.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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

Tyler Courtney is ecstatic following his victory in Saturday's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Iowa's Knoxville Raceway. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Knoxville, Iowa.....June 9, 2018 - One year ago, Tyler Courtney rode out one of the wildest flips of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season when the series visited Knoxville Raceway.

Three-hundred-seventy-one days later, the next chapter of Courtney's Knoxville story played out like a fairy-tale as he swept each and every challenge he confronted: fast qualifying time. Check. Heat race win. Check. Winning the 30-lap main event. Check. Victory lane. Another check, but one he was able to hoist high over his head after collecting his series-leading fourth feature win of the year Saturday night on the famed half-mile.

However, Courtney acknowledges that what happened last year actually did weigh on his mind, but it became a factor he was able to turn into a motivator rather than an obstacle to overcome.

"Obviously, it's in the back of your mind every time you get up close to that cushion," Courtney admitted. "When it gets a little tight, you have flashbacks to last year, but you can't let it affect you too much. You've got a job to do and we did that tonight. I was able to redeem myself because I didn't put myself in as bad of a position as last year and it worked out. I think we definitely had a winning car last year, but I know we had a winning car tonight. I wanted to make sure it happened, and I did everything in my power to keep all four wheels on the ground."

Starting sixth in a stacked lineup, though, made things challenging for the Indianapolis, Indiana native as 2011 Knoxville USAC Sprint Car winner Brady Bacon checked out on the 24-car field from his pole starting position, quickly constructing a half-straightaway lead in the opening laps.

Meanwhile, Courtney was slicing through the field with the precision of a Ron Popeil Ginsu knife, splitting between Chase Stockon and Chad Boespflug in one swing entering the third turn on lap four to move from fifth to third.

Already meeting up with heavy lapped traffic in the first third of the race, the top-three ripped the top in synch as they separated themselves from the competition. Courtney attempted a big slider on Leary between turns one and two that didn't quite have enough mustard to achieve, sending Courtney a tad over the cushion, costing him ground as he wiped his brow and regathered himself and his Clauson Marshall Newman Racing/Priority Aviation - Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy.

'I've gotten to win at Terre Haute and Knoxville this year, which is something I thought I'd probably never do. Winning at Knoxville is not easy to do. To get to do this with the team I'm with, this family and this crew and to get to do the things were doing this year, it's pretty special. To do this in front of a big crowd like we had tonight is even cooler. This one goes up there with the 'Hulman' and the 'Smackdown.'' - Tyler Courtney

On the 18th lap, Courtney reloaded and tried the same maneuver again in turn one to no avail. Mired in traffic heading into turn three, Leary got stuck in the meat grinder of gridlock briefly, then pointed his ride to the bottom at the exit of four as he fought to hold off the hard-charging Courtney. Courtney then aimed for the bottom of turn one and slid up to the berm in front of Leary to snag the second position.

A lap later, Courtney hunted down Bacon, squared him up in turn one and slid by to take the lead, said 'sayonara' and immediately pulled away down the stretch for a 2.5-plus second victory over Leary, Bacon, Justin Grant and Brody Roa.

"I got myself in trouble last year by being impatient," Courtney recalled. "I knew this year that it's a longer race than you anticipate. I just rode, rode, rode a little bit behind those guys, got to lapped traffic and I knew I was going to have to do something drastically different than what they were doing because of how hard it was to pass. I was able to stick the bottom there in one and two and get by C.J., then slid up in front of Brady in one and two."

Courtney became the tenth different driver to win in ten appearances by the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars since the series' debut in 1968. It's an honor he doesn't take lightly and considers it one of the highlights of his burgeoning career resume.

"This is one of most historical tracks we go to," Courtney said. "I've gotten to win at Terre Haute and Knoxville this year, which is something I thought I'd probably never do. Winning at Knoxville is not easy to do. To get to do this with the team I'm with, this family and this crew and to get to do the things were doing this year, it's pretty special. To do this in front of a big crowd like we had tonight is even cooler. This one goes up there with the 'Hulman' and the 'Smackdown.'"

In the process, Courtney surpassed what had seemed like an untouchable record of sorts over the past five decades: Gary Bettenhausen's 30-lap USAC Sprint Car track record at Knoxville, which Courtney defeated in 10 minutes and 45 seconds, nearly 19 seconds faster than the mark set by the 1969 and 1971 series champ.

