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CLAUSON ON CRUISE CONTROL AT THE BURG; CLAIMS VICTORY IN INDIANA SPRINT WEEK RD. 3

Lawrenceburg, Indiana..July 10, 2016 - Bryan Clauson continued his winning ways Sunday night during the third round of Indiana Sprint Week at Lawrenceburg Speedway, holding off a mid-race challenge from Josh Hodges and snookering the field on a late race restart to earn his 41st career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, surpassing Gary Bettenhausen for seventh on the all-time list.

Clauson also collected his 111th career USAC-sanctioned feature victory, moving him into the top-five on the all-time list alongside some of the giants of the sport. Clauson now stands behind only Rich Vogler (171), A.J. Foyt (162), Sleepy Tripp (161) and Mel Kenyon (131) in career USAC wins.

Hunter Schuerenberg started the race from the pole position and, just as he did at Gas City two nights prior in the "Sprint Week" opener, shot out to the lead on the opening lap.
ProSource Fast Qualifier Clauson, meanwhile, had already made quick work disposing of Tyler Courtney, Justin Grant and Hodges to move from sixth to third on lap one.

With a single lap in the books, Kyle Wissmiller, who was making his first USAC Sprint Car start exactly eight years to the day of his last feature appearance in 2008, slid to a stop, bringing out the first yellow of the night.

On the ensuing restart, Clauson wasted no time resuming his charge to the front, slipping past April 2015 Lawrenceburg winner Logan Jarrett for second on the bottom off the exit of turn four.

Next on BC's radar was leader Schuerenberg, who saw his lead quickly evaporate as Clauson reeled him in in no-time flat by lap five. The duo drag raced to a dead heat at the flag stand, but Schuerenberg was able to hold steady for the time-being until Clauson was able to jet off the topside of turn four to complete the pass for the lead on lap six.

However, at the same moment, Jarett Andretti found himself turned around on the main straightaway, bringing out the caution.

Due to the lap not being fully completed, Schuerenberg would be reinserted into to the lead with Clauson relegated back to second.

On the restart, Clauson dove low, grabbing the bite off the bottom of the banking to recapturing the lead from Schuerenberg on the sixth circuit. Clauson would secure the spot for good in turn two as he slid up to the top, ripping away Schuerenberg's line and pulling away to a healthy advantage.

Quickly thereafter, Hodges grabbed second as Schuerenberg began to slip into the distance from the front of the pack. Hodges still had a more than half-straightaway deficit to overcome Clauson's lead, but a turn three tangle between April's Lawrenceburg USAC Sprint winner Dave Darland as well as Nick Bilbee and Zach Daum brought the yellow out, thereby erasing the gap and putting Hodges, an April USAC/CRA Sprint Car feature winner at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway, squarely behind the rear bumper of Clauson on the restart with 17 laps to go.

After the green flag waved, Hodges was able to hang right along with leader Clauson, chipping away at the interval little-by-little. Clauson ran his machine up top against the wall at both ends of the racetrack while Hodges ran side-by-side with Clauson, pulling even with the leader while utilizing the bottom line between turns three and four and the middle in turns one and two to pose a formidable challenge to Clauson's throne at the front throughout the middle portion of the 30-lap event.

On the 17th lap, Clauson dove to the bottom between turns three and four to see if that suited his liking, but that was short-lived as Clauson migrated back to the topside for lap 18, and each lap thereafter, as he began to gap himself and Hodges, constructing his lead to three seconds as Hodges began to drop.

With eight to go, Friday night Gas City winner Courtney started to come alive during crunch time, sticking a slide job on Schuerenberg for third in turn three and repeating the move on Hodges in turn one for the second spot with five laps remaining.

Third-running Schuerenberg's race came to an abrupt end just three laps from the finish, slowing to a stop in a puff of smoke between turns three and four, which set up one final restart - a rematch between the rapidly-closing Courtney and Clauson for a three-lap shootout.

Clauson quickly thwarted any thoughts Courtney had of repeating his Gas City triumph, blasting away to a substantial advantage heading into turn one on the restart. Nobody was able to mount a serious challenge to Clauson's supremacy during the final three laps as he pulled away for the victory in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Spike/Stanton Mopar over Courtney, Windom, Leary and Hodges.

