It looked like Friday's opening night of the 2nd Annual Spring Nationals Presented by RacingJunk.com was going to go to Jesse Stovall. He led the majority of the laps in the Lucas Oil MLRA sanctioned feature at Lucas Oil Speedway. Ryan Gustin made a late charge with 11 laps to go, on a restart, to conclude the evening in Andy's Frozen Custard Victory Lane.
"You just had to slow down so much to hit that bottom there," commented Gustin. "I think Jesse missed it just a little bit and got tight. I just hit it right and got a good run down the backstretch and held him off. The restarts worked out in our favor."
Stovall earned the DirtonDirt.com pole award, advancing from seventh, to win his heat. An expired engine cut his trip short last week to Nebraska. He was looking to turn it around this weekend at one of his best tracks. Stovall's sizable lead was cut short late in the feature when Jeremy Payne brought out the races third yellow. Stovall ended the evening second.
"We've just had some terrible luck," said Stovall. "These are a tough group of guys to race with. With Ryan and Billy and all these guys I knew I was going to have to go hard."
Third place finisher Billy Moyer never led Friday, but ran in the runner up spot for a good portion of the race. Moyer was quick to credit Gustin for having a car which allowed him to move off the bottom and advance forward.
Chad Simpson shook off a tough opening weekend in Nebraska with a fourth place run. Jared Landers made his last minute trip pay off finishing fifth.
Early in the night there were five heats contested. Those wins went to; Jesse Stovall, Tony Jackson Jr., Will Vaught, Jack Sullivan and Jeremy Payne.
Saturday evening racing gets underway at 7:30 PM. The winner's share of the purse is $3,000, with an extra $500 thrown in from Kenny's Tile.
Lucas Oil Speedway Speedway Contingencies 4/10/15
Andy's Frozen Custard Victory Lane - Ryan Gustin
AR Bodies - Brantlee Gotschall
Casey's General Stores Hard Charger - Terry Phillips
DirtOnDirt.com Pole Winner - Jesse Stovall
Hooker Harness 11th Place - Bill Leighton
KRC Hard Luck - Jeremy Payne
RacingJunk.com Hard Luck - Jeremy Payne
Landrum Springs Race Winner - Ryan Gustin
Fast Track Photos - Ryan Gustin
Performance Bodies Performer of the Race - Ryan Gustin
RaceNote Crew Chief of the Race - Roger Munsey
Real Racing Wheels - Jesse Stovall
Sunoco Rookie of the Race - Jake O'Neil
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products - Tommy Weder
Lucas Cattle Company A Feature (30 Laps): 1. Ryan Gustin 2. Jesse Stovall 3. Billy Moyer 4. Chad Simpson 5. Jared Landers 6. Wendell Wallace 7. Tony Jackson Jr. 8. Brandon McCormick 9. Jack Sullivan 10. Terry Phillips 11. Bill Leighton 12. Chris Brown 13. Jason Utter 14. Tad Pospisil 15. Scott Lewis 16. Jason O'Brien 17. Austin Siebert 18. Jake O'Neil 19. RC Whitwell 20. Dave Eckrich 21. Dustin Walker 22. Jeremy Payne 23. Brad Looney 24. Tommy Weder 25. Mark Dotson 26. Larry Jones
Impact Signs, Awnings, Wraps B Feature #1 (15 Laps): 1. Jason Utter 2. Mark Dotson 3. Terry Phillips 4. Brantlee Gotschall 5. Dewayne Kiefer 6. Austin Siebert 7. Raymond Merrill 8. Will Vaught 9. Brian Schutt 10. JC Wyman 11. David Turner 12. Gavin Lander 13. Patrick Johnson 14. Dan Shepherd 15. Dwight Niehoff 16. Chris Cox 17. Dustin Walker
Hot Rod Processing B Feature #2 (15 Laps): 1. Jason O'Brien 2. Scott Lewis 3. Chris Brown 4. Dave Eckrich 5. Allen Murray 6. Hunter Rasdon 7. Jacob Magee 8. Jason Bodenhamer 9. Shannon Scott 10. Chad Wheeler 11. Chris Lewis 12. Spencer Diercks 13. Austin Rettig 14. Reid Millard 15. Tommy Weder 16. Kyle Beard
Hoosier Racing Tires Heat #1 (10 Laps): 1. Jesse Stovall 2. Chad Simpson 3. Bill Leighton 4. Dustin Walker 5. Jason Utter 6. Allen Murray 7. JC Wyman 8. Austin Rettig 9. David Turner 10. Jason Bodenhamer 11. Chad Richwine
RacingJunk.com Heat #2 (10 Laps): 1. Tony Jackson Jr. 2. Brad Looney 3. Jared Landers 4. Dave Eckrich 5. Jason O'Brien 6. Brantlee Gotschall 7. Chad Wheeler 8. Terry Phillips 9. Kyle Beard 10. Gavin Landers
G2 Gemini Heat #3 (10 Laps): 1. Billy Moyer 2. Jake O'Neil 3. Brandon McCormick 4. Tad Pospisil 5. Raymond Merrill 6. Will Vaught 7. Reid Millard 8. Dan Shepherd 9. Shannon Scott 10. Jim Shereck
Chix Gear Heat #4 (10 Laps): 1. Jack Sullivan 2. Ryan Gustin 3. Larry Jones 4. RC Whitwell 5. Jacob Magee 6. Brian Schutt 7. Spencer Diercks 8. Chris Cox 9. Dwight Niehoff 10. Scott Lewis
Hoosier Racing Tires Heat #5 (10 Laps): 1. Jeremy Payne 2. Wendell Wallace 3. Mark Dotson 4. Dewayne Kiefer 5. Chris Brown 6. Hunter Rasdon 7. Austin Siebert 8. Tommy Weder 9. Patrick Johnson 10. Chris Lewis
For all of the latest news and information fans are encouraged to visit the series website at www.MLRARacing.com. Fans may also "like" the Lucas Oil MLRA Facebook page by clicking www.Facebook.com/lucasoilmlra or follow us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/MLRA.
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