"That's pretty cool stat right there," Courtney exclaimed. "Gary was one of the greatest to ever do this. To be able to break that is pretty dang special. That might be as cool as winning the feature!"

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway included Tyler Courtney (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Saldana Racing Products Clean Sweep), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Dave Darland (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Josh Hodges (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Dave Darland (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).

-------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 9, 2018 - Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa - "Hy-Vee Night"

QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-18.948; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-18.961; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.976; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.028; 5. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-19.098; 6. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-19.100; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-19.129; 8. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-19.226; 9. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-19.280; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.381; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-19.384; 12. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-19.437; 13. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-19.487; 14. Brandon Stevenson, 0x, Stevenson-19.641; 15. Tom Harris, 5E, Harris-19.697; 16. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-19.719; 17. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.805; 18. Katlynn Leer, 77K, Leer-19.881; 19. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-19.908; 20. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Rumsey-20.080; 21. Glen Saville, 75, Saville-20.091; 22. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-20.943; 23. Frank Rodgers, 11, Rodgers-21.196; 24. Kelly Graham, 12G, Graham-21.572.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Leary, 3. Thomas, 4. Hodges, 5. Ballou, 6. Caho, 7. Bell, 8. Darland. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Bilbee, 3. Chapple, 4. Boespflug, 5. Andretti, 6. Burks, 7. Stevenson, 8. Rodgers. 2:45.80

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Bacon, 3. Stockon, 4. Roa, 5. Harris, 6. Saville, 7. Leer, 8. Graham. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. C.J. Leary (3), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Brody Roa (9), 6. Chase Stockon (4), 7. Robert Ballou (10), 8. Dave Darland (17), 9. Chris Windom (12), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7), 11. Jarett Andretti (11), 12. Chad Boespflug (2), 13. Josh Hodges (15), 14. Tom Harris (14), 15. Nick Bilbee (8), 16. Glen Saville (21), 17. Wyatt Burks (20), 18. Brandon Stevenson (13), 19. Robert Bell (22), 20. Rob Caho, Jr. (19), 21. Frank Rodgers (23), 22. Kelly Graham (24), 23. Isaac Chapple (16), 24. Katlynn Leer (18). 10:45.63 (New Track Record)
----------------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Bacon, Laps 20-30 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Dave Darland (17th to 8th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Josh Hodges

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Dave Darland

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS CLEAN SWEEP: Tyler Courtney

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-784, 2-Courtney-760, 3-Windom-727, 4-Stockon-688, 5-Leary-678, 6-Ballou-653, 7-Bacon-648, 8-Darland-628, 9-Grant-616, 10-Boespflug-535.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 14 - Grandview Speedway - Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania - "Eastern Storm"

DREVICKI TAKES BEDFORD SPRINT AFTER STRADA PENALTY

Bedford, PA........Steven Drevicki of Reading, Pa. won Friday night's 25-lap USAC East Coast Sprint race at Bedford Speedway after Eddie Strada's car failed post-race technical inspection and he was relegated to 16th and last position. Drevicki was trailed at the checkered flag by Chandler Leiby, Carmen Perigo, Joey Biasi and Mark Bitner. Drevicki becomes the new series point leader going into a July 7 race at New Egypt, N.J.

USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 8, 2018 - Bedford, Pennsylvania - Bedford Speedway - "Wingless Doubleheader"

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Joey Biasi (#B1 Biasi), 2. Steven Drevicki (#19 Drevicki), 3. Eddie Strada (#5G Gallagher), 4. Ryan Greth (#4 Lesher), 5. Larry McVay (#83 McVay), 6. Eric Jennings (#32 Neiger/Hamilton), 7. Brian Ricco (#09 Ricco), 8. Tray Hivner (#7 TH Racing). NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Carmen Perigo (#21 Stehman), 2. Chandler Leiby (#119 Leiby), 3. Mark Bitner (#15 Bitner), 4. Trevor Kobylarz (#14 Kobylarz), 5. Bill Unglert (#33B Unglert), 6. Ryan Quackenbush (#5Q RQR Racing), 7. Heidi Hedin (#3H Hedin), 8. Bob Garvey (#11x Garvey). NT

FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Steven Drevicki, 2. Chandler Leiby, 3. Carmen Perigo, 4. Joey Biasi, 5. Mark Bitner, 6. Ryan Greth, 7. Tray Hivner, 8. Ryan Quackenbush, 9. Heidi Hedin, 10. Brian Ricco), 11. Trevor Kobylarz, 12. Larry McVay, 13. Eric Jennings, 14. Bob Garvey, 15. Bill Unglert, 16. Eddie Strada. NT
------------------------------------------

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Strada, Lap 25 Drevicki.