Noblesville, Indiana's Clauson moved into the top-five in all-time Indiana Sprint Week wins with his seventh career checkered flag Sunday night at "The Burg" while also capturing his seventh USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the 2016 season, already equaling his best single-season win total in the series, which he accomplished during his back-to-back championship years in 2012 and 2013.

"I wanted to catch everybody by surprise on that last restart and it worked," Clauson said. "We were a little tight on the curb, so I didn't know how aggressive to be on it, but we were able to get to the front early on. It's hard sometimes, when you're out front, to know what pace to run, but we held them off. When I saw Hodges on the bottom, I went down there just to feel it out, but felt like it'd take me too long to figure out how to run it. The cushion on both ends on exit was pretty big and, if you hit it wrong, it would throw the nose. I had to be careful, but those guys behind us made me pick up the pace more than what I had been doing up to that point. Our car was good, I just had it on cruise control and tried not to make any mistakes."

Courtney, of Indianapolis, Indiana, not only retained his Indiana Sprint Week point lead with his second place run in his TOPP Motorsports/Maxim/Chevy, but extended it from 2 to 22 points over Brady Bacon and Chris Windom heading into the final four-race stretch of "Sprint Week" at the Terre Haute Action Track on Wednesday, July 13.

"I can't ask for much more, other than to have won the last two nights," Courtney said. "That last restart shows why Bryan (Clauson) is the best because he snookered the whole field. I didn't really know what to do because we're supposed to stay in line but that's the way it goes. We were pretty decent; Bryan was a little better, obviously, but we'll get it tuned up again and probably head to Terre Haute now."

Windom, of Canton, Illinois, took the Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/Maxim/Claxton Mopar to another solid third place run, tying him for second in Indiana Sprint Week points alongside Brady Bacon.

"I didn't need all those cautions at the beginning because we were better on the long run," Windom admitted. "I was trying to make something work on the middle to bottom and I could get those guys off the bottom of four when they'd get bottled up running the top. We fell back to 11th or something at some point, so to charge back up to third is good. We're right there in the hunt for this Sprint Week title, so if we can keep knocking out podiums, we're going to be in good shape."

Contingency award winners at Lawrenceburg Speedway included Bryan Clauson (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Nick Bilbee (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Chris Windom (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Jon Stanbrough (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher) and Kyle Cummins (KSE Racing Products/B&W Auto Mart Hard Charger).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 10, 2016 - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Lawrenceburg Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-14.166; 2. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-14.179; 3. Justin Grant, 71p, Phillips-14.188; 4. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-14.292; 5. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-14.297; 6. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-14.312; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-14.363; 8. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-14.375; 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-14.432; 10. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-14.444; 11. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-14.447; 12. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-14.463; 13. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.470; 14. Shawn Westerfeld, 89, Westerfeld-14.473; 15. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.493; 16. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-14.506; 17. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-14.509; 18. Kyle Wissmiller, 3, Simmons-14.516; 19. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-14.516; 20. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-14.530; 21. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-14.619; 22. Nick Bilbee, 17N, Bilbee-14.623; 23. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-14.676; 24. Joss Moffatt, 5J, Moffatt-14.678; 25. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.682; 26. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-14.709; 27. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-14.745; 28. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-14.766; 29. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-14.780; 30. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-14.817; 31. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-14.832; 32. Justin Owen, 4JO, Fischesser-14.846; 33. Garrett Abrams, 32A, Abrams-14.897; 34. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-14.953; 35. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-14.962; 36. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-14.977; 37. Michael Fischesser, 4, Fischesser-14.990; 38. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-15.147; 39. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-15.254; 40. Jamie Williams, 31, Williams-15.509; 41. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-16.206; 42. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Andretti, 4. Clauson, 5. Ballou, 6. Clouser, 7. Robbins, 8. Goodnight, 9. Abrams, 10. Fischesser, 11. S.Thomas. 2:26.47

