dennis Gile, who slowed to a stop in turn two and bringing an end to his USAC National and CRA Sprint Car debut.

"There at the end, at the point of the race I thought lapped traffic was helping me, from what the guys tell me, it was actually kind of hurting me," Stockon revealed. "I think that caution kind of saved us there at the end. It gave us one last chance to have a clean track for three laps and just run it as hard as we could to the finish."

And that's exactly what Stockon did as he took advantage of the traffic-less expressway that lie ahead of him and never allowed Leary another chance to retaliate, racing to a one-second victory over Leary, Roa, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Tyler Courtney.

"C.J. and I have always raced hard and clean against each other," Stockon said. "I know there's respect between the two of us. He wants to win just as badly as I do. On that restart, I knew I had to get off four really well and get into one without making a mistake. I feel like I did that and stretched it out on him."

C.J. Leary posted a fine second-place performance in his Leary Racing/Leary Construction - Highsmith Guns/DRC/1-Way Chevy. The 2014 360-Sprint Car "Oval Nationals" champion out of Greenfield, Indiana felt that, without that last caution, this night could've belonged to him.

"It's tough to come up short there at the end," Leary lamented. "I think that if it would've stayed green, I would've had a better shot to win. Chase was pretty good and we set a really fast pace the entire time. At one point, I finally went to the top in three and four and I got by. I just don't know how he got back by us."

Garden Grove, California's Brody Roa was the top of the CRA contingent with a career-best USAC National Sprint finish of third in his BR Performance/HD Industries - Burris Racing/Maxim/Shaver Chevy.

"A year and a half ago, I would've been laughing if you told me I was going to be on the podium on any night of the 'Oval Nationals.' I think we're really getting our stuff together and my confidence is up. Everyone on the team is clicking right now and making good decisions."

Chris Windom hustled his way from 15th to seventh to earn KSE Racing Products/Saldana Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger of the Race honors. But, the seventh-place finish was even more personally rewarding as he extended his lead from three to nine over ninth-place finisher Justin Grant with just two races remaining, Friday and Saturday at Perris, until the championship is settled.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Arizona Speedway included Kevin Thomas, Jr. (ProSource/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier), Chad Boespflug (Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers 1st Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Competition Suspension, Inc./Brown & Miller Racing Solutions 2nd Heat Winner and KSE Racing Products/Saldana Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger), R.J. Johnson (Chalk Stix/Circle Track Performance 3rd Heat Winner), Logan Williams (Indy Race Parts/Keizer Aluminum Wheels 4th Heat Winner), Austin Liggett (Pyrotect Racing Cells 5th Heat Winner) and Jake Swanson (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 9, 2017 - Perris Auto Speedway - Perris, California - 22nd Budweiser "Oval Nationals" presented by All Coast Construction

PROSOURCE/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-16.303; 2. Damion Gardner, 4, Alexander-16.312; 3. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-16.428; 4. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-16.573; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.576; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.633; 7. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-16.659; 8. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-16.673; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.679; 10. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-16.696; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.715; 12. Danny Faria, Jr., 17GP, Dutcher-16.718; 13. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-16.741; 14. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-16.744; 15. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-16.758; 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-16.774; 17. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.780; 18. Mike Spencer, 4s, Gansen-16.822; 19. Dave Darland, 73, Ford-16.847; 20. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-16.909; 21. Michael Pickens, 81, Watt-16.973; 22. Max Adams, 5, Adams-16.999; 23. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.044; 24. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-17.047; 25. Austin Liggett, 56, Phulps-17.047; 26. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-17.066; 27. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-17.100; 28. Kyle Edwards, 39E, Edwards-17.150; 29. Logan Williams, 5J, Jory-17.169; 30. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-17.202; 31. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-17.226; 32. Verne Sweeney, 98v, Tracy-17.256; 33. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-17.304; 34. Stevie Sussex, 42, Cheney-17.355; 35. Trent Williams, 52v, Williams-17.387; 36. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-17.478; 37. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.499; 38. Jeremy Ellertson, 98, Ellertson-17.550; 39. Ronnie Gardner, 7K, Kruseman-17.551; 40. Randy Waitman, 90, Waitman-17.632; 41. Carson Macedo, 73T, Ford-18.261; 42. Gary Marshall, Jr., 72, Marshall-18.446; 43. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Boespflug, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Stockon, 4. Thomas, 5. Gansen, 6. Pickens, 7. Martin, 8. Meseraull, 9. Macedo. 2:55.22

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI)/BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Adams, 3. Faria, 4. Malcolm, 5. R. Vander Weerd, 6. Sweeney, 7. Marshall, 8. D. Gardner. NT

CHALK STIX/CIRCLE TRACK PERFORMANCE THIRD HEAT (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Johnson, 2. Spencer, 3. Chapple, 4. Hodges, 5. Grant, 6. J. Vander Weerd, 7. Ellertson, 8. Edwards. 2:53.36

INDY RACE PARTS/KEIZER ALUMINUM WHEELS: FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. L. Williams, 2. C. Williams, 3. Courtney, 4. Roa, 5. Darland, 6. Ballou, 7. Sussex, 8. R. Gardner. 2:51.74

PYTROTECT RACING CELLS FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Liggett, 2. Swanson, 3. Leary, 4. Gile, 5. Bacon, 6. T. Williams, 7. A. Williams, 8. Waitman. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Ballou, 3. R. Vander Weerd, 4. Meseraull, 5. D. Gardner, 6. A. Williams, 7. Bacon, 8. Darland, 9. Pickens, 10. Martin, 11. T. Williams, 12. J. Vander Weerd, 13. Edwards, 14. Sussex,
15. Macedo, 16. Ellertson, 17. Bender, 18. R. Gardner, 19. Sweeney, 20. Gansen, 21. Waitman, 22. Marshall. 3:26.55

BILL PRATT FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chase Stockon (2), 2. C.J. Leary (4), 3. Brody Roa (5), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 5. Tyler Courtney (12), 6. Robert Ballou (10), 7. Chris Windom (15), 8. Damion Gardner (26), 9. Justin Grant (7), 10. Thomas Meseraull (8), 11. R.J. Johnson (11), 12. Richard Vander Weerd (9), 13. Jake Swanson (13), 14. Mike Spencer (16), 15. Brady Bacon (25), 16. Danny Faria, Jr. (1), 17. Chad Boespflug (21), 18. Hunter Schuerenberg (14), 19. Cody Williams (19), 20. Austin Liggett (20), 21. Isaac Chapple (18), 22. Tommy Malcolm (22), 23. Logan Williams (23), 24. Max Adams (17), 25. Dennis Gile (24), 26. Austin Williams (27), 27. Josh Hodges (3). NT
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**McCarthy flipped during qualifying.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Stockon, Lap 20 Leary, Laps 21-30 Stockon.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS/ROD END SUPPLY HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (15th to 7th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jake Swanson

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Windom-2156, 2-Grant-2147, 3-Thomas-2083; 4-Courtney-2058, 5-Stockon-1951, 6-Boespflug-1880, 7-Leary-1789; 8-Bacon & Ballou-1696, 10-Darland-1457.

