Gary Wright Back in
Lucas Oil ASCS
Victory Lane at
Little Rock!
Lonnie Wheatley,
LITTLE ROCK,
Ark. (April 16,
2011) – Gary
Wright ended the
longest winless
streak of his
Lucas Oil ASCS
presented by K&N
Filters National
career by racing
to victory lane
in Saturday
night’s 35-lap
main event atop
the high-banked,
¼-mile I-30
Speedway clay
oval.
Wright slipped
under race-long
leader Brad
Bowden in turns
one and two on
the 19th
circuit and went
on to post his
127th
career ASCS
National win and
first since
October of 2009
in front of Jeff
Swindell, with
past series
champions Tim
Crawley, Shane
Stewart and
Jason Johnson
rounding out the
top five.
“It just feels
good to win
again,
especially here
at I-30
Speedway, this
place has kind
of been like a
second home to
me,” Wright
commented after
the triumph
aboard his own
No. 9 Maxim
entry.
With the $6,000
score, Wright
became the
eighth different
winner in as
many Lucas Oil
ASCS National
events thus far
in 2011 while
also snapping a
victory drought
of 49 features
dating back to
2009 Devil’s
Bowl Winter
Nationals
preliminary
action.
“I talked with
one of the top
Outlaw guys last
year and he said
that this ASCS
National deal is
without a doubt
the toughest
racing series
out there, with
the format and
as many good
cars as there
are, there’s no
tougher series
in the country,”
Wright
explained.
When informed
that fellow
fifty-plus
member Jeff
Swindell took
runner up
honors, Wright
concluded that,
“I guess us old
guys put it on
the young ones
tonight!”
After chasing
Swindell to the
stripe in Friday
night’s
preliminary,
“The Texan”
redrew the front
row outside
starting
position with
23-year-old
Mississippi shoe
Brad Bowden, the
night’s top
point earner in
heat race
action, drawing
the pole
position.
Bowden and
Wright raced
wheel-to-wheel
through the
opening lap with
Bowden holding
the advantage at
the stripe and
then wading
through three
early tangles,
including a red
flag after two
laps for a Zach
Chappell flip in
turn two.
Chappell, who
flipped in heat
race action as
well and then
made a last-lap
pass in “B” Main
action to earn a
transfer, was
done for the
night.
Back under way,
Bowden led the
way on the
topside ahead of
Wright and Sam
Hafertepe, Jr.,
with Wright
moving in to
challenge as
Bowden closed on
the tail of the
field only to
have the caution
fly after ten
laps when Wade
Oliver came to a
stop in turn
four.
The final 25
laps ran off in
non-stop
fashion, with
Bowden keeping
Wright at bay
once again until
traffic came
into play.
Testing the low
side of the
track paid
dividends for
Wright, as he
reeled in Bowden
and drove by in
turns one and
two on the 19th
circuit to take
command.
While Wright led
the way,
Swindell had
slipped past
Hafertepe for
third on the lap
eleven restart
and then
followed
Wright’s lead
with a move
around Bowden
for second on
the 22nd
round. Wright
was flawless
through lapped
traffic though,
keeping Swindell
nearly a half
straightaway
behind.
Boxed in behind
a pair of
backmarkers over
the final lap,
Wright’s
advantage
diminished but
proved to be
enough as he
took the
checkered flag a
half-dozen
car-lengths
ahead of
Swindell’s
Roush/Yates
Ford-powered
Davis Paint &
Drywall No. 28
Maxim.
After starting
seventh, Tim
Crawley moved
around Shane
Stewart for
fifth by the 15th
lap, disposed of
Hafertepe for
third by the 20th
round and then
picked off
Bowden for third
by the 30th
lap. Crawley
held the show
position to the
line to post his
best series
finish of the
year aboard Mike
Ward’s Lucas
Oil/Boater
Sports No. 88
GF1.
Current series
point leader
Stewart took
over fourth in
the closing
circuits aboard
Paul Silva’s
Wesmar-powered
Rockstar Energy
Drink No. 57
A.R.T., with
defending series
champion Jason
Johnson charging
from 18th
to round out the
top five in the
JJR Don
Ott-powered
Haynes No. 41
Maxim.
Hafertepe was
sixth at the
line, with Seth
Bergman in
seventh. Bowden
faded to eighth
in the closing
laps, with Tony
Bruce, Jr.,
rallying from 24th
to salvage a
ninth place
finish after
using his second
provisional of
the year to
start the main
event after a
“B” Main flip on
the
frontstretch.
Danny Wood
completed the
top ten.
Matt Covington,
Logan Forler,
Bowden, Bergman
and Crawley
topped heat race
action, with
Zach Pringle and
Johnson winning
the “B” Mains.