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bilbee, 2. Wissmiller, 3. Courtney, 4. Hodges, 5. Stockon, 6. Westerfeld, 7. Chapple, 8. McGhee, 9. T.Thomas, 10. Hery. 2:28.82

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Daum, 3. Simon, 4. Grant, 5. K.Thomas, 6. Cummins, 7. Ketcham, 8. Meseraull, 9. Boespflug, 10. Gaines. 2:29.10

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Darland, 3. Moffatt, 4. Jarrett, 5. Leary, 6. Mellenberndt, 7. DiMattia, 8. Farney, 9. Owen, 10. Williams. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Meseraull, 3. Abrams, 4. Gaines, 5. Mellenberndt, 6. Hery, 7. Owen, 8. Fischesser, 9. S.Thomas. 2:39.57

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Ballou, 3. K.Thomas, 4. T.Thomas, 5. Cummins, 6. Stockon, 7. Westerfeld, 8. Ketcham, 9. Clouser, 10. Goodnight, 11. Gaines, 12. Abrams, 13. DiMattia, 14. Chapple, 15. Boespflug, 16. Meseraull, 17. Farney, 18. Robbins. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Chris Windom, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Kyle Cummins, 9. Robert Ballou, 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Chase Stockon, 13. Jon Stanbrough, 14. Zach Daum, 15. Landon Simon, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Thomas Meseraull, 19. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20. Logan Jarrett, 21. Nick Bilbee, 22. Chad Boespflug, 23. Kyle Wissmiller, 24. Joss Moffatt. NT
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**Farney & Williams flipped during the fourth heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Schuerenberg, Laps 6-30 Clauson.

KSE/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Kyle Cummins (20th to 8th)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,694, 2-Ballou-1,507, 3-Meseraull-1,491, 4-Stockon-1,473, 5-Darland-1,389, 6-Leary-1,344, 7-Boespflug-1,311; 8-Windom-1,220, 9-McGhee-1,158, 10-Clauson-962.

NEW USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Courtney-215, 2-Bacon & Windom-193, 4-Clauson-188, 5-Ballou-177, 6-Cummins-166, 7-Thomas Jr.-142, 8-Andretti-136, 9-Stockon-130, 10-S.Cottle-129.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 13 - Terre Haute (IN) Action Track - "Indiana Sprint Week" - "Don Smith Classic"

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CUMMINS CRACKS WIN COLUMN; CAPTURES FIRST USAC SPRINT VICTORY
BY A FOOT OVER BALLOU AT KOKOMO

Kokomo, Indiana July 9, 2016 - Bridesmaid. Perennial runner-up. Call him what you will, but Kyle Cummins certainly cannot be labeled as such any longer. For, on Saturday night at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, the long wait came to an end for the Princeton, Indiana driver.

After passing Chris Windom for the lead with just nine laps to go, Cummins emerged from late-race turmoil and a massive charge by Robert Ballou on the final corner of the last lap to take the win by a foot in his Rock Steady Racing/ProGlide Bearings - Tim Mason ReMax/Mach-1/Cummins-powered machine, and thereby penning his name into the record books as a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner Saturday on night two of the 29th annual Indiana Sprint Week.

Twenty-four hours after Tyler Courtney pulled a stunner with his victory on Friday night at Gas City, Cummins became the second consecutive new face to emerge in Indiana Sprint Week victory lane, marking the first time since September of 2008 there have been first-time winners in back-to-back USAC National Sprint Car races. Kasey Kahne Racing teammates Brad Sweet and Brady Bacon accomplished the feat in two straight races at Rossburg, Ohio's Eldora Speedway and Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, respectively.

Cummins victory following Courtney's on Friday also was only the second time Indiana Sprint Week has produced two straight first-time USAC National Sprint Car winners. In 1997, Brad Fox (Bloomington) and Bill Rose (Paragon) notched their initial series wins one after the other.

After many close calls and near triumphs throughout the years, Cummins' breakthrough performance came 13 years after his USAC debut at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track in late 2003.