NEW USAC AMSOIL CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-D. Gardner-1459, 2-Roa-1345, 3-Swanson-1298, 4-Spencer-1123, 5-A. Williams-983, 6-C. Williams-902, 7-L. Williams-800, 8-Gansen-733, 9-Adams-732, 10-McCarthy-628.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 10-11 - Perris Auto Speedway - Perris, California - 22nd Budweiser "Oval Nationals" presented by All Coast Construction

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

THOMAS TAMES TERRE HAUTE IN "HULMAN/SMITH CLASSIC"

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

MESERAULL COWBOYS UP FOR WILD "WESTERN WORLD" NIGHT 1 WIN

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

San Tan Valley, Arizona....November 3, 2017 - Thomas Meseraull has proven time and time again that, regardless of the situation he's faced with, he figures out the way to get to victory lane.

Winning for a team he's never driven for? Check. Taking an admitted "fourth-place car" to first in the final laps? Check. Having your initial instinct take a detour, yet still managing to find the quickest way around? Checkmate.

On night one of the 50th Annual Torco Racing Fuels "Western World Championships" at Arizona Speedway, chaos created opportunity for Meseraull. A wild sequence of events put forth in motion an unlikely scenario that pitted a driver who, as of a week and a half ago, was without a ride and had no plans on racing in the "Western World" versus a driver who flipped his car on the tenth lap of the feature.

Thomas Meseraull celebrates his 'Western World' Night 1 victory
Friday at Arizona Speedway.(Rich Forman Photo)

After five consecutive laps of Bacon snuggling the bottom line and Meseraull rim-riding the top shelf, Meseraull prevailed on the final lap to win his third USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature of the year. For his third different team.

"I got a call a week and a half ago," Meseraull recalled from the Reinbold/Underwood team. "I told them I'd love to come out, but I don't have the funds. Last year, I kind of broke myself to come out here and do the points deal. They helped me out and Mike White with Beaver Stripes helped me get a plane ticket, gave me a place to stay and here we are."

"They have a brand-new Spike with brand new shocks on it, brand new tires and a fresh motor," Meseraull detailed. "We have good equipment. You just have to do your best. It's what I do, jump around to different rides. They were nice enough to let me set it up. I think I'm more excited about that. I put together a combination of what we've been doing this year with Kevin Briscoe, Donnie Gentry and Michael Dutcher and it's just really paid off."

For two-thirds of the 30-lap feature, the race appeared to be owned by Courtney, who ripped around the outside of Thomas coming off turn four on the second circuit to grab the lead. Courtney instantly opened a gap over Thomas of 1.5 seconds before being encumbered by the tail end of lap traffic on the eighth trip around the one-third-mile.

Thomas was able to poke a nose under Courtney at the flag stand on lap nine and appeared poised to set up a turn one slider for the lead, but traffic stood in the way, thus negating any notion he may have had for the time being. An instant later, Courtney biked on the top, but maintained control and carried on without issue.

Just behind, seventh-running Brady Bacon ran into trouble in nearly the same spot that Courtney biked.

"I slid up, got above the cushion, got up on the right front and I can't really tell you what happened after that," Bacon explained. "I was waiting for a big hit, but it never really came. We bent a couple things (on the car) here and there, but nothing major. We pulled it into the infield and changed the left rear radius rod. We checked everything else over and pushed back off. It might've actually helped me because I had to commit to the bottom. That was the only way I was going to get up through there."

Seemingly, the incidents fell in Courtney's favor as he saw his lead dwindle when meeting up with lapped traffic on lap 17 when Isaac Chapple sailed over the turn two guardrail without getting upside, landing on his wheels in the area between the backside of the barrier and the billboards. On lap 23, Courtney caught another break when Chet Williams barrel-rolled hard through turn one in an accident that also involved C.J. Leary. All involved were okay.

On the ensuing restart, barring another caution, Thomas encountered what may have been his last chance at to make a run at Courtney for the lead. As Thomas slid to the inside of Courtney, the battleground for track position was not fit for two occupants.

Exiting the second turn, the two made contact, but both got back up to speed to remain in the tussle. Courtney, now trailing slightly, attempted to slide Thomas right back between turns three and four. The two banged wheels again. Thomas would get the worst end of the equation initially when he kissed the rail with his right-side tires before getting back on track, though now mired all the way back in ninth.

While chaos ensued between positions one through six, Bacon tip-toed on the bottom from seventh to the lead and built up a half-straightaway lead before 2017 USAC West Coast Sprint Car champ Jake Swanson spun at the exit of turn four with five laps remaining to bring out the final yellow of the evening.

Though Meseraull was sitting in third, he had a pair of war-wounded racecars running first and second just ahead of him with Bacon's car suffering from a bent Jacob's ladder and a cracked brake fitting while Courtney's mount had a left front tire giving out on him.

'I was killing the curb, but it was on the fence, sketchy, and I was so close to wearing it out. I thought, 'just move down a little bit, drive the thing straight and don't spin the tires.' I did that and it was like, boom, rubber. I drove by Bacon on last lap. It just all fell together at the right time. It was an awesome race. USAC always puts on a good show, the best in the country, best in the world!' - Thomas Meseraull - (Rich Forman Photo)

When it was time for the San Jose, California native to strike, Meseraull altered his plan of attack on the fly, putting him in the spot that fits him to a T.

"I just kept pounding down the top like I do because I live or die by the top," Meseraull put it matter of factly. "On the final restart, I was thinking I was going to bomb a slider on Sunshine (Courtney), but he moved to the bottom and Bacon moved to the bottom. All of a sudden, it was like the seas parted and I had the top all to myself."

From that point forward, it was a tale of a two strategies with Bacon on the bottom and Meseraull topside. Meseraull managed to nose ahead on lap 27, but on laps 28 and 29, Bacon found a surge off the bottom to propel himself to satisfaction by a single car-length at the line.

