From Tyler Altmeyer
YORK HAVEN, Pa. (August 26, 2018) – Showing the sprint car world a Tony Stewart of old on Sunday evening in Central Pennsylvania, Smoke helped his Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 close out their four-race trek through Pennsylvania Posse Country by earning a victory at BAPS Motor Speedway, ultimately leading a dominant All Star roster that placed seven competitors inside the top-ten, Smoke included, two of which on top of the feature podium. For Stewart, the $5,000 victory was his first with the traveling All Stars since winning at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway over one year ago, bumping his career total to three during All Star competition.
Vienna, West Virginia’s Cale Conley survived an intense battle with Paul McMahan, Lance Dewease and Carson Macedo to finish second during the Justin Snyder Salute to the Troops program, followed by Dewease, McMahan, and Aaron Reutzel.
“Anytime you can come to Central Pennsylvania and beat the Pennsylvania Posse is pretty special. These are some of the best drivers in the country. We are all very excited to be up here right now,” Tony Stewart explained, driver of the Textron Off Road/RUSH Truck Centers/Sage Fruit/Ford Performance/No. 14 sprint car. “I try to learn from everyone I race with, especially my teammate, Donny Schatz. Donny is a true friend of mine and a mentor. We try to learn a lot from each other. He is a great person to have around.”
Although Tony Stewart’s march to the front started from the inside of row three, he did not crack into the top-five for the first time, officially, until lap eight.
After a red flag incident on lap three for Anthony Fiore, a caution on lap 11 stacked the field once again giving Stewart another opportunity to improve. When green flag action resumed, Stewart was able to immediately work beyond Aaron Reutzel for fourth, then setting aim for one of the three podium positions held down by Carson Macedo, Cale Conley, and race leader, Paul McMahan.
Less than a handful of circuits later, Stewart proved to the packed house at BAPS Motor Speedway that he was a man on a mission on Sunday evening, actually taking Macedo and Conley three wide into turns three and four on lap 14. Stewart hugged the bottom with Conley and Macedo racing through the middle and on the cushion. The move was gutsy, but it worked, eventually crossing under the flagstand to complete lap 14 in the runner-up spot, now with McMahan in his viewfinder.
A caution on lap 16 gave Stewart an opportunity to restart on the tail tank of McMahan. The opportunity proved beneficial for the Columbus, Ind., native, soon battling by the Nashville resident via Elk Grove, Calif., on lap 18. From that point forward, it was the ‘Smoke Show,’ cruising on to score the 30-lap, $5,000 victory over Cale Conley and a fast-closing Lance Dewease, who charged ten positions by feature’s end.
On a side note, Kyle Larson, who started from the outside-pole position, led the first two circuits on Sunday evening at BAPS Motor Speedway before suffering from mechanical failure; Larson was scored 23rd.
Rounding out the month of August and rapidly transitioning into the month of September, the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will next tackle three events in the Buckeye State, invading Attica Raceway Park for Attica Ambush weekend on Friday and Saturday, August 31 & September 1, followed by the annual Pete Jacobs Memorial at Wayne County Speedway on Sunday, September 2. The Attica Ambush will feature back-to-back, full programs for Tony Stewart’s All Stars awarding $5,000 each. Sunday’s Pete Jacobs Memorial will award a $10,000 top prize.
More information regarding the Labor Day weekend tour of Ohio will be posted in the near-future. Fans should stay tuned online at www.allstarsprint.com, as well as on all of the available social media networks.