FRANK'S FINE SWINE & BEEF HARD CHARGER: Tray Hivner

NEW USAC EAST COAST SPRINT POINTS: 1-Drevicki-215, 2-Leiby-203, 3-Biasi-199, 4-Strada-183, 5-Greth-165, 6-Quackenbush-157, 7-Ryan Godown-144, 8-Bitner-136, 9-Perigo-127, 10-McVay-126.

NEXT USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: July 7 - New Egypt (NJ) Speedway - "NPS Paving Night"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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

Kevin Thomas, Jr. won Friday night's 'I-80 Dirt Classic' at Greenwood, Nebraska's I-80 Speedway. (Ray Hague Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Greenwood, Nebraska.....June 8, 2018 - Though the calendar indicates summer hasn't arrived quite yet, Friday night's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car event at I-80 certainly had that feel of summer.

Not only were the temperatures soaring, but the indication was given that this was a time and place for a sneak peek on how the summer months could transpire leading into next week's "Eastern Storm" and July's "Indiana Sprint Week."

Kevin Thomas, Jr.'s performance indicated that this very well could be a long summer for his sprint car brethren following a dominating performance to score his third series victory of the season and race the Hoffman family car into victory lane for the 99th time in its history of USAC National Sprint Car participation.

Thomas set the tone from the earliest stages of the night, notching fast time and a new track record in qualifying - the first of four track records set by the field on the night with nary a caution in sight in each of the night's preliminaries and main event. It was a flawless night overall set forth by a flawless performance from the Cullman, Alabama driver and his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Jonathan Byrd/DRC/Speedway Chevy in the 30-lap feature.

"The car just went wherever I needed it to go," Thomas praised. "The guys are just so in tune with the car right now, with watching the racetrack and keeping up with everything. Just the simplest things that could go wrong, they're making sure they don't happen and it's showing. We're having good finishes, good qualifying efforts and, we're even getting lucky drawing the pill to begin the night. Things are going our way. Eventually that stuff ends, but right now, it's going our way and I'm not going to fight it."

It only took six laps for Thomas to reach the head of the class as Chase Stockon and Brady Bacon battled it out at the front, swapping the lead on numerous occasions until Thomas lurched forward. Thomas first followed Stockon as the two ripped past Bacon on the inside off turn four on the fourth lap. For much of the next two laps, like a vulture circling its prey, Thomas hovered around Stockon, anticipating his next move, searching for the line that would carry him to the forefront.

"I'd been watching all the other races throughout the night," Thomas recalled. "Starting at the beginning of the night, I saw the bottom had a lot of moisture. As hot as it was, it was bound to come in and get pretty good. If the temperatures would've been cooler, maybe we wouldn't have been able to run down there. The sun just baked the top of the track and made it to where it fell off a little bit, but to where there wasn't much to lean on as what you would've thought."

Near the end of lap six, Thomas found the trail, hitched his wagon to it and not once thought about leaving the well-groomed open highway.

'We're on such a roll right now, everything feels like it's supposed to happen. Whenever you hop in the racecar, sit down in the seat, and you feel the most comfortable you've felt in your entire life, that's when it's time to race as much as you can.' - Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Brandon Anderson Photo)

"I searched around, ran the top one or two times and started to make some gains there on the bottom and never left," Thomas said. "The car was working perfect down there. I could run in the middle, diamond off three and four and make some good speed down the front straight. It was really slick and icy and there wasn't much grip to make some speed there, so I had to do something a little different. In three and four, around lap 10, we pulled the front wheels up all the way down the back straight. That just shows how good the car was at that point."

Thomas immediately stretched the lead out to more than four seconds, a full-straightway lead, in fact. The only thing Thomas had to contend with was lapped traffic, which behaved and minded their P's and Q's as Thomas picked through them as quickly as a contestant on Supermarket Sweep.

Tyler Courtney was the lone wolf who appeared to have a chance at mounting a challenge, charging from 12th to 2nd by midway. However, in a race that went green to checkered without a single stoppage, making up ground was Mission: Impossible.