Though Meseraull still trailed Bacon, albeit by a miniscule margin, he found something that turned out to be a path paved to victory.

"With two to go, I kind of felt some rubber. It was looking dark," Meseraull noticed. "I was killing the curb, but it was on the fence, sketchy, and I was so close to wearing it out. I thought, 'just move down a little bit, drive the thing straight and don't spin the tires.' I did that and it was like, boom, rubber. I drove by Bacon on last lap. It just all fell together at the right time. It was an awesome race. USAC always puts on a good show, the best in the country, best in the world!"

Meseraull emerged with the lead coming off turn two on the final trip around the oval and, though, Bacon made one last ditch effort at Meseraull off four, it was to no avail as Meseraull secured the win by 0.334 seconds over Bacon, Robert Ballou, new series point leader Chris Windom and Courtney rounding out the top-five.

Meseraull's Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical - Beaver Stripes/Spike/Wesmar ride is the sixth different car he's raced to a top-five finish this season alone in USAC competition. It's also the second time he's won a USAC race in his debut in a ride this year following his "Indiana Sprint Week" win at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway in July. His other win this season came in his second race aboard the Heffner Racing ride at Lincoln Speedway in Pennsylvania during "Eastern Storm."

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Brady Bacon nearly pulled off an improbable victory that would've resulted in one of the most unique box score stats ever recorded by returning to win after flipping during the very same feature. However, it was not to be as the two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ completed an overall successful night when it comes right down to it, finishing second in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar after earlier capturing the victory in the USAC Southwest Sprint Car feature.

"The thing that hurt us the most tonight was that we must've cracked a brake fitting or something," Bacon detailed. "In the last two or three laps, I ran out of brake fluid because it was leaking just a little bit. I still had brakes up until then. I still had a little bit, but I couldn't cut the bottom like I was able to up until that point. It was just a combination of things at the end. I knew it was going to be hard to hold off somebody with a clear track on the top, then it took rubber, which I was afraid of."

Robert Ballou's first ever visit to Arizona Speedway was a roller coaster ride. After qualifying 20th and starting 18th in the feature, the Rocklin, California native overcame all obstacles to race to third, thus earning KSE Racing Products, Saldana Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors for the night.

"I want to thank track owner Jonah (Trussel) for reworking the track and making it so that the fans got their money's worth because I definitely believe they got their money's worth tonight," Ballou praised. "When you start as far back as I did, you just got to try something. We were so off when we started at the beginning of the night. I thought we had something figured out last night (in practice). We've been pretty good when the track's wet. We started that way and it was way off, so we tried to fix and didn't fix it. So, we just threw a Hail Mary set up at it for the feature. It was either going to be really good or really bad."

Contingency award winners Friday night at Arizona Speedway included Damion Gardner (ProSource/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers 1st Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc./Brown & Miller Racing Solutions 2nd Heat Winner), Isaac Chapple (Chalk Stix/Circle Track Performance 3rd Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Indy Race Parts/Keizer Aluminum Wheels 4th Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products/Saldana Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger) and Josh Hodges (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 3, 2017 - Arizona Speedway - San Tan Valley, Arizona - 50th Torco Racing Fuels "Western World Championships"

PROSOURCE/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Damion Gardner, 4, Alexander-14.892; 2. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-14.998; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.034; 4. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-15.230; 5. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.338; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.373; 7. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-15.405; 8. Charles Davis, Jr., 50, Massey-15.493; 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-15.515; 10. Landon Cling, 34, Cling-15.521; 11. Stevie Sussex, 42, Cheney-15.523; 12. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-15.640; 13. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-15.646; 14. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-15.655; 15. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-15.723; 16. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-15.788; 17. Danny Faria, Jr., 17GP, Dutcher-15.836; 18. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-15.855; 19. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-15.885; 20. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.917; 21. Dave Darland, 73, Ford-16.021; 22. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-16.036; 23. Mike Spencer, 4s, Gansen-16.064; 24. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-16.074; 25. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-16.148; 26. Chet Williams, 38, Williams-16.294; 27. Logan Williams, 5J, Jory-16.295; 28. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-16.295; 29. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-16.449; 30. Jeremy Ellertson, 98, Ellertson-16.521; 31. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Roa, 3. Gardner, 4. Darland, 5. Stockon, 6. Co. Williams, 7. Faria, 8. Gansen. 2:12.28

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI)/BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Windom, 3. Meseraull, 4. Ch. Williams, 5. Schuerenberg, 6. Cling, 7. Martin, 8. Ellertson. 2:12.13

CHALK STIX/CIRCLE TRACK PERFORMANCE THIRD HEAT (8 laps) 1. Chapple, 2. Grant, 3. Johnson, 4. Sussex, 5. Leary, 6. L. Williams, 7. Spencer, 8. Hodges. 2:17.10

INDY RACE PARTS/KEIZER ALUMINUM WHEELS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Courtney, 3. Boespflug, 4. A. Williams, 5. Davis, 6. Swanson, 7. McCarthy. 2:16.97

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Stockon, 3. Davis, 4. Swanson, 5. Hodges, 6. Cling, 7. Spencer, 8. Co. Williams, 9. McCarthy, 10. L. Williams, 11. Martin, 12. Gansen, 13. Ellertson, 14. Faria, 15. Schuerenberg. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 7. Damion Gardner, 8. Chase Stockon, 9. R.J. Johnson, 10. Stevie Sussex, 11. Chad Boespflug, 12. Brody Roa, 13. Josh Hodges, 14. Mike Spencer, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Charles Davis, Jr., 17. Jake Swanson, 18. Austin Williams, 19. Justin Grant, 20. Chris Gansen, 21. C.J. Leary, 22. Chet Williams, 23. Isaac Chapple, 24. Landon Cling. NT
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**Bacon flipped on lap 10 of the feature. Ch. Williams flips on lap 23 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Thomas, Laps 2-22 Courtney, Laps 23-26 Bacon, Lap 27 Meseraull, Laps 28-29 Bacon, Lap 30 Meseraull.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS/ROD END SUPPLY HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (18th to 3rd)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Josh Hodges

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Windom-2045, 2-Grant-2038, 3-Thomas-1954; 4-Courtney-1930, 5-Stockon-1795, 6-Boespflug-1782, 7-Leary-1704; 8-Bacon-1619, 9-Ballou-1573, 10-Darland-1410.