Contingency Awards/Results: BAPS Motor Speedway – Sunday, August 26, 2018:
Justin Snyder Salute to the Troops
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 34 entrants
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Tim Shaffer – 15.110 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Aaron Reutzel – 14.949 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Paul McMahan
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Brian Montieth
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Kyle Larson
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Carson Macedo
JE Pistons Dash #1: Paul McMahan
Wix Filters Dash #2: Kyle Larson
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Danny Dietrich
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Tony Stewart
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Cale Conley (+6)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 14-Tony Stewart, 15.203; 2. 69K-Lance Dewease, 15.392; 3. 13-Paul McMahan, 15.439; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 15.446; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri, 15.634; 6. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 15.774; 7. 7W-Logan Wagner, 16.068; 8. 73B-Brett Michalski, 16.254; 9. 24H-Jeremy Hill, 99.090
Group (B)
1. 91F-Anthony Fiore, 15.311; 2. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 15.326; 3. 21-Brian Montieth, 15.462; 4. 7K-Cale Conley, 15.567; 5. 39-Cory Haas, 15.598; 6. 2W-Glenndon Forsythe, 15.795; 7. 35-Tyler Esh, 15.814; 8. 17G-George Streaker, 18.341
Group (C)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 14.949; 2. 44-Trey Starks, 15.068; 3. 4-Brock Zearfoss, 15.355; 4. 57-Kyle Larson, 15.443; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.510; 6. 99M-Kyle Moody, 15.515; 7. 27-Greg Hodnett, 15.711; 8. 16-Matt Campbell, 16.484
Group (D)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo, 15.277; 2. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 15.663; 3. 11-Ryan Smith, 15.681; 4. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 15.692; 5. 70-Dave Blaney, 15.756; 6. 49H-Bradley Howard, 15.899; 7. 7ks-Dan Shetler, 16.016; 8. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 99.300
Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 13-Paul McMahan [2]; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah [1]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [3]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart [4]; 5. 24-Lucas Wolfe [6]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri [5]; 7. 7W-Logan Wagner [7]; 8. 73B-Brett Michalski [8]; 9. 24H-Jeremy Hill [9]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 21-Brian Montieth [2]; 2. 7K-Cale Conley [1]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 4. 35-Tyler Esh [7]; 5. 91F-Anthony Fiore [4]; 6. 39-Cory Haas [5]; 7. 2W-Glenndon Forsythe [6]; 8. 17G-George Streaker [8]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. 4-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 4. 99M-Kyle Moody [6]; 5. 27-Greg Hodnett [7]; 6. 44-Trey Starks [3]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]; 8. 16-Matt Campbell [8]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 2. 11-Ryan Smith [2]; 3. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [3]; 4. 22-Brandon Spithaler [1]; 5. 70-Dave Blaney [5]; 6. O7-Gerard McIntyre [8]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard [6]; 8. 7KS-Dan Shetler [7]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 13-Paul McMahan [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. 14-Tony Stewart [5]; 4. 21-Brian Montieth [1]; 5. 91F-Anthony Fiore [3]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 3G-Carson Macedo [3]; 3. 11-Ryan Smith [2]; 4. 7K-Cale Conley [4]; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah [5]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 48-Danny Dietrich [2]; 2. 44-Trey Starks [1]; 3. 39-Cory Haas [3]; 4. O7-Gerard McIntyre [5]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 6. 2W-Glenndon Forsythe [6]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard [7]; 8. 73B-Brett Michalski [10]; 9. 16-Matt Campbell [11]; 10. 24H-Jeremy Hill [13]; 11. 17G-George Streaker [12]; 12. 7W-Logan Wagner [8]; 13. 7KS-Dan Shetler [9]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 14-Tony Stewart [5]; 2. 7K-Cale Conley [8]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [13]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [1]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 6. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 7. 11-Ryan Smith [6]; 8. 10H-Chad Kemenah [10]; 9. 48-Danny Dietrich [21]; 10. 49X-Tim Shaffer [11]; 11. 27-Greg Hodnett [18]; 12. 4-Brock Zearfoss [12]; 13. 22-Brandon Spithaler [16]; 14. 24-Lucas Wolfe [20]; 15. 21-Brian Montieth [7]; 16. 99M-Kyle Moody [15]; 17. 39-Cory Haas [23]; 18. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [14]; 19. 44-Trey Starks [22]; 20. O7-Gerard McIntyre [24]; 21. 70-Dave Blaney [19]; 22. 35-Tyler Esh [17]; 23. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 24. 91F-Anthony Fiore [9] Lap Leaders: Kyle Larson (1,2), Paul McMahan (3-17), Tony Stewart (18-30)
All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings: (after BAPS Motor Speedway on 8/26/2018)
1. Aaron Reutzel – 4416
2. Carson Macedo – 4374
3. Chad Kemenah – 4348
4. Paul McMahan – 4166
5. Dave Blaney – 4098
6. Jac Haudenschild – 3850
7. Cale Conley – 3850
8. Brandon Spithaler – 3536
9. Parker Price-Miller – 3466
10. Tyler Esh – 3364