Daniel Earns Sprint Invaders Win Before Charging to Top 10s at Jackson and Knoxville

Mason Daniel ILP photo

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KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 16, 2019) – Mason Daniel captured his first feature triumph of the season last Thursday to kick off arguably his best weekend of the season.

Daniel won a heat race from the pole, placed fifth in the dash and hustled from fifth to win the Sprint Invaders main event at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa.

“We’ve ran good there in the past so I was excited to get back to the track,” he said. “On the initial start of the main event I got to second before we got to the first corner. They called that back. On the next start I was in third right away and then got up to second in a couple of laps. We got into traffic and the track started laying rubber down. I caught Ayrton Gennetten about halfway through. We got through a couple of lapped cars and he got stuck by one. I was able to get under him. From there the rubber really started coming in around the track on the bottom. I just knew I needed to keep my tires under me.”

Daniel took the lead just after the midpoint of the 20-lap main event and he held on for his first career win with the series.

The strong run continued on Friday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., which hosted the Midwest Power Series and Midwest Sprint Touring Series.

“I fell back in the heat after some contact and couldn’t make it back up so we finished sixth,” he said. “In the B Main there were so many yellows and we were second, third, fourth and back to second. Luckily we transferred out of the B Main. We started 22nd in the main event, but we got used up in turns three and four and spun out. I went to the tail of the field, which was 23rd at the time. The car was good. I could run the bottom, top, middle. We had a fast car and made it work to rally back through there to seventh.”

Daniel rebounded from the early incident to charge from the rear of the field to a seventh-place finish. He earned the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.

The weekend concluded on Saturday at Knoxville Raceway, where Daniel qualified 24th quickest and placed sixth in a heat race. A fourth-place run in the B Main garnered a transfer into the back of the main event.

“I think at one point I was up to 12th or 13th, but I used up my right rear tire and we fell back a bit,” he said. “We were fast and it showed.”

Daniel hustled to a 16th-place result.

He capped the night by maneuvering from 17th to ninth during a make-up main event.

“In the second feature I knew what I needed to do and it was a fun race,” he said. “I think I had one or two more spots and jumped the cushion in turns one and two. It almost stalled the engine and two cars were able to get by me.

“We’ve been hit or miss this year, but the last couple of weeks we’ve been mainly hit. We won our first race and had good runs at Jackson and Knoxville. It’s exciting to start running well consistently.”

Daniel will return to Jackson Motorplex this Friday and Knoxville Raceway on Saturday.

QUICK RESULTS –

July 11 – Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa – Heat race: 1 (1); Dash: 5 (5); Feature: 1 (5).

July 12 – Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn. – Heat race: 6 (4); B Main: 2 (5); Feature: 7 (22).

July 13 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 24; Heat race: 6 (1); B Main: 4 (4); Feature: 16 (24); Make-Up Feature: 9 (17).

UP NEXT –

Friday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., with the Midwest Power Series and Midwest Sprint Touring Series and Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.masondanielracing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasonDRacing

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – BTC Bank

BTC Bank, which has nine full-service locations in Missouri and one in Iowa, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019. For more information, visit http://www.BTCBank.com.

“We’re excited to welcome BTC Bank to our team this year,” Daniel said. “They have many locations throughout the state of Missouri, including one in Carrollton where our race shop is located. Their reputation is stellar and service is top notch so we recommend to anyone in Missouri or Iowa to check out BTC Bank.”

Daniel would like to thank Young’s Commercial Transfer, Dillon Risk Management, King Racing Products, QA1 Rod Ends, Stevie Smith Titanium, Wings Unlimited, Bell Helmets, Golden State Peterbilt, Fresno Truck Center and Suncrest Bank for their continued support.