NEW USAC AMSOIL CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Gardner-1358, 2-Swanson-1223, 3-Roa-1213, 4-Spencer-1050, 5-A. Williams-931, 6-Co. Williams-839, 7-L. Williams-745, 8-Max Adams-702, 9-Gansen-700, 10-McCarthy-608.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 4 - Arizona Speedway - San Tan Valley, Arizona - 50th Torco Racing Fuels "Western World Championships"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

THOMAS TAMES TERRE HAUTE IN "HULMAN/SMITH CLASSIC"

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Terre Haute, Indiana.........It was just a month ago when Kevin Thomas, Jr. saw hopes of a Terre Haute Action Track victory dashed in the final laps as he ran out of fuel while leading on a late race restart.

On the final restart of Saturday night's "Tony Hulman/Don Smith Classic," Thomas was fueled by determination and a sense of redemption as he slid his way past Dave Darland with five laps remaining, then ran down leader Chase Stockon with three to go to win his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at the Action Track in four seasons.

Kevin Thomas, Jr. won Saturday night's 'Tony Hulman/Don Smith Classic'
at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. (Gene Crucean Photo)

With his third victory in the last five events, Thomas became the third member of the five-win club with the series in 2017 alongside Tyler Courtney and C.J. Leary. But, on Saturday night, the Cullman, Alabama driver added a victory in one of the premier events on the schedule, as well as the traditional rifle awarded in victory lane, in his KT Motorsports/Jeff's Jam-It-In Storage - Abreu Vineyards/DRC/Speedway Chevy.

"Winning the 'Hulman' is such a great honor," a proud Thomas exclaimed. "Not many people have one of those rifles. To be able to have one of those sitting up in your living room is pretty amazing. This is such a legendary track. It's tough to get around and tough to tame."

Thomas became just the third driver to win both the "Tony Hulman Classic" and "Don Smith Classic" in his career. Yet, it would take all he could muster to accomplish the feat as Stockon held the command up front for much of the 30-lap event. Stockon's most recent series victory came at the Action Track 15 months earlier and the series' current consecutive starts leader with 215 was playing the lead role to perfection.

With Thomas bearing down in second as the laps dwindled to less than ten remaining, Stockon had to be on the attack as he guided his way through lapped traffic with slider after slider to create separation between he and Thomas. However, Thomas answered every move of Stockon's on Terre Haute's half-mile chessboard with a slew of successful sliders of his own to stay within shouting distance of Stockon, but, to that point, had not yet erased any of the deficit.

"I was right behind him and couldn't catch him," Thomas admitted. "When I was sliding lapped cars, I realized I really wasn't losing that much ground to Chase. I figured the only way I was going to be able to pass those guys is by just throwing dive bombs. At the end of the race, that's what you got to do. I'm sitting third in points and don't have much to lose. It's either try to run those guys down or crash trying to do it. The only way you're going to gain points is if you win."

Kevin Thomas, Jr. celebrates with the traditional rifle awarded to the winner of the 'Tony Hulman/Don Smith Classic' at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. (David Nearpass Photo)

Meanwhile, ProSource Fast Qualifier and heat race winner Darland was hauling in third and closing rapidly on both Stockon and Thomas. It was now a three-car race with just seven laps remaining and Thomas felt the time was now to throw a haymaker at Stockon for the race lead with a slide job entering turn three. Thomas momentarily grabbed the lead until hitting the turn four cushion where he got bogged down and dropped to a distant third while Darland capitalized by moving to second with an inside pass on Thomas exiting the fourth corner.

"Once you get to the center of the corner, and you get two car lengths away from the cushion, you have to whoa yourself down quite a bit," Thomas said. "The first time, I didn't do that. I trusted the cushion a little too much, blasted off in there and got four wheels above it. It got kind of mushy up there and I couldn't get back going. You had to be patient with it, but also very aggressive. It's just a matter of timing, honestly. You get lucky a few times, then you figure it out and you just keep doing whatever you did that got you there. I just stuck to that game plan."

While Thomas stuck to his plan, it appeared that Darland might be destined for his first series victory of the season as he clamped down on Stockon for the lead. Just as the stage was set for that duel to play out in front of the large throng of race fans with a mere five laps to go, Dylan Shaw, who was making his first career USAC start, climbed the wall between turns three and four before flipping over. He walked away uninjured.

During the red, thoughts run through each driver's mind as they hatch their plan to get around the car in front of them. Thomas had two dominoes that needed to fall for him to reach his goal, but first, he had to devise a plan to take on the series' all-time master, Dave Darland.

"Under the red, I'm just thinking to myself how to get by Dave because I know he has such a good awareness of where other cars are and he's also pretty aggressive," Thomas explained. "I didn't know if he was going to slide the guy in front of me or not. I was just sitting there thinking on how to manipulate what he was going to do."

"If they restart off the bottom and their car hangs just the slightest bit to the right, you can run down to the bottom on the straightaway and get a good run on the entry of the corner," Thomas continued. "The sketchy part tonight was that there was a hole right on entry. If you didn't have your angle right, you'd hit that hole and bounce. It's so far around here, the shortest distance is to the middle of the corner. It's just what I had to do and it ended up working out."

On the lap 26 restart, Darland chose to ride the high line, opening up the bottom for Thomas who slid past Darland for second right away and then set his sights on Stockon for the race lead. It only took one lap for Thomas to fire his next shot at Stockon entering turn one, but he wasn't close enough quite yet.

Lap 28 would be the charm, however, though not initially. Thomas' first attempt in turn one worked momentarily, but Stockon was able to counter back underneath off turn two and recapture the point. Thomas reloaded the chamber and immediately went right back to work on Stockon entering turn three, making amends for his similar move on lap 24 by making this one stick. Thomas instantly stretched out the advantage while Windom also was able to get around Stockon as well to secure second on the 29th lap.
Thomas locked it up and threw away the key at the end, capturing the victory by eight-tenths of a second over Windom, Stockon, KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Brady Bacon (from 13th) and Darland.

With the win by Thomas, Windom's three-race winning streak at Terre Haute came to a close. The Canton, Illinois driver had won all three USAC National events at the Action Track since October of 2016 and had the opportunity coming in to become the first driver ever to sweep every USAC National event held at Terre Haute in a single season, but had to take home a solid second in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.