"Finally," Cummins exhaled. "I about teared up when I got out. I'm so tired of second and third; I started sixth and looked at those guys ahead of me and thought, 'man, this is going to be a tough race to win.' I got better and better as the race went on. Once I got around Windom, the infield tire got moved down and I hit the slime and got into him. I hate that it happened because I want to beat them all. That yellow with one to go had me all sorts of nervous. I knew if I slipped up even a little bit, Robert would pounce. Our car would get super tight if I got into the corner straight, so I opened up my entry a little bit. I was too tight to run there at the beginning, so I started making a bigger arc as the race went on. I knew as long as I could keep the arc up, I could catch the moisture on the bottom and I'd be okay."

Chris Windom shot to the lead on the opening lap from his outside front row starting position with pole sitter Kevin Thomas, Jr. running three to four car lengths back throughout much of the first half of the race.

A lap 14 incident involving Tyler Thomas, Max McGhee Thomas Meseraull and Jon Stanbrough in turn two slowed the pace just before the halfway point, setting up a restart with Windom at the point and K. Thomas right on his tail tank.

K. Thomas shadowed Windom through turns one and two on the restart. As the pair headed into turn three, K. Thomas threw a massive slider on Windom for the lead, briefly taking the top spot before Windom clawed back to the lead at the line by a fingernail's length. However, a yellow due to the stopped car of Meseraull in turn three reset the order once again.

On the following lap 14 restart attempt, Windom pulled the front wheels off the ground twice after standing on the throttle leading the pack to the green flag. Windom finally got the power to the ground just past the flag stand, but K. Thomas was ready to pounce, pulling within striking distance of Windom as he drove down the hill off the high side of turn two, splitting between leader Windom and Chase Stockon to take the race lead heading into turn three.

However, Thomas' timing was ill-fated once again as fifth-running Brady Bacon found himself sitting backwards in turn three just after the restart. As the field scattered to miss Bacon, C.J. Leary, Logan Jarrett, Tyler Thomas and Hunter Schuerenberg couldn't avoid the trouble. Schuerenberg received the worst end of the deal, getting upside down after climbing the wall with the right side tires. He was uninjured.

Since the lap wasn't fully completed, K.Thomas lined up behind Windom once again for the ensuing restart.

Once action resumed, second-fastest qualifier and sixth-starting Cummins began his methodical dissection of the front runners. Using the bottom side of the racetrack, Cummins drove by Stockon off the inside of turn two for the third spot on lap 19 and, one lap later, slipped past K. Thomas on the bottom of turn three to steal second.

With eight laps to go, Cummins caught Windom and got the pull off the moisture on the bottom of turn two to propel him by Windom for the lead heading into turn three.

Windom countered midway between turns three and four, crossing over to get underneath Cummins at the exit of turn four. But Cummins got a tad bit sideways at the exit, initiating contact with his left rear tire and Windom's right front, sending Windom sideways and, in turn, setting off a chain-reaction incident that also collected frontrunners Chase Stockon and Bryan Clauson.

In the blink of an eye, the entire complexion of the race had changed with the second, third and fifth-place cars now out of the picture. Yet, Cummins ride wouldn't be free and easy as he now had to fend off 2013 Kokomo "Indiana Sprint Week" winner Kevin Thomas, Jr. and defending "Sprint Week" champ Robert Ballou for the final eight circuits.

Cummins remained dedicated to the low line as did Ballou while K. Thomas stayed true to the top side in the final laps. K. Thomas was able to hang close with Cummins for the lead, engaging in a battle that saw him just one car length behind at the stripe a lap after the restart.

K.Thomas (outside) and Ballou (inside) swarmed Cummins from both sides. The rapidly closing Ballou inched closer and closer on the bottom, peeking his nose inside Cummins for the lead off of turn four at the conclusion of lap 26 and in turn one on the 27th lap, but just wasn't close enough yet to attempt the knockout punch.

A four-car tangle involving Aaron Farney, Leary, Dave Darland and McGhee brought out the night's final yellow, setting up a two-lap shootout to the finish line.

Cummins worked the low-line throughout the 30-lap feature, but Ballou sunk his teeth firmly into the moisture a car length lower than Cummins while K. Thomas put his right rear Hoosier up against the outside wall for the last two laps.

On the final lap, Ballou gave it one last shot, skimming the infield tires with his front wheels as he pitched his machine sideways through the final two corners a car-width underneath leader Cummins.

