From Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. – In what is already shaping up as another banner year for the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, several dates have been added to the 2010 slate in recent weeks since the preliminary schedule was announced last month.
Among the added dates are a pair of premier weekend doubles to close out the season in November as well as a return to Oklahoma’s Outlaw Motor Speedway and Kilgore’s Lone Star Speedway in the early portion of the 2010 campaign.
It was announced today that the series will return to Outlaw Motor Speedway near Muskogee, OK, for the first time since 2003, where reigning Lucas Oil Sprint Car champion Shane Stewart won the third of his 18 career series feature events.
The series will return to the semi-banked, 3/8-mile Outlaw Motor Speedway clay oval on Friday, June 4, setting up a weekend double that wraps up the following night at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway.
The event originally slated for June 4 at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, IL, has been reset for August 27.
The Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series will also return to the high-banked, ½-mile Lone Star Speedway dirt oval in Kilgore, TX, for the first time since 2002 on Friday night, April 9, leading the way into the first series event of the year at I-30 Speedway the following night.
Also added in recent weeks are November weekend doubles at both Las Cruces’ Southern New Mexico Speedway and Nevada’s Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Following I-30 Speedway’s $15,000-to-win Short Track Nationals on October 28-30 and the event rain date for the following weekend, the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars travel to the southwest to put the finishing touches on the season.
On Friday and Saturday, November 12 and 13, the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars tackle the high-banked, 5/16-mile Southern New Mexico Speedway clay oval in Las Cruces, NM, for the first time since Chris Ikard posted his lone series win in February of 1997.
Then, following the 43rd Annual Western World Championships at Tucson’s USA Raceway on November 18-20, the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters closes out the year with the Lucas Oil National Sprint Car Championships atop the semi-banked, ½-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway clay oval on November 26-27, with the series annual banquet to follow the next night.
The Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters is currently slated for 38 nights of competition at 18 different tracks throughout 14 different states, pending the outcome of tomorrow’s expected ruling in Oklahoma City that will determine the immediate fate of the long-standing tradition revolving about the State Fair Speedway’s grandstand and the governmentally-perceived safety thereof.
The Lucas Oil Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters will once again vie for a staggering $250,000 point fund with $60,000 earmarked for the series champion. The standard purse for one-night events and the final night of two-night stands includes a $6,000 winner’s share and $500 minimum to start the main event, with a healthy tow money package in effect for the top 15 in series points.
Bixby, Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart captured his first Lucas Oil National Sprint Car championship in 2009 aboard California car owner Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered No. 57 A.R.T. Chassis, edging 2008 champ Jason Johnson by just 25 markers for the crown.
Stewart kicks off his title defense at the 37th Annual Devil’s Bowl Speedway Spring Nationals on March 19-20, taking on a full assemblage of full-time Lucas Oil Sprint Car competitors along with a strong contingent of invaders atop the famed Mesquite, TX, clay oval and each ensuing stop along the way.
Additional information regarding the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters is available at www.ascsracing.com.