"The first half of the race, I was really trying to be consistent and trying to save my tires," Windom detailed. "With the line we were running, I knew the top will wear down the right rear tire. We probably didn't have four or five more laps in ours. Late race restarts here are key, though. If you know what to do, you can make stuff happen. Unfortunately, KT was in front of me there and was doing the same thing I was and that made it hard to get by him."

The big picture scenario for Windom shows that he closed his 45-point deficit to just 29 points behind Justin Grant heading into the final five-race stretch at Arizona Speedway Nov. 3-4 and Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway Nov. 9-11. Windom has won at both venues before in his career, including a sweep of both nights last season at Arizona.

"We closed the gap on the points, but it's definitely something I try not to think a lot about," Windom admits. "But, definitely, this late in the year, it's what's on your mind every time you're on the racetrack."

Fort Branch, Indiana's Chase Stockon owns two career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victories at Terre Haute and number three looked like a good bet for the first 27 laps of the feature as he paced the field throughout the duration, but, in the end, placed third in his 32 TBI Racing/Superior Tank & Trailer - Crescent Electric Supply/DRC/Fisher.

"I knew we were going to have to get out front and I committed to run the top the whole race because, anytime you win here, it's going to be on the top," Stockon explained. "We were able to pull away through the middle of the race, but I don't if under that red flag, our tire pressure just went down too much or what the deal was. We couldn't really get going after that restart. We won the 'Don Smith Classic' and the 'Jim Hurtubise Classic,' but it's very, very disappointing after leading 27 of the 30 laps to not hang that (Hulman Classic) rifle on the wall."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at the Terre Haute Action Track included Dave Darland (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Kyle Robbins (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner) and Stevie Sussex (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 14, 2017 - Terre Haute, Indiana - Terre Haute Action Track - 47th "Tony Hulman/Don Smith Classic'

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Dave Darland, 39G, Goodnight-19.895 2. Kevin Thomas, 9k, KT-19.985; 3. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-20.122; 4. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-20.187; 5. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-20.348; 6. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-20.390; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.405; 8. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-20.464; 9. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.467; 10. Shane Cottle, 17GP, Dutcher-20.478; 11. Kyle Cummins, 3c, Cummins-20.489; 12. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-20.511; 13. Joe Bares, 19, Test-20.551; 14. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Haywrd-20.595; 16. Jerry Coons Jr. 21K, Krockenberger-20.653; 16. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-20.660; 17. Scotty Weir, 17G, On the Gass-20.712; 18. Joss Moffatt, 5J, Moffatt-20.835; 19. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-20.912; 20. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-21.030; 21. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-21.055; 22. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-21.116; 23. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-21.121; 24. Chet Williams, 38, Williams-21.415; 25. Stevie Sussex, 21x, Pollock-21.439; 26. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-21.454; 27. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-21.744; 28. Tony McVey, 7M, McVey-21.972; 29. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-22.359; 30. Dylan Shaw, 12k, Meneely-NT; 31. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Leary, 3. Stockon, 4. Weir, 5. Maddox, 6. Bares, 7. Sussex, 8. Budde. 2:44.66

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Thomas, 3. Andretti, 4. Cottle, 5. Gentry, 6. Moffatt, 7. McMillin. 2:44.29

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT (8 laps) 1. Robbins, 2. Ballou, 3. Cummins, 4, Grant, 5. Chapple, 6. Coons, 7. Rogers. 2:48.01

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Windom, 3. Hodges, 4. Boespflug, 5. Hewitt, 6. Williams, 7. McVey. 2:48.72

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bares, 2. Moffatt, 3. Coons, 4. Sussex, 5. Mattox, 6. Shaw, 7. Chapple, 8. McMillin, 9. Hewitt, 10. Budde, 11. McVey, 12. Rogers, 13. Williams, 14. Gentry. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chris Windom, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Justin Grant, 8. C.J. Leary, 9. Kyle Cummins, 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Chad Boespflug, 13. Stevie Sussex, 14. Josh Hodges, 15. Scotty Weir, 16. Kyle Robbins, 17. Joe Bares, 18. Brandon Mattox, 19. Joss Moffatt, 20. Dylan Shaw, 21. Shane Cottle, 22, Robert Ballou. NT
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**Williams flipped during the semi. Shaw flipped on lap 26 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1-27 Stockon, Laps 28-30 Thomas.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (13th to 4th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Stevie Sussex

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-2006, 2-Windom-1977, 3-Thomas-1891; 4-Courtney-1862, 5-Stockon-1741, 6-Boespflug-1735, 7-Leary-1673; 8-Bacon-1539, 9-Ballou-1501, 10-Darland-1372.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 3-4 - San Tan Valley, AZ - Arizona Speedway - 50th Annual "Western World Championships"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

THOMAS FINDS REDEMPTION AND $10K WITH "FALL NATIONALS" WIN AT THE BURG

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Lawrenceburg, Indiana.........Kevin Thomas, Jr. made all the right moves in Saturday night's Lawrenceburg Speedway "Fall Nationals," becoming $10,000 richer with a flawless drive for his fourth USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car points win of the season.

It was certainly a reversal of roles and fortunes for Thomas from the night before at Montpelier (Ind.) Motor Speedway when he pulled no punches in his post-race interview lamenting how he cost himself the race on the final lap due to his decision making.

Kevin Thomas, Jr. won $10,000 with Saturday night's 'Fall Nationals' victory
at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway.(Dallas Breeze Photo)

"Tonight, where there's a fine line, you have to know the racetrack you're racing on," Thomas begins. "Last night I did a poor job of that. Tonight, we knew we were catching lapped cars and we knew we had to put some distance between us and whoever was back there. I knew it either had to be (Justin) Grant or (C.J.) Leary. They're always good. It's not about racing the person behind you. It's about racing the people in front of you. Last night, I was racing people behind me and I made a mistake on the last lap that cost us the race. I had to be a little smarter tonight, a little bit more aggressive to know what I was dealing with."

Thomas has been one of the most scorching-hot drivers in the series since late July, running in the top-five night-after-night over the past two months. Yet, the Cullman, Alabama native seemed to show an extra sense of determination and focus Saturday night, when he disposed of fellow second row starter Leary, then front row combatants Robert Ballou and Justin Grant in a rapid-fire succession of precision with an outside move off turn two that propelled him from fourth to first.

"There was quite a bit of moisture coming off four at the start," Thomas detailed. "I peeked out a little bit and got a good run. I thought they were both going to slide each other, then I was going to try to slide them. Instead, they both went bottom/middle and left the top open for me and I took advantage of it."