Ballou got a big bite coming off the last corner in a side-by-side drag race to the checkered flag with Cummins, but Cummins had just enough to eke out the victory by a foot over Ballou while Thomas, Coons (from 22nd) and Bacon rounded out the top-five.

It was yet another solid second place run for Rocklin, California native Ballou, who nearly ripped away the win from Cummins at the end in his Ballou Motorsports/MPHG Promotions - Blakesley Auto/Maxim/Ott.

"I got hit in the helmet with a rock and it shattered my helmet. It felt like it broke my jaw," Ballou explained. "But we salvaged a good run. I had the best car I've ever driven here. We made some last minute changes once we were on the track before the feature and everything we changed was the right decision."

Kevin Thomas, Jr. has been a rocket during his six visits to Kokomo Speedway during the 2016 season in his 4J Motorsports/Franklin Equipment - CEP Concrete/DRC/Chevy, finishing third Saturday night after results of 1st, 1st, 3rd, 2nd and 5th in his five previous visits in non-USAC, weekly competition shows at the ¼-mile oval this year.

"There was a hole in (turns) three and four and, if you hit it wrong on the restarts, it would get the car upset, Thomas said. "Windom did that a few times and protected the bottom, and then I could get some momentum built up and slide him the next time around. I thought that was going to work for a while, but then I went to the bottom and got swarmed. Unfortunately, those guys got collected in that wreck, so we couldn't race it out. But I lived and died by the top and, tonight, it just didn't work out for us."

Contingency award winners at Kokomo Speedway included Tyler Courtney (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Chase Stockon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Tyler Thomas (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Chad Boespflug (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (KSE Racing Products/B&W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Logan Jarrett (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 9, 2016 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week" - "Tony Elliott Classic"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.069; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.095; 3. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.113; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-13.115; 5. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.135; 6. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.192; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.210; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-13.213; 9. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.225; 10. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.276; 11. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-13.292; 12. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.297; 13. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-13.303; 14. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-13.310; 15. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.329; 16. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.336; 17. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-13.355; 18. A.J. Hopkins, 42G, Jackson-13.383; 19. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-13.389; 20. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.400; 21. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-13.404; 22. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.436; 23. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-13.450; 24. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-13.513; 25. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-13.517; 26. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.522; 27. Brian Karraker, 23k, Karraker-13.530; 28. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-13.554; 29. Justin Grant, 71p, Phillips-13.582; 30. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.589; 31. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.617; 32. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-13.628; 33. Jeff Bland Jr., 38, Bland-13.633; 34. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.636; 35. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.657; 36. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-13.674; 37. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.701; 38. Critter Malone, 7, Seven LLC-13.702; 39. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-13.724; 40. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-13.727; 41. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.763; 42. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.766; 43. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.788; 44. Jimmy Light, 23, Two-Three-13.798; 45. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.818; 46. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-14.020; 47. Jamie Williams, 31, Williams-14.119.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Meseraull, 3. Leary, 4. Coons, 5. Hodges, 6. Beauchamp, 7. Courtney, 8. Grant, 9. Farney, 10. Bland, 11. Mattox, 12. Spencer. 2:14.91

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Andretti, 3. Ballou, 4. Cummins, 5. Daum, 6. Darland, 7. Malone, 8. McGhee, 9. Goodnight, 10. Robbins, 11. Creech, 12. Hopkins. 2:14.89

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. T.Thomas, 2. Windom, 3. Clauson, 4. Ketcham, 5. C.Cottle, 6. Schuerenberg, 7. Clouser, 8. Karraker, 9. Gaines, 10. Mellenberndt, 11. Hines, 12. Williams. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. S.Cottle, 3. K.Thomas, 4. Jarrett, 5. Stanbrough, 6. DiMattia, 7. Light, 8. Schmidt, 9. Simon, 10. Chapple, 11. Bares. NT

C MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Bland, 2. DiMattia, 3. Farney, 4. Light, 5. Goodnight, 6. Mellenberndt, 7. Gaines, 8. Robbins, 9. Mattox, 10. Chapple, 11. Spencer, 12. Malone, 13. Williams, 14. Creech, 15. Hines. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Darland, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Courtney, 5. Hodges, 6. Schmidt, 7. McGhee, 8. Clouser, 9. Daum, 10. Farney, 11. Grant, 12. DiMattia, 13. Bland, 14. C.Cottle, 15. Karraker, 16. Goodnight, 17. Light, 18. Beauchamp. 2:47.54

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Chad Boespflug, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Thomas Meseraull, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Logan Jarrett, 14. Chase Stockon, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Max McGhee, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Bryan Clauson, 20. Kent Schmidt, 21. Hunter Schuerenberg, 22. Jon Stanbrough, 23. Josh Hodges, 24. Cole Ketcham. NT
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**Bares flipped during the fourth heat. Schuerenberg flipped on lap 14 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Windom, Laps 22-30 Cummins.

KSE/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Jerry Coons Jr. (22nd to 4th).

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,626, 2-Meseraull-1,464, 3-Ballou-1,458, 4-Stockon-1,433, 5-Darland-1,351, 6-Boespflug-1,288, 7-Leary-1,279, 8-Windom-1,148, 9-McGhee-1,148, 10-Farney-934.

NEW USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Courtney-137, 2-Bacon-135, 3-Ballou & Coons-128, 5-Windom-121, 6-S.Cottle-119, 7-Cummins-116, 8-Clauson-109, 9-Boespflug & Thomas Jr.-97.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 10 - Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week"

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

COMEBACK COURTNEY CHARGES FROM THE TAIL TO COLLECT STUNNING VICTORY
IN GAS CITY INDIANA SPRINT WEEK OPENER

Gas City, Indiana - July 8, 2016 - After an opening lap spin sent him to the 24th and last position on the grid for the restart, the odds certainly did not appear to be in Tyler Courtney's favor.

Passing 23 cars in 30 laps around a ¼-mile track is a tall task for anyone, let alone a driver seeking his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win with the backdrop of an intense Indiana Sprint Week environment present.

However, Courtney was up to the task, methodically picking his way through the field as he tiptoed his way around the infield tires. With eight laps to go, Courtney caught the red-hot Bryan Clauson for the top spot and hung on to score one of the most stunning victories in recent series memory Friday at Gas City I-69 Speedway on opening night of the 29th annual "Indiana Sprint Week."

Already mired deep in the field from his original 16th starting position, Courtney seemed to be a longshot as all eyes from the packed Gas City grandstand were affixed at the head of the pack throughout the first portion of the race.

Two-time Gas City USAC Sprint Car winner Hunter Schuerenberg started from the pole, but by the end of the first lap, three-time 2016 series winner Chad Boespflug had bolted from his fourth starting spot to pull even with Schuerenberg at the flag stand.

But, Tyler Courtney's first lap spin between turns three and four brought about the yellow flag, resulting in a complete restart.

On the ensuing restart, Schuerenberg shot to the front as Boespflug slid into second. At the front of the pack, drivers found the fastest way to be around the top side where Boespflug zeroed in on Schuerenberg in a bid for the lead on the ninth lap before the action slowed with ninth-running Justin Grant stopped in turn two, bringing out the second yellow of the night.

On the lap nine restart, Schuerenberg sprinted to the bottom as Boespflug hit the cushion. Suddenly, Boespflug's car dramatically slowed due to a dzus button falling out of the ignition plate and, in turn, ceasing the engine. Despite the issue, Boespflug would restart from the tail, but would not a play a factor in the race at the front, winding up a disappointing 21st at the finish line.

The next attempt at resuming action saw Clauson slip by Max McGhee for the second position and, one circuit later on lap 10, scooting past Schuerenberg for the lead with authority on the bottom, quickly distancing himself from the rest of the field. On the 11th lap, Brady Bacon was able to dart by Schuerenberg for second at the entrance to turn one.

As soon as it appeared to become a two-man race between the season's winningest driver in the series (Clauson) and the series point leader (Bacon), Bacon slipped off the edge of the racetrack between turns three and four, dropping the 2014 series champion all the way back to seventh.

