From Bryal Hulbert
BRANDON, S.D. (July 31, 2016) — For the second time in his career, Indiana’s Bryan Clauson parked the Cancer Treatment Centers Of American No. 17w in Victory Lane with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network with a $10,000 score at South Dakota’s Badlands Motor Speedway.
The debut event for the Lucas Oil ASCS at Badlands Motor Speedway, the victory is No. 26 on Clauson’s “Circular Insanity Tour”. The Indy 500 starter is now 112 races deep into his quest for 200.
“I love racing here at Badlands. I haven’t had the opportunity to get up here as much as I like with us traveling a little bit more, but I really enjoy racing here. I’ve always run pretty well here too so that helps,” said Clauson.
Thanking owners, crew, sponsors, and family Clauson went on to say, “I’ve been working these guys pretty hard. We’ve run a whole lot of races and it’s been a tough couple weeks, but they gave me a phenomenal Racecar tonight and we were able to put it in Victory Lane.”
Firing off from the third, Clauson moved to the runner-up spot on the third round following a Lap 2 caution for Matt Covington and Dylan Peterson. Tommy Barber leading the way, the caution flew again on Lap five. Bringing the field nose to tail, Barber was untouchable on the restart as Clauson worked to hold off the No. 6 of Carson McCarl.
Building a comfortable lead, the 212 Bar and Grill No. 75 would be denied the win. Rounding the second turn on Lap 9, Barber found cars parked and his path blocked. On the binders, it was too late as Barber tagged the spun No. 429 of Robby Wolfgang.
With Clauson taking over the point, it was a matter of running smooth laps as the field jockeyed for position behind the No. 17w.
Using the Lap 9 restart, Josh Baughman moved to the runner-up spot in the FK Midwest No. 17. Having come from the 12th starting spot, Baughman worked to keep Clauson in sight as Aaron Reutzel moved to third on Lap 12.
Finding traffic, the margin from first to third closed rapidly. With Josh and Aaron both closing in fast, the line had moved from the top to the bottom as rubber began setting in. Having to carefully negotiate traffic, Clauson would hold on for the night’s $10,000 prize; crossing 1.295 seconds ahead of Josh Baughman.
The night’s Hard Charger, Baughman has finished runner-up in his last two Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour outings with this one coming in the Texas racer’s debut at the three-eighths mile oval.
“We’d never been here before, and we were pretty excited to come out here and race. This is a pretty prestigious place. You know, we started 12th and got to second. Congrats to Clauson and those guys. Those guys work hard and I know my guys have been busting their tails. We’ve been racing a lot here lately and it shows. The results are starting to show the work. I really feel like we should have had one of these two won this week but we won’t put our heads down over two seconds in a row.”
From eighth, Aaron Reutzel crossed third for his 34th career podium finish in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour competition.
Asked about how he felt following the 30 rounds of competition, Reutzel responded, “We fell good. You know the start of this year was pretty bad, but we’re finally getting things going and not just on my team, but also the No. 55 team and I just can’t thank all my guys enough. We’re getting things rolling pretty good, and I really thought I had a show at Josh and Clauson there, but that No. 25 had other ideas.”
With a fourth place finish, Iowa’s Carson McCarl posted his best finish, and first top-five, against the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network. Likewise, South Dakota’s Dusty Ballenger’s fifth place finish is the first time the No. 2d has placed in the top-five with the Lucas Oil ASCS.
California’s Tim Kaeding came from 13th to sixth in the Lunstra Motorsports No. 3 with Seth Bergman from 10th to seventh in the Corridor Electric No. 23. From 15th, Blake Hahn brought the Lucas Oil No. 52 to an eighth place finish with Wayne Johnson ninth in the City Vending No. 2c. The top-ten rounded out with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. who gridded the field 14th in the Keith Dobbs Motorsports No. 15h.
The Sunday showdown at Badlands Motor Speedway had 30 drivers split into four Heat Races with wins going to Carson McCarl, Dusty Ballenger, Wayne Johnson, and Bryan Clauson. The night’s B-Main was topped by Robby Wolfgang. No Provisionals were used.
The Lucas Oil ASCS presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network makes the turn to Iowa for the 26th annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank and the kick off to the Lucas Oil Triple Crown; a $50,000 bonus if a driver can sweep the 360 Knoxville Nationals, the High Roller Classic at Missouri State Fair Speedway on August 21, and the Hockett/McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway happening September 22-24.
For continued updates on the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVtv
Badlands Motor Speedway
Brandon, S.D.
Sunday July 31, 2016
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17W-Bryan Clauson[3]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman[12]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]; 4. 6-Carson McCarl[2]; 5. 2D-Dusty Ballenger[4]; 6. 3-Tim Kaeding[13]; 7. 23-Seth Bergman[10]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn[15]; 9. 2C-Wayne Johnson[7]; 10. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[14]; 11. 2L-Logan Forler[16]; 12. 45X-Johnny Herrera[19]; 13. 1H-Justin Henderson[9]; 14. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 15. 11X-Gregg Bakker[18]; 16. 14K-Kyle Bellm[22]; 17. 25-Dylan Peterson[6]; 18. (DNF) 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[20]; 19. (DNF) 101-Chuck McGillivray[11]; 20. (DNF) 75-Tommy Barber[1]; 21. (DNF) 429-Robby Wolfgang[17]; 22. (DNF) 23W-Scott Winters[21]
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 429-Robby Wolfgang[2]; 2. 11X-Gregg Bakker[1]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[11]; 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[4]; 5. 23W-Scott Winters[6]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[10]; 7. 5-Eric Lutz[7]; 8. 35-Skyler Prochaska[8]; 9. 12S-Troy Schreurs[9]; 10. 10J-Justin Jacobsma[5]; 11. 1-Justin Glaser[13]; 12. 41A-Andee Beierle[12]; 13. (DNF) 14-Jody Rosenboom[3]; (DNS) 17G-Lee Goos Jr
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Carson McCarl[3]; 2. 101-Chuck McGillivray[1]; 3. 75-Tommy Barber[5]; 4. 1H-Justin Henderson[7]; 5. 11X-Gregg Bakker[6]; 6. 14-Jody Rosenboom[8]; 7. 41A-Andee Beierle[2]; 8. 1-Justin Glaser[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2D-Dusty Ballenger[1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 5. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[4]; 6. 35-Skyler Prochaska[3]; 7. 12S-Troy Schreurs[7]; (DNS) 17G-Lee Goos Jr
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[2]; 2. 25-Dylan Peterson[3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[7]; 5. 10J-Justin Jacobsma[1]; 6. 5-Eric Lutz[4]; 7. 14K-Kyle Bellm[5]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Bryan Clauson[3]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman[1]; 3. 3-Tim Kaeding[4]; 4. 429-Robby Wolfgang[2]; 5. 2L-Logan Forler[7]; 6. 23W-Scott Winters[6]; 7. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]