By T.J. Buffenbarger
NASHVILLE (June 1, 2019) — Shane Stewart used patience through slower traffic late in the main event Saturday night at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway to pick up the $25,000 victory during the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Music City Outlaw Nationals. The win was Stewart’s second of the season and first with the World of Outlaws since joining CJB Motorsports.
This is a big win for this team. I can’t thank Chad and Jen (Clemens) and all of their hard work. All their faithfulness in giving me another shot,” said Stewart about his off season ride change. “It’s a tough series man and these wins are hard to come by, hard fought. A lot of it honestly had a lot to do with pill draw. Dennis did a really good job. We went out early, got qualified, got in the dash, and felt like we had a pretty good car there. I knew I had to stay on the bottom late in the race.”
Stewart started on the front row with Jeff Swindell and took the lead in turn three after a brief side by side battle for the lead. Brent Marks made his presence felt early driving around David Gravel for third position in turn three just before a Daryn Pittman caution flag. Following the restart Marks drove around Swindell for second with a power move driving around the outside of turn four on lap five and immediately started pressuring Stewart for the lead.
On lap eight Marks had a look to take the lead down the back stretch when a caution flag appeared for a four-car pileup in turn three. Starting on lap 10 Stewart and Marks started exchanging the lead back and forth for two laps until Stewart bounced off the wall on lap 15 and allowed Marks to open some breathing room between himself and Stewart.
Marks comfort up front was short lived as slower traffic became a factor and allowed Stewart to close back in. On Lap 22 Marks bobbled in turns one and two, giving the opportunity Stewart needed to drive under Marks for the lead. Late in the race the track took rubber and Stewart was extremely patient in lapped traffic to hold his line and keep Marks at bay. This turned out to be the difference as Stewart drove to victory over Marks, Brad Sweet with a late run to third, Tony Stewart, and Donny Schatz rounding out the top five.
Afterwards Stewart reflected on swapping the lead on four occasions over the 40 laps with Marks yet remained committed to the bottom of the track at the end.
Brent raced me clean and I felt like I needed to do the same for him,” said Stewart. “I knew the bottom was going to come in eventually. Brent started to pull away from me a little bit, but I knew lapped traffic was going to be important as well. I just had to be patient.”
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Seires
Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
Nashville, TN
Saturday June 1, 2019
Feature: 1. 5 – Shane Stewart, 2. 19 – Brent Marks, 3. 49 – Brad Sweet, 4. 14 – Tony Stewart, 5. 15 – Donny Schatz, 6. 41 – David Gravel, 7. 2 – Carson Macedo, 8. 14X – Jeff Swindell, 9. 19X – Kevin Thomas Jr, 10. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 11. 7 – Jason Sides, 12. 9JR – Derek Hagar, 13. 99 – Brad Bacon, 14. 83 – Daryn Pittman, 15. 18 – Ian Madsen, 16. 23 – Russel Borland, 17. 1A – Jacob Allen, 18. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 19. 98 – Chad Boespflug, 20. 4X – Jim Stinson, 21. 9 – James McFadden, 22. 90 – Jordan Givler, 23. 21 – Carson Short, 24. 64 – Scotty Thiel