Thomas was never challenged once he took the lead and hammered the field, winning by more than five seconds over Courtney, Stockon, Bacon and Dave Darland. Thomas moved into a tie with 1967 USAC National Sprint Car champ Greg Weld for 25th on the all-time series win list with 21 victories.

Thomas has been on an incredible roll of late, collecting numerous local, non-sanctioned sprint car races at several different tracks and arrived at I-80 fresh off a USAC P1 Insurance National Midget feature victory last Sunday at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.

As he holds down a 59-point lead, Thomas thinks of what got him to this point - winning, winning and winning some more. It's more than just standing on the gas and pointing the steering wheel. There's a lot that goes into being successful and that starts with preparing yourself for the rigors of a busy summer stretch that can be as mentally taxing as it is physical, with a little extra thrown in for good measure on the push to a championship.

"Obviously, you need luck," Thomas admits. "At the end of the day, preparation is the biggest key to this sport. Just like any other stick and ball sport - football and baseball - it's about conditioning yourself. It's hotter than hell out here, it's long nights, long drives and long stretches of races. Summer's hard. Our advantage when it comes to conditioning ourselves is how much we race outside of USAC. We run every single night that we can, whether it's the 69, the 63 or a midget, we never lose that touch. We're on such a roll right now, everything feels like it's supposed to happen. Whenever you hop in the racecar, sit down in the seat, and you feel the most comfortable you've felt in your entire life, that's when it's time to race as much as you can."

Contingency award winners Friday night at I-80 Speedway included Chris Windom (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Isaac Chapple (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Glen Saville (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 8, 2018 - I-80 Speedway - Greenwood, Nebraska - "I-80 Dirt Classic"

QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-16.423 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.663; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.797; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.867; 5. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-16.899; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.903; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.913; 8. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.921; 9. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-16.948; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.953; 11. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-17.038; 12. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-17.042; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.064; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-17.150; 15. Tom Harris, 5E, Harris-17.193; 16. Don Droud, Jr., 1m, Burch-17.322; 17. Ryan Kitchen, 21, Kitchen-17.415; 18. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Rumsey-17.418; 19. Cody Ledger, 35L, Ledger-17.470; 20. Brandon Stevenson, 0x, Stevenson-17.544; 21. Terry Richards, 18T, Richards-17.602; 22. T.J. Artz, 57, Artz-17.844; 23. Glen Saville, 75, Saville-17.972; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-18.649; 25. Mike Dapra, 38, Dapra-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Ballou, 3. Thomas, 4. Boespflug, 5. Chapple, 6. Droud, 7. Ledger, 8. Artz. 2:22.72

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Andretti, 3. Bacon, 4. Grant, 5. Roa, 6. Kitchen, 7. Stevenson, 8. Saville. 2:22.36

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Stockon, 3. Bilbee, 4. Leary, 5. Harris, 6. Burks, 7. Richards, 8. Bell. 2:20.93 (New Track Record)

INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer) 1. Droud, 2. Ledger, 3. Kitchen, 4. Burks, 5. Artz, 6. Richards, 7. Stevenson, 8. Saville, 9. Bell. 3:08.38 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 2. Tyler Courtney (12), 3. Chase Stockon (1), 4. Brady Bacon (2), 5. Dave Darland (8), 6. Robert Ballou (10), 7. Nick Bilbee (9), 8. Justin Grant (5), 9. Chad Boespflug (3), 10. Chris Windom (7), 11. Don Droud, Jr. (16), 12. Jarett Andretti (14), 13. Isaac Chapple (13), 14. Brody Roa (11), 15. Tom Harris (15), 16. C.J. Leary (4), 17. Cody Ledger (19), 18. T.J. Artz (22), 19. Ryan Kitchen (17), 20. Terry Richards (21), 21. Wyatt Burks (18), 22. Brandon Stevenson (20), 9:16.14 (New Track Record)
----------------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Stockon, Laps 2-3 Bacon, Laps 4-5 Stockon, Laps 6-30 Thomas.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (12th to 2nd)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Isaac Chapple

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Isaac Chapple

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Glen Saville

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-735, 2-Courtney-676, 3-Windom-673, 4-Stockon-623, 5-Leary-601, 6-Ballou-597, 7-Darland-578, 8-Bacon-576, 9-Grant-542, 10-Boespflug-489.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 9 - Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa - "Hy-Vee Night"