From Bryan Hulbert
Mesquite, TX — (October 20, 2012) — “It’s all about luck at this place” were the words of Jeff Swindell when asked about racing at the Devil’s Bowl and Saturday night luck was on Jeff’s side as the driver of the H&H Container Service No. 94 wheeled by Danny Lasoski on the white flag lap for the weekend sweep of the 39th annual Winter Nationals at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
Drawing the third starting spot in the night’s 30 lap Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV feature event, the Bartlett, Tennessee driver fell to fifth on the start at Danny Lasoski jumped to the lead ahead of pole starter Gary Wright with Christopher Bell in tow.
Pausing for a caution on lap four that saw the Casey’s General Store / FVP / Searsboro No. 21 of Brian Brown stalling on the back straight-a-way, the field went single file to the green with Lasoski quickly opening a comfortable advantage over Christopher Bell and Gary Wright.
Holding off the repeated challenges of Gary Wright, the Griffith Truck and Equipment No. 17 of Christopher Bell would unfortunately see his night end with eighteen laps remaining as mechanical problems sidelined the Norman, Oklahoma driver.
Continuing green, the A.S.I Engines No. 9 of Wright would begin closing in on the Parker Burch Motorsports No. 1m of Danny Lasoski as slower traffic came into play but before Wright could challenge the caution lights would blink on around the Devil’s Bowl Speedway as Dustin Morgan rolled to a stop off the high side of turn four.
Taking off to another comfortable advantage on the restart, the race of the track would be for second as Jeff Swindell climbed back into contention. Rolling past Gary Wright for second on lap nineteen, Swindell would begin tracking down Lasoski with slower traffic again starting to work into the picture.
Looking like “The Dude” was on his way to back to back Winter National titles, the caution would wave as the field worked on lap twenty-nine when the No. 45x stopped off the top of turn three.
Reset for the single file restart, the green, white, checkered finish Swindell was glued to the back bumper of Lasoski. Trying to make the car as wide as possible, Lasoski would slip just enough for Swindell to gain the inside line coming to the white flag. Getting the lead entering turn one, the duo pulled into an all-out drag race into turns three and four with Jeff Swindell holding on for the last lap upset.
Danny Lasoski would cross the line second with Gary Wright on the final step of the podium. Jason Johnson would settle for fourth with Justin Henderson coming from ninth to round out the top five.
Despite not having power steering for the better part of the night’s A-Feature, Kevin Swindell held on for sixth. Danny Jennings was seventh with Matt Covington, Zach Chappell, and Seth Bergman rounding out the top five.
Also a part of the night’s festivities was a tribute to Gary Wright during Intermission by official, friends, fellow racers, and family. Announcing his retirement from professional racing earlier this season, “The Texan” was honored by those who are proud to call him their friend with a plaque presented by ASCS along with a commemorative mirror from Gary’s family.
Offering their own version of a toast to a job well done, the drivers of the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV provided Gary with bottles of Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 6 gallons of Gary’s drink of choice to be exact, with each signed by drivers and crew members.
Wright will officially retire from the road following the Western World in November.
