By Tyler Altmeyer
DRESDEN, Ohio (June 16, 2019) – Although it took nearly three years for Hartford, Ohio’s Dale Blaney to find Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory lane before his triumph at Stateline Speedway on June 8, it took only eight days to do it again, this time earning night three of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing at Muskingum County Speedway in Dresden, Ohio.
Forced to withstand heavy offense from a pair of California hotshots, Gio Scelzi and Kyle Larson, Blaney’s Speedweek triumph ultimately bumped his career win total to 136 with Tony Stewart’s All Star Circuit of Champions, now with two victories in 2019. Impressive enough, Blaney nearly swept the Speedweek program at Muskingum County, winning his respective heat race and dash before leading all 30 circuits of main event competition.
“We just needed to get racing a little bit. We changed some stuff around on the car last week and it made it better, then we changed some more stuff around on the car after the dash [at Attica Raceway Park] and that it better, as well,” Dale Blaney said, driver of the Sam McGhee Motorsports/Mike McGhee & Associates/No. 11 sprint car. “I’m starting to feel like my old self again and the car is making me feel like my old self. We’ll head to the next round and try and do this again.”
Although a clean first half for Blaney, getting the opportunity to avoid traffic as a trio of cautions paved the way for clean air on lap two, eight and 11, it was the second 15 laps of the 30-lap program that brought people to their feet.
Traffic, appearing for the first time, officially, on lap 17, eventually slowed Blaney’s pace, and although the National Sprint Car Hall of Famer worked hard to maintain his distance over second place with one or two lap cars separating the two, the gap between the frontrunners eventually tightened. By lap 19, the top five were nearly nose to tail with Blaney still setting the pace, followed closely by Gio Scelzi, Brock Zearfoss, Kyle Larson and Aaron Reutzel. Despite heavy pressure beginning to build, a caution on lap 25 gave Blaney a breather, once again eradicating slower traffic and giving the six-time All Star champion clean air to utilize.
Seemingly in control the final six circuits, it was the final two laps that created a scare for Blaney as Scelzi closed the lead margin in a hurry, nearly capitalizing on a slip by the race leader. Despite the issue, Blaney held on, chased to the final checkers by Scelzi, Kyle Larson, Brock Zearfoss and Cap Henry.
“I’m not sure what happened there at the end. I thought maybe I had a right-rear tire going low,” Dale Blaney said about the last two laps. “I was really glad I saw the white flag because I thought we were in some serious trouble. I knew the guys behind me were close. They are young, hungry kids who want to win races. I was running as hard as I could without killing my stuff.”
Fans will have the opportunity to relive Dale Blaney’s Muskingum County Speedway/Ohio Sprint Speedweek victory this fall on network television, as MAVTV Motorsports Network cameras were on hand Sunday evening to capture all of the action.
The 37th edition of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing will continue Monday evening, June 17, at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville; the first of two Speedweek programs at ‘Orrville’s Historic Oval.’ Tony Stewart’s All Stars will return to Wayne County Speedway on Saturday, June 22, for the $10,000-to-win Speedweek finale.
Speed Shift TV, the official online broadcast partner of the All Star Circuit of Champions in 2019, will be conducting live video broadcasts during the next six Ohio Sprint Speedweek programs: Wayne County Speedway – 6/17, Sharon Speedway – 6/18, Atomic Speedway – 6/19, Mansfield Motor Speedway – 6/20, Limaland Motorsports Park – 6/21, Wayne County Speedway – 6/22.
Contingency Awards/Results: Muskingum County Speedway – Sunday, June 16, 2019:
Event: 37th Annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing
Entries: 34
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Kyle Larson – 13.576
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Aaron Reutzel – 13.381
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tony Stewart
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Dale Blaney
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Kyle Larson
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Max Stambaugh
JE Pistons Dash #1: Dale Blaney
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Gio Scelzi
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: DJ Foos
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Dale Blaney
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Cale Conley
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Gerard McIntyre
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 4-Cap Henry, 13.792; 2. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.799; 3. 40-George Hobaugh, 13.947; 4. 14-Tony Stewart, 14.018; 5. 24-Rico Abreu, 14.024; 6. A79-Brandon Wimmer, 14.121; 7. 8M-TJ Michael, 14.122; 8. 3C-Cale Conley, 14.129; 9. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux, 14.248
Group (B)
1. 17-Josh Baughman, 13.402; 2. 70X-Spencer Bayston, 13.478; 3. 11-Dale Blaney, 13.613; 4. K4-Chad Kemenah, 13.896; 5. 19-Mitch Harble, 13.977; 6. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.979; 7. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 14.084; 8. 99-Skylar Gee, 14.275; 9. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.388
Group (C)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.381; 2. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 13.615; 3. 16-DJ Foos, 13.732; 4. 57-Kyle Larson, 13.773; 5. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.847; 6. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, 13.848; 7. 35-Tyler Esh, 14.321; 8. 5H-Jordan Harble, 14.366
Group (D)
1. 71-Gio Scelzi, 13.489; 2. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 13.794; 3. 71p-Parker Price-Miller, 13.822; 4. 97-Max Stambaugh, 13.823; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.848; 6. 71X-Ayrton Olsen, 14.013; 7. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 14.043; 8. 81-Lee Jacobs, 14.213
Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 14-Tony Stewart [1]; 2. 4-Cap Henry [4]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 4. A79-Brandon Wimmer [6]; 5. 40-George Hobaugh [2]; 6. 3C-Cale Conley [8]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael [7]; 8. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 9. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux [9]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 11-Dale Blaney [2]; 2. K4-Chad Kemenah [1]; 3. 70X-Spencer Bayston [3]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman [4]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [6]; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild [7]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee [8]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [9]; 9. 19-Mitch Harble [5]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 70-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 3. 5T-Travis Philo [5]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 5. 35-Tyler Esh [7]; 6. 5H-Jordan Harble [8]; 7. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [6]; 8. 16-DJ Foos [2]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 97-Max Stambaugh [1]; 2. 71-Gio Scelzi [4]; 3