"Starting fourth, you got to go," Thomas continued. "With Robert (Ballou) starting on the front row alongside Grant and Leary starting inside of you, there's no time to waste. With the way the track was, track position was really everything, especially timing yourself when you get to lap cars and trying to put cars between you and second. You can't just sit there and be patient. There's certain races where you can, but this just wasn't one of them."

Thomas quickly opened up a six to seven car-length lead by lap two when the race saw its first caution of the night as Chad Boespflug came to a stop on the front straightaway with the right front corner absent from his ride following contact with another car. He would not restart.

On the ensuing restart, previous night's winner Leary threw himself into contention by elbowing his way into second past Ballou between turns one and two for the third spot, dropping Ballou to sixth. Yet, one lap later, Dave Darland made a daring move into turn one, threading the eye of the needle between both Chris Windom and Leary to move into the top-three.

Meanwhile, Thomas had extended his lead to a commanding half-straightaway advantage that he constructed during the first ten laps as he moved his line from the bottom to the top.

"I was a little worried that we were too good too early," Thomas explained. "This place can get really black and icy. I'm just glad it held together and everything was nice and balanced for me because, in the beginning, I was running middle to bottom in turns three and four. It finally slowed up enough and I had to jump up to the top. It was good down on the bottom and good up there on the big ol' curb. That's all you can really ask for in a racecar."

Darland, though, seemed destined to throw a wrench into Thomas' plans when he secured the second position with a lap nine, turn one slider on Justin Grant.

'Tonight, where there's a fine line, you have to know the racetrack you're racing on. Last night I did a poor job of that. Tonight, we knew we were catching lapped cars and we knew we had to put some distance between us and whoever was back there. I knew it either had to be (Justin) Grant or (C.J.) Leary. They're always good. It's not about racing the person behind you. It's about racing the people in front of you. Last night, I was racing people behind me and I made a mistake on the last lap that cost us the race. I had to be a little smarter tonight, a little bit more aggressive to know what I was dealing with.' - Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

Up ahead, a logjam of lapped traffic gridlocked all lanes of the highway for Thomas as Darland deleted the space between first and second to close right on the tail of Thomas just before midway. As Darland seemed poised to make his bid for the lead, suddenly, he began to slow to a crawling pace off turn two with a broken U-joint, relegating him to the sidelines.

Thereafter, Leary reentered contention, first sliding across the nose of Grant for second in turn one for the second spot, yet remained a half-straightaway behind Thomas who was as precise as an X-ACTO Knife at the front.

Once again, lapped traffic was on the horizon and Leary managed to whittle Thomas' lead down to just a two car-length separation entering turn three with a couple laps remaining. Thomas amended his previous night's foible by going on the attack, diving to the bottom of three by the lapped car of Joss Moffatt to create separation between he and Leary which would not be overcome as Thomas raced to a half-second victory over Leary, Grant, Ballou and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tyler Courtney from 16th.

Thomas took the race into his own hands down the stretch in his KT Motorsports/Jeff's Jam-It-In Storage - Abreu Vineyards/DRC/Speedway Chevy, making the right decisions at the right moments to win for the 16th time in his career to tie Damion Gardner for 31st all-time on USAC's National Sprint Car win list.

"There's always a little bit of urgency here," Thomas noted. "When the track's fast like that, those guys run the cushion just as good as I do or, like Dave (Darland), he's the best at it. Whenever you're running the cushion that hard, you know somebody's going to be chasing you. Restarts bunch everybody up and put them right back on your tail. Whenever you see lap cars, you try your best to split 'em, slide 'em and do whatever you got to do. We just made the right moves at the right time. That's the luxury of leading. Some places it's good to be in the lead, some places it's not. Tonight, it was good. Tonight, timing was everything."

Greenfield, Indiana's C.J. Leary came just short of repeating his September magic once again, coming one spot shy of becoming the first driver in the series this season to win three-in-a-row, ultimately finishing second in his Leary Racing/Leary Construction - Highsmith Guns/DRC/1-Way Chevy.

"I wish it was a 40-lapper tonight," Leary lamented. "But, man, we just needed more time, or a yellow, there at the end to try and have something for him. I reeled him in from a straightaway back. I thought we had the better car at the end. It's just unfortunate we didn't have a chance to race him at the end. KT just timed that pass better than I did and made it to where I didn't have a shot at him."

"We weren't really happy with our racecar most of the night," Leary admitted. "We got through qualifying fourth quick and I felt like that was the hardest part of the night, which gave us an opportunity to start up front. In these races, it's so hard to pass because everyone's so fast. Tonight, Lawrenceburg was hammer down up on the fence, which made it really tough. We'll just continue on to Terre Haute (Oct. 14) and, hopefully, we can continue this momentum."

It wasn't quite a win for Justin Grant, but considering the tumultuous night he endured Friday at Montpelier in which he got upside down, a third-place result was a sigh of relief for the Ione, California driver who wheeled the Sam McGhee Motorsports/ProGlide Bearings - Mike McGhee & Associates/Maxim/Foxco to a solid finish to bump up his series point lead to 45 with just six races remaining.

"In the past, when I was tight on the curb, if I turned over, I turned over trying to win," Grant explained. "Setting out to chase the points deal, you have in your mind that you can't do that anymore. If I'm a third-place guy, I'm a third-place guy. It doesn't mean I don't want to win or that I'm not trying my hardest to win, but I also know I can't turn the car over when I shouldn't. That definitely plays on your mind and that mindset has made me a better all-around racer. Maybe I could have used that mindset a couple years ago and I'd be a little ahead of where I am now! You think about it a little bit, but you're still out to win races. The guys in the points behind you are trying to catch you just as hard as you're trying to go forward. You can't afford to ride around and let them catch you. Every car you pass means more points and it pays more money the closer to the top you are."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway included Dave Darland (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Tyler Courtney (Simpson Race Products Heat 1 Winner), Chase Stockon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Heat 2 Winner), Isaac Chapple (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Heat 3 Winner), Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Joss Moffatt (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 30, 2017 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - "Fall Nationals"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Dave Darland, 39G, Goodnight-14.016; 2. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-14.098; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-14.160; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.185; 5. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-14.197; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.210; 7. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-14.211; 8. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-14.237; 9. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-14.283; 10. Shawn Westerfeld, 17GP, Dutcher-14.314; 11. Nick Bilbee, 17N, Bilbee-14.318; 12. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-14.345; 13. Joss Moffatt, 5J, Moffatt-14.355; 14. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-14.366; 15. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-14.387; 16. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-14.431; 17. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-14.515; 18. Garrett Abrams, 32A, Abrams-14.531; 19. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-14.689; 20. Jerry Coons, Jr., 21K, Krockenberger-14.692; 21. Tony McVey, 7m, McVey-14.863; 22. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-14.976; 23. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-NT; 24. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Moffatt, 3. Darland, 4. Hodges, 5. Leary, 6. Westerfeld, 7. Stanbrough, 8. Weir. 1:54.46