After starting
sixth in the
feature, Forler
got a piece of
the wall exiting
turn four and
came to a stop
in turn one to
bring out the
first caution
after just one
lap. A lap
later, Matt
Covington got
pushed high
exiting turn
four and spun,
collecting
Johnny Herrera
and Wade Oliver
in the process.
When Chappell
flipped and
collected Jerrod
Hull and Dustin
Morgan on the
restart, the
work area was a
busy place with
Covington,
Forler, Herrera
and Oliver all
making quick
repairs to
rejoin the
chase.
Marshall
Skinner’s night
came to an early
end when he
flipped the
Sparks No. 91
wildly off the
turn two
embankment on
the opening lap
of the night’s
fourth heat
race. Like the
night’s other
flip victims,
Skinner was
uninjured.
Lucas Oil
ASCS Sprint Cars
presented by K&N
Filters
I-30 Speedway
Results
I-30 Speedway –
Little Rock, AR
Locked in from
Friday Night’s
Preliminary
Feature:
28-Jeff
Swindell,
57-Shane
Stewart, 9-Gary
Wright, 15h-Sam
Hafertepe, Jr.
Heat Races (Top
12 in Passing
Points,
including the 5
heat race
winners, to "A"
Main; Balance to
Two "B" Main):
Heat One (10
Laps): 1.
95-Matt
Covington, 2.
14T-Tyler Brown,
3. 5k-Jerry
Kamer, 4.
14-Jordon
Mallett, 5.
9jr-Derek Hagar,
6. 9x-Justin
Sturch, 7.
60-Eric Sandage,
8. 33-Mark
Huddleston.
Heat Two (10
Laps): 1.
2L-Logan Forler,
2. 58-Wade
Oliver, 3.
01-Jerrod Hull,
4. 12-Dalton
Davis, 5.
24-Justin
Carver, 6.
2-Dustin Morgan,
7. 87-Aaron
Reutzel, 8.
1x-Gary Taylor.
Heat Three (10
Laps): 1.
39-Brad Bowden,
2. 47-Dale
Howard, 3.
1h-Nic Jenkins,
4. 8x-Chris
Williams, 5.
8z-Zach Pringle,
6. 40x-Ernie
Ainsworth, 7.
3-A.G. Rains, 8.
40-Junior
Jenkins.
Heat Four (10
Laps): 1.
23-Seth Bergman,
2. 45x-Johnny
Herrera, 3.
2x-Bryce Vowan,
4. 41-Jason
Johnson, 5.
16-Anthony
Nicholson, 6.
38-Rick Pringle,
7. 0-Zach
Chappell, 8.
91-Marshall
Skinner.
Heat Five (10
Laps): 1.
88-Tim Crawley,
2. 81-Danny
Wood, 3. 18-Tony
Bruce, Jr., 4.
99-Brady Bacon,
5. 1g-Cody
Gardner, 6.
81au-Gavin
Punch, 7.
5-Jerod Roller,
8. 44-Ronny
Howard.
"B" Main (Top 3
from Each
Advance to "A"
Main):
First "B"
Feature (12
Laps): 1.
8z-Zach Pringle,
2. 99-Brady
Bacon, 3. 0-Zach
Chappell, 4.
8x-Chris
Williams, 5.
1x-Gary Taylor,
6. 81au-Gavin
Punch, 7.
16-Anthony
Nicholson, 8.
3-A.G. Rains, 9.
5k-Jerry Kamer,
10. 44-Ronny
Howard, 11.
1g-Cody Gardner,
12. 38-Rick
Pringle, 13.
60-Eric Sandage,
14. 18-Tony
Bruce, Jr.
Second “B”
Feature (12
Laps): 1.
41-Jason
Johnson, 2.
01-Jerrod Hull,
3. 2-Dustin
Morgan, 4.
9x-Justin
Sturch, 5.
1h-Nic Jenkins,
6. 87-Aaron
Reutzel, 7.
9jr-Derek Hagar,
8. 14-Jordon
Mallett, 9.
24-Justin
Carver, 10.
40x-Ernie
Ainsworth, 11.
5-Jerod Roller,
12. 33-Mark
Huddleston, 13.
40-Junior
Jenkins. DNS:
91-Marshall
Skinner.
I-30 Speedway
“A” Main:
“A” Feature (35
Laps): 1.
9-Gary Wright,
2. 28-Jeff
Swindell, 3.
88-Tim Crawley,
4. 57-Shane
Stewart, 5.
88-Jason
Johnson, 6.
15h-Sam
Hafertepe, Jr.,
7. 23-Seth
Bergman, 8.
39-Brad Bowden,
9. 18-Tony
Bruce, Jr., 10.
