PETERSEN MEDIA
Heading into the 2012 Knoxville Nationals, Lance Dewease had struggled during qualifications, a problem which he thought would hamper him at the Knoxville Nationals, but the Fayetteville, PA driver was able to time in 19th quickest during his qualifying night and propelled him into the feature event on Saturday night.
With 50 cars on hand during his qualifying night, Dewease’s 19th quickest effort put him in the second heat where he started in the fifth spot.
On a very racy track, Dewease was able to move his Conduit Connections/Viper Risk Management Group/Hank’s Performance Parts machine up to the second spot, earning valuable heat race points, and a berth in the preliminary feature event.
Sitting ninth in points following heat races, Dewease lined his Schaeffer Racing Oils/Penske Shoks/FK Rod Ends machine up in the ninth spot for the 25 lap feature event.
Again, showing speed, LD30 was able to carve his way forward as he worked the bottom of the Knoxville Raceway and scored a fifth place finish in the feature event.
Sitting 15th in points, Dewase had earned a berth in the Saturday night feature event, paying $150,000 to win.
Lining up in the eighth row, Dewease stayed relatively quiet during the first half of the race as he worked his way up inside the top-ten.
As the race restarted, the PA Posse legend slowly began working inside the top ten, as he chased down Joey Saldana and Tim Kaeding.
Dewease would work up to the eight spot as he set his sights on Shane Stewart and Stevie Smith.
As the laps wound down, he would stay in the eighth spot as he was never to get close enough to the duo to challenge them.
“It was a pretty good weekend for this team,” Dewease said. “I was a little worried about qualifying since we have struggled at that all year, but we turned down a decent lap and put it in the big show on Saturday. We were okay during the first half, but we got rolling pretty good towards the end, I just wish we could have been that good earlier.”
Dewease would like to thank Viper Risk Management Group, Conduit Connections, Wings Unlimited, Hank’s Performance Products, Schaeffer Racing Oils, Penske Racing Shocks, FK Rodends, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, DMI Racing Components, Astro Titanium, Morrison Racing Engines, Tom Shockey Collision, Kirkey Seats, FW Graphics, WRT Web Designs, WRT SpeedWerx, ViperVenom Fuels, and Schoenfeld Headers for their continued support.
ON TAP: Dewease will be in action for a trio of events this weekend with a stop at the Williams Grove Speedway on Friday a trip to Port Royal slated for Saturday night, and a stop at Bedford on Sunday.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay up to speed with Lance by visiting his website, www.lancedewease.com.