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Bilbee, 3. Grant, 4. Windom, 5. Hughes, 6. Gentry, 7. Coons, 8. Robbins. NT

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Chapple, 2. Boespflug, 3. Ballou, 4. Bacon, 5. Thomas, 6. McVey. 1:57.96

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Josh Hodges, 9. Jerry Coons, Jr., 10. Jon Stanbrough, 11. Nick Bilbee, 12. Scotty Weir, 13. Joss Moffatt, 14. Chase Stockon, 15. Kyle Robbins, 16. Isaac Chapple, 17. Garrett Abrams, 18. J.J. Hughes, 19. Tony McVey, 20. Dave Darland, 21. Aric Gentry, 22. Shawn Westerfeld, 23. Chad Boespflug. NT
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**Gentry flipped during practice.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1-30 Thomas.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (16th to 5th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Joss Moffatt

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-1945, 2-Windom-1900, 3-Thomas Jr.-1809; 4-Courtney-1799, 5-Boespflug-1691, 6-Stockon-1669, 7-Leary-1617, 8-Ballou-1471, 9-Bacon-1470, 10-Darland-1300.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 14 - Terre Haute Action Track - Terre Haute, Indiana - "Tony Hulman/Don Smith Classic"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

LEARY LUNGES FROM 3RD TO 1ST ON FINAL LAP TO SCORE IMPROBABLE MONTPELIER WIN

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Montpelier, Indiana.....September 29, 2017 - C.J. Leary was content to run third late in Friday's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Montpelier Motor Speedway. However, after a late-race red flag, Leary's newfound spirit saw him split between both Chris Windom and Kevin Thomas, Jr. on the back straightaway on the final lap to emerge with his second consecutive series victory and equaling a series-best with his fifth win of the year.

"We just fell in line and started riding at the beginning," Leary recalls. "I didn't really feel like we had that great of a racecar. We had some yellows and adjusted on the shocks a little bit. Once the track slicked up, we picked off a car, then another car. I was content with third, but then the red came out on the last lap. I thought we'd have a chance to win because I knew KT and Windom were going to go at it pretty hard."

Leary began the race from the third position, but would run in the fifth or sixth spot throughout the majority of the 30-lapper as Windom captured the early race lead from the outside of the front row. However, a pair of red flags in the first half would stifle the action on multiple occasions.

C.J. Leary came from 3rd to 1st on the final lap to win Friday night's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Indiana's Montpelier Motor Speedway. (Travis Branch Photo)

On lap seven, Cooper Clouse broadsided the stopped car of Jarett Andretti before tipping over on his side. One lap following the restart, a similar-looking incident occurred on the opposite end of the racetrack with a different set of players. Jon Stanbrough spun sideways between turns one and two as series point leader Justin Grant plowed into the left side of Stanbrough and flipped over. The incident proved damaging to Grant's championship hopes with his lead shrinking from 77 to 35 over Windom by night's end.

When racing resumed, Dave Darland was the man on the move in his first ride of the season in Gene Goodnight's No. 39G. After working and working on Windom for the position, Darland edged ahead on the outside to lead both laps 14 and 15. On the 16th lap, Windom held serve by sliding up off four in front of Darland to secure the lead.

Meanwhile, that brief side-by-side battle allowed Thomas to enter the fray and, by lap 19, he slid by Darland entering turn four, as Darland snagged the cushion, to secure second and immediately began to chase down Windom as lap traffic loomed.

After dodging a Kyle Robbins spin right in front of the leaders with three laps remaining, lap traffic would be cast to the background, although the surging Shane Cottle and C.J. Leary would soon be cast with lead roles on the quarter-mile stage.

Cottle, running fourth, applied pressure to Darland for third on the restart and, on lap 28, made a move to the inside of Darland for the position entering the bottom of turn three. With minimal room to spare, the two made slight contact, sending Cottle sliding sideways to a halt in the middle of turn three. With no place to go, Chad Boespflug made heavy contact with the sitting duck that was Cottle. Boespflug immediately ran over to check on Cottle following the crash, but both walked away from the scene albeit with a pair of battered racecars.

On the lap 28 restart, Windom stayed true on the bottom as Thomas worked the high side. Coming to the white flag, Windom slipped off the bottom between turns three and four, drifting to no man's land in the middle while Thomas used a monster run off four to snare the lead and appeared to lock it up and bury the key as he took over the low line from Windom heading into one.

"It's just one of those wait-and-be-patient deals," Thomas explained. "I knew I was faster through turns three and four. He didn't know the top was there. He'd been leading where he'd been running the entire race. I was trying to run the top in turns one and two and it was getting a little dusty. Then we started wearing the bottom out, but it was still just a little bit better. Once we had the caution with three to go, I decided to follow him into one and two. That's where I was losing ground and tried to get him in three and four."

Windom took one last shot at Thomas into three, but wasn't close enough to pull off a slider as Thomas headed for a surefire victory. However, with victory cradled in both arms coming off four, the red flag was displayed when Robbins got upside down in turn two. Clouse was also involved, but both were uninjured.

By rule, that set up a green-white-checker finish with a top-three running order of Thomas, Windom and Leary. Leary appeared to be the wild card of the bunch, yet just prior to the red, Leary hung right with the lead pack and it seemed as if one slip up by the front two could put him in just the right position at the right time.

"Our car got really good at the end," Leary explained. "My guys were watching Race-Monitor and said our times were getting faster and faster at the end while theirs stayed the same or slowed down a little bit."

Thomas led the green-white-checker finish by tip-toeing around the infield tires as he directed the field to the green flag. Thomas and Windom clung to the bottom while Leary was the lone bandit up top. Thomas held a four car-length advantage over Windom as the two raced off the second turn. Windom dove to the bottom of Thomas in three, successfully completing the slide job to lead lap 29 at the line by a single car-length.