Meanwhile, the 23c of Courtney began to come into focus as he slowly, but surely, and steadfastly hit his marks on the bottom of the track's surface, knocking off one position after another.

By the midway point, Courtney was running fifth as he got a major run coming off the bottom of turn four. He hit the stripe three-wide with McGhee sandwiched between Windom on the outside and Courtney on the inside, beating them both into turn one.

However, when Courtney got there, Schuerenberg was headed for the same piece of real estate. The two made contact, sending Courtney sideways while popping his car up into the air as it bounced through turn one.

Though the contact knocked Courtney off his saddle for a moment, he hopped back on his horse and was incredibly able to lasso both Schuerenberg and Windom in as the trio stormed down the back straightaway just moments later with Courtney able to blast out in front of both to claim second off of turn four.

From that point forward, Courtney had just one man to beat: Bryan Clauson. Clauson, a six-time series winner this season, has been practically unbeatable when he gets out front this season, but Courtney was able to dig in his heels on the bottom, cutting the interval between him and Clauson by nearly a half a second each lap.

Clauson continued to cement his trust in the high line while Courtney stuck like Loctite to the low line as the two entered lapped traffic. Clauson pushed his machine to the edge, dipping off the turn two edge on multiple occasions as he clung onto the number one position while Courtney continued to sneak up on him. But a yellow for Thomas Meseraull flew after he found himself facing the outside turn four guardrail.

Seven laps to go, Clauson and Courtney had a clear track in front of them. As expected, Clauson took to the low side on the restart in turns one two, defending the line that Courtney had worked to perfection all race long. Yet, as Clauson headed into turn three, he aimed his car to the high side, thus leaving the door open for Courtney to take advantage and claim the lead at the line with eight laps to go.

Clauson refused to relent his high line and fall into line, instead, fighting back to pull side-by-side with Courtney in turn two on lap 24. Clauson was on the ragged edge, literally, as he slipped his right side tires over the turn two berm, biking the car, but still managing to stay on the gas, only losing one position in the process to Windom.

A three-car freight train on the bottom consisting of Courtney, Windom and Shane Cottle ensued while Clauson ripped the high side. Clauson hovered between second and fourth-place each lap, but was unable to reach Courtney, who held off all remaining challenges to pick up his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory in one of the most amazing drives seen in the series in years over Clauson, Windom, Cottle and Bacon.

Reminiscent of Terry Pletch's storied charge from 21st to 1st in the 1999 Indiana Sprint Week opener at the Terre Haute Action Track, Courtney's longshot win under trying circumstances is a performance that is sure to go down in 'Sprint Week" lore.

"My grandpa (former Lincoln Park Speedway owner Mike Farrar) was a huge part of starting Indiana Sprint Week when it originated, so to win this is even more special," Courtney said after driving the TOPP Motorsports' Maxim/Chevy to his first career series win.

"I've been close before, but to beat the best guy in Bryan Clauson the way we did, it's just amazing. I'm truly speechless. I couldn't believe he left me the bottom on the restart, but I knew I still had to hit my marks because I've given one away before running the bottom like that. When I got by him, I just started counting down the laps in my head and they couldn't fall quick enough."

Noblesville, Indiana's Clauson saw a rare one slip away from him near the end of the night's 30-lapper. The winner of six series victories in 2016 was able to squeak by Windom for second on the final corner of the final lap in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Spike/Stanton Mopar.

"I felt like I was as good as him once I got back up to ripping the top, but it was treacherous, so I just tried to stay close," Clauson explained. "If he could've been a little closer, I think we could've maybe got him. But we got out front and maybe just led a little too soon."

2011 Indiana Sprint Week champ Windom, of Canton, Illinois was able to overcome mechanical issues early in the night, but was able to come out of night one of "Sprint Week" with a solid third place effort in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/Maxim/Claxton Mopar.

"I couldn't believe when Tyler (Courtney) went by me how slow he was going, but how fast he was at the same time," said a surprised Windom. "With how big the curb up top was getting, I never thought you could slow down that much and still go that well. But once he got by, there was no getting him back. We'll take a podium though. We had to fix a struck throttle and change a rear end too, so we salvaged what we could and ended up alright."