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV
39th annual Winter Nationals – Night #2
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, Texas
October 20, 2012
Event Car Count: 46
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Danny Jennings[2]; 2. 5H-Logan Forler[1]; 3. 4-Gary Taylor[4]; 4. 17R-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 5. 85-Tommy Bryant[6]; 6. 1A-Kevin Ramey[5]; 7. 29-Travis Rilat[7]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 9. 45X-Johnny Herrera[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 50Z-Zach Chappell[1]; 2. 77X-Wayne Johnson[3]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 4. 69-Larry Howery[2]; 5. 29X-Brandon Hahn[4]; 6. 31-Brandon Berryman[9]; 7. 12M-Kyle McCutcheon[8]; 8. 3-Raven Culp[6]; 9. 4X-Shawn Petersen[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Kevin Swindell[1]; 2. 224-John Carney II[2]; 3. 27-Andy Shouse[4]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[7]; 5. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[5]; 6. 99-Brady Bacon[8]; 7. 48-Jake Martens[6]; DNF 53-Jack Dover[3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 82-Justin Henderson[1]; 2. 11C-Matt Covington[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[3]; 5. 71-Channin Tankersley[6]; 6. 2L-Logan Payne[8]; DNF 15G-Bud Goodwin[5]; DNF 36-Robert Sellers[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Gary Wright[5]; 2. 2-Dustin Morgan[2]; 3. 14-Martin Edwards[4]; 4. 12W-Dale Wester[7]; 5. 22-Koby Barksdale[6]; 6. 10-George White[3]; 7. 90-Lance Norick[8]; DNF 81-Danny Wood[1]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 4-Gary Taylor[1]; 2. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 3. 99-Brady Bacon[7]; 4. 53-Jack Dover[13]; 5. 29-Travis Rilat[11]; 6. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 7. 3-Raven Culp[14]; 8. 85-Tommy Bryant[5]; 9. 4X-Shawn Petersen[15]; DNF 1A-Kevin Ramey[9]; DNF 22-Koby Barksdale[6]; DNF 17R-Aaron Reutzel[4]; DNF 29X-Brandon Hahn[8]; DNF 90-Lance Norick[10]; DNS 15G-Bud Goodwin
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 27-Andy Shouse[1]; 2. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[4]; 3. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[8]; 4. 12M-Kyle McCutcheon[9]; 5. 31-Brandon Berryman[3]; 6. 10-George White[10]; 7. 48-Jake Martens[11]; 8. 45X-Johnny Herrera[14]; 9. 52-Blake Hahn[12]; 10. 36-Robert Sellers[13]; 11. 2L-Logan Payne[7]; 12. 69-Larry Howery[6]; DNF 14-Martin Edwards[2]; DNF 71-Channin Tankersley[5]; DNF 81-Danny Wood[15]
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 94-Jeff Swindell[3]; 2. 1M-Danny Lasoski[2]; 3. 9-Gary Wright[1]; 4. 41-Jason Johnson[6]; 5. 82-Justin Henderson[9]; 6. 39-Kevin Swindell[8]; 7. 1J-Danny Jennings[5]; 8. 11C-Matt Covington[12]; 9. 50Z-Zach Chappell[7]; 10. 23-Seth Bergman[11]; 11. 224-John Carney II[13]; 12. 99-Brady Bacon[21]; 13. 4-Gary Taylor[17]; 14. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[22]; 15. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[20]; 16. 21-Brian Brown[19]; 17. 77X-Wayne Johnson[16]; 18. 05-Brad Loyet[24]; 19. 5H-Logan Forler[14]; 20. 12W-Dale Wester[10]; DNF 45X-Johnny Herrera[23]; DNF 27-Andy Shouse[18]; DNF 2-Dustin Morgan[15]; DNF 17-Chris Bell[4]
Lap Leader(s): Danny Lasoski (1-29), Jeff Swindell (30)
Pitstopusa.com Hard Charger of the Night: Brady Bacon+9
FSR Radiator High Point Driver of the Night: Gary Wright
Provisional(s): Johnny Herrera (P1), Brad Loyet (BP2)
2012 Feature Winners: Jason Johnson-12, Wayne Johnson-9, Brady Bacon-7, Jeff Swindell-4, Tony Bruce Jr.-3, Danny Lasoski-2, Shane Stewart-2, Brian Brown-1, Seth Bergman-1, Jason Martin-1, Dustin Morgan-1, Danny Wood-1, Cody Baker-1, Jordan Boston-1, Brock Lemley-1, Mason Moore-1, Brad Loyet-1, Brooke Tatnell-1, Kevin Swindell-1, Justin Henerson-1, Terry McCarl-1
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV Points (top 10): 1. Jason Johnson 6,300; 2. Wayne Johnson 6,203; 3. Brady Bacon 6,069; 4. Johnny Herrera 5,695; 5. Tony Bruce Jr. 5,629; 6. Brad Loyet 5,617; 7. Seth Bergman 5,230; 8. Logan Forler 5,156; 9. Gary Wright-5,015; 10. Dustin Morgan-5,000
The 2012 season marks the 21st year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. For information regarding availability and listings in your area log onto www.mavtv.com.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MavTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire, Brodix, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, K&N Filters, PitstopUSA.com, FSR Radiator and Racing Proucts, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, Wesmar Racing Engines, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com as well as Twitter (@LucasOilASCS) and Facebook. News and information can also be sent to you with the ASCS E-News Letter. Sign up with your Cell Phone by texting ASCS to 22828.