Simultaneously, Leary had pulled even with Thomas on the outside in second at the flag stand. Windom missed the bottom in turn one, allowing Thomas to squeeze underneath to take the lead as Leary raced around the outside of Windom off turn two. Thomas drifted up to the top of the back straight in front of Leary as Windom surged back to pull side-by-side with Thomas just as Leary moved to the inside of Thomas.

Midway down the back straightaway, Windom, Leary and Thomas were three-wide for the lead. Emerging through the middle with the lead into three was the third-place car of Leary who dove to the bottom of turn three with a full head of steam before sliding back up to the top to score the improbable win as Windom slid past Thomas for second on the final corner. Darland and Robert Ballou rounded out the top-five.

Whether it was lap 1, 15 or 30, Leary admits that, provided the same opportunity, he would take advantage of the chance he saw to win Friday night. As he quipped, if you quit taking those chances when opportunity arises, you're no longer a racecar driver.

"Coming off turn two, KT came from the bottom all the way to the top," Leary remembered. "I turned it down and I didn't really know if I was going to be able to drag race by him back across the line, but he wasn't even there. When I slid myself, I just banged off the curb and was able to get off the corner really good. I was so worried about banging the cushion because it was so big off turn four."

It marked Leary's first win with this particular DRC/1-Way Chevy combination in his Leary Racing/Leary Construction - Highsmith Guns-sponsored No. 30. It was intended to be the team's primary car for 2017, but Leary admits that he just didn't feel all that fast with it after competing the first half of the season in it.

Winner C.J. Leary (middle) is joined on the podium with fellow top-three finishers Chris Windom (left, 2nd place finisher) and Kevin Thomas, Jr. (right, 3rd place finisher).(Ryan Sellers Photo)

Despite everything clicking right now for the team from top to bottom, the most power comes from the confidence beaming from the driver's seat, which Leary has an abundance of right now.

"My confidence is up for sure," Leary acknowledges. "We've got really fast race cars right now. You put us up front and it's going to be hard to beat us. This team's on a roll right now and I don't see much stopping us at this point."

Although victory eluded him after leading a race-high 27 laps, Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois made up an enormous amount of ground in the championship race with a second-place run in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar. Grant's misfortune was Windom's gain as more than half of his deficit was erased Friday night with now just seven races remaining.

Cullman, Alabama's Kevin Thomas, Jr. seemingly had the winner's check signed, sealed and delivered to him as he headed for victory on the final lap, but misfortune befell him once again after a magnificent late-race charge. However, the driver of the KT Motorsports/Jeff's Jam-It-In Storage - Abreu Vineyards/DRC/Speedway Chevy had to settle for third after leading with just half a lap to go.

"I didn't know if it was Leary or Darland behind me," Thomas admitted. "When I restarted behind Windom, I saw somebody up there. I figured it was Dave. I didn't know it was Leary. Once I got by Windom on the last lap, he missed the bottom a little bit and I got under him down there where the track was a little greasy. That got it a little tight, a little push-tight. I just let it float and kept my speed up. Obviously, that was the wrong move. I got slid by C.J. and tried to cross him under. I just didn't have enough grip to get by him on the cross under. I really don't like losing races, especially on the last lap. It (ticked) me off. I'll just go faster tomorrow."

Contingency award winners Friday night at Montpelier Motor Speedway included Dave Darland (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products Heat 1 Winner), Chad Boespflug (Competition Suspension, Inc. Heat 2 Winner), Justin Grant (Chalk Stix Heat 3 Winner), Colten Cottle (Indy Race Parts Heat 4 Winner & KSE Racing Products/The Lightle Family in Honor of Bryan Clauson Hard Charger Award) and Isaac Chapple (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 29, 2017 - Montpelier Motor Speedway - Montpelier, Indiana

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Dave Darland, 39G, Goodnight-13.585 (New Track Record); 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-13.615; 3. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.754; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.761; 5. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.804; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.823; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.832; 8. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.904; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.916; 10. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.931; 11. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.985; 12. Cooper Clouse, 14, Clouse-13.987; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 17GP, Dutcher-13.995; 14. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-14.052; 15. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-14.070; 16. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-14.076; 17. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-14.121; 18. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-14.179; 19. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-14.244; 20. Colten Cottle, 1RL, RL-14.283; 21. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-14.321; 22. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-14.339; 23. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, DPI-14.468; 24. Matt Westfall, 54. Westfall-14.488; 25. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-14.595; 26. Gage Etgen, 99, Etgen-14.612; 27. Dallas Hewitt, 18H, Keen-14.784; 28. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.854.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Darland, 3. Meseraull, 4. Robbins, 5. Spencer, 6. Underwood, 7. Chapple. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Thomas, 3. S. Cottle, 4. Windom, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Etgen, 7. Koontz. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Andretti, 3. Stockon, 4. Courtney, 5. Hodges, 6. Ingle, 7. D. Hewitt. 2:22.83 (New Track Record)

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. C. Cottle, 2. Weir, 3. Clouse, 4. Leary, 5. Westfall, 6. T. Hewitt, 7. Goodnight. 2:25.82

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Chapple, 2. Stanbrough, 3. T. Hewitt, 4. Hodges, 5. Koontz, 6. Westfall, 7. D. Hewitt, 8. Ingle, 9. Spencer, 10. Goodnight, 11. Underwood, 12. Etgen. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4. Dave Darland, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Josh Hodges, 9. Thomas Meseraull, 10. Colten Cottle, 11. Scotty Weir, 12. Tyler Hewitt, 13. Isaac Chapple, 14. Matt Westfall, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Kyle Robbins, 17. Cooper Clouse, 18. Shane Cottle, 19. Chad Boespflug, 20. Jon Stanbrough, 21. Justin Grant, 22. Michael Koontz. NT
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**Underwood flipped during the semi. Clouse flipped on lap 7 of the feature. Grant flipped on lap 9 of the feature. Robbins flipped on lap 30 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1-13 Windom, Laps 14-15 Darland, Laps 16-28 Windom, Lap 29 Thomas, Lap 30 Leary.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/THE LIGHTLE FAMILY IN HONOR OF BRYAN CLAUSON HARD CHARGER: Colten Cottle (20th to 10th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Isaac Chapple

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-1873, 2-Windom-1838, 3-Courtney-1733, 4-Thomas-1731; 5-Boespflug-1661, 6-Stockon-1626, 7-Leary-1543, 8-Brady Bacon-1410, 9-Ballou-1403, 10-Darland-1265.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 30 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - "Fall Nationals"