Contingency award winners at Gas City I-69 Speedway included Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Chase Stockon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher), Kyle Robbins (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Tyler Courtney (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner & KSE Racing Products/B&W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Shane Cottle (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 8, 2016 - Gas City, Indiana - Gas City I-69 Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.175; 2. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-12.340; 3. Cole Smith, 29s, Smith-12.460; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-12.464; 5. Justin Grant, 71p, Phillips-12.487; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-12.488; 7. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-12.532; 8. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-12.535; 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-12.598; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.602; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-12.621; 12. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-12.642; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-12.645; 14. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-12.675; 15. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-12.692; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-12.692; 17. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.728; 18. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-12.736; 19. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-12.753; 20. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-12.767; 21. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.793; 22. Jamie Williams, 31, Williams-12.808; 23. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-12.810; 24. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-12.832; 25. Casey Shuman, 50x, Barnhill-12.844; 26. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.847; 27. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-12.869; 28. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-12.873; 29. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.884; 30. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-12.893; 31. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-12.898; 32. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-12.901; 33. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-12.915; 34. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.917; 35. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-12.932; 36. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-12.939; 37. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-12.955; 38. Jimmy Light, 23, Two-Three-12.955; 39. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-12.994; 40. A.J. Hopkins, 42G, Jackson-13.085; 41. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.147; 42. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-13.180; 43. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.183; 44. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.238; 45. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.260; 46. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.268; 47. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-13.390.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Chapple, 4. Bacon, 5. Shuman, 6. Cummins, 7. Grant, 8. Hines, 9. Clouser, 10. Creech, 11. Andretti, 12. Hery. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Robbins, 2. Coons, 3. Daum, 4. Farney, 5. Windom, 6. Mattox, 7. DiMattia, 8. Williams, 9. Hodges, 10. Light, 11. Schmidt, 12. Mellenberndt. 2:04.27

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Clauson, 3. Ballou, 4. Beauchamp, 5. Leary, 6. K.Thomas, 7. Stanbrough, 8. T.Thomas, 9. Darland, 10. Goodnight, 11. Smith, 12. Bares. 2:05.32

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. S.Cottle, 2. McGhee, 3. Meseraull, 4. Boespflug, 5. Jarrett, 6. C.Cottle, 7. Spencer, 8. Gaines, 9. Hopkins, 10. Ketcham, 11. Simon. 2:08.25

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. Darland, 3. Hodges, 4. Hopkins, 5. T.Thomas, 6. Gaines, 7. Hines, 8. Ketcham, 9. Goodnight, 10. Clouser, 11. Spencer, 12. Creech, 13. Mellenberndt, 14. Schmidt, 15. Hery, 16. Bares, 17. Light. 2:11.66

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. K.Thomas, 2. Windom, 3. Andretti, 4. Grant, 5. Hopkins, 6. Cummins, 7. C.Cottle, 8. Hodges, 9. Jarrett, 10. Smith, 11. Darland, 12. DiMattia, 13. Mattox, 14. Stanbrough, 15. Leary, 16. Shuman, 17. Williams, 18. Simon. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Max McGhee, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. A.J. Hopkins, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Kyle Robbins, 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, 13. Chase Stockon, 14. Kyle Cummins, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Aaron Farney, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Brent Beauchamp, 20. Justin Grant, 21. Chad Boespflug, 22. Thomas Meseraull, 23. Kevin Thomas Jr., 24. Isaac Chapple. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Schuerenberg, Laps 10-22 Clauson, Laps 23-30 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (16th-1st)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,560, 2-Meseraull-1,416, 3-Stockon-1,388, 4-Ballou-1,385, 5-Darland-1,314, 6-Leary-1,246, 7-Boespflug-1,222, 8-McGhee-=1,119, 9-Windom-1,095, 10-Farney-903.

NEW USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Courtney-78, 2-Clauson-74, 3-S.Cottle & Bacon-69, 5-Windom-68, 6-Coons-62, 7-McGhee-59, 8-Ballou-55, 9-Daum-54, 10-Robbins-49.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 9 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week" - "Tony Elliott Classic"