81-Danny Wood,
11. 47-Dale
Howard, 12.
45x-Johnny
Herrera, 13.
99-Brady Bacon,
14. 12-Dalton
Davis, 15.
2-Dustin Morgan,
16. 14T-Tyler
Brown, 17.
8z-Zach Pringle,
18. 2x-Bryce
Vowan, 19.
95-Matt
Covington, 20.
87-Aaron Reutzel,
21. 2L-Logan
Forler, 22.
01-Jerrod Hull,
23. 58-Wade
Oliver, 24.
0-Zach Chappell.
Lap Leaders:
Brad Bowden
1-18,
Gary Wright
19-35.
Note: Aaron
Reutzel and Tony
Bruce, Jr., both
utilized
provisionals to
start the main
event. It was
the second of
the year for
both.
Lucas Oil ASCS
Sprint Cars
presented by K&N
Filters Driver
Points (Top
15): 1. Shane
Stewart 1,072,
2. Johnny
Herrera 962, 3.
Jeff Swindell
956, 4. Tim
Crawley 890, 5.
Gary Wright 881,
6. Brady Bacon
854, 7. Seth
Bergman 844, 8.
Aaron Reutzel
793, 9. Tony
Bruce, Jr. 790,
10. Zach
Chappell 745,
11. Logan Forler
707, 12. Dustin
Morgan 690, 13.
Sam Hafertepe,
Jr. 544, 14.
Jason Johnson
518, 15. Danny
Wood 454.
Lucas Oil ASCS
Sprint Cars
presented by K&N
Filters Owner
Points (Top
15): 1. Paul
Silva #57 –
1,072, 2. Jason
Johnson Racing
#41 – 1,070, 3.
Herrera/Main
#45x - 962, 4.
Swindell Group
#28 – 956, 5.
Mike Ward #88 -
890, 6.
Bacon/Tel-Star
#99 - 854, 7.
Petersen
Motorsports #23
844, 8. Kenny
Reutzel #87 –
793, 9. Bruce
Racing #18 –
790, 10.
Cooper/Sperry
#01/51 - 774,
11. Randy
Washburn #0 –
745, 12. Steve
Forler #2L –
707, 13. M&M
Motorsports #2 –
690 14. Sam
Hafertepe #15 –
544, 15. Danny
Wood #81 - 454.
BUMPER TO
BUMPER SUPER
STOCKS ~ 16
FEATURE:
#36 Jeremy
Kester (Mid
State Golf Cars
Hard Charger),
#13 Darin Long,
#36h Heather
Kelley, #10
David Ratliff,
#TEN Jason Eddy,
#31 Brandon
Herndon, #92
Garrett
Hatfield, #6
Mike McDougale,
#58 Tim Cobb,
#410 Jeremy
Davis, #22c Greg
Carlin, #25h
Kenny Howerton,
#21v Nathan
Vales, #22t
Duane Tiley and
#91k Kameron
Eddy
HEATS:
#22c Carlin and
#13 Long
MINI-SPRINTS
~ 25
FEATURE:
#52 Blake Hahn,
#5x Tyson Hall,
#13 Triston
Tidmore (Mid
State Golf Cars
Hard Charger),
#9x Bradley
Meyer, #3h
Brandon Hanks,
#43 Matthew
Bauldwin, #15j
Jeremy
Middleton, #28
Todd McWilliams,
#8 Frederic
Fezard, #5k John
Kamm, #10 Tim
McKenzie, #3c
Cody Coggin,
#14m Morgan
Montgomery, #99
Blake Jenkins,
#14mc Thomas
McCann, #d6
Dakota Gaines,
#6x Chris Meyer,
#22j Josh Rehm
and #20 Jeremy
Postlethwait
HEATS:
#22j Rehm, #52
Hahn and #5x
Hall
"B" FEATURE:
#28 McWilliams
IMCA
MODIFIEDS ~ 22
FEATURE:
#82 Jayson
Hefley, #7d
David Payne, #29
Jeremy
Kuykendall, #f1
Randy Weaver,
#01a Drew
Armstrong, #07
Buck Reid, #22
Emmett Lawson,
#26 Patrick
Linn, #32f
Philip Forbush,
#48 Alan Brown,
#c5 Chris
Carter, #m2
Buddy Pifer, #30
David Baser,
#57d Jimmy
Dixon, #7 JT
Goodson, #77
Brad Calhoun,
#46 Nick Glaze,
#3 Scotty
Misenheimer,
#57t Trent
Taylor, #4x
Chuck Sanders,
#44 Ricky
Anderson and #9s
Kevin Swaims
HEATS:
#48 Brown, #82
Hefley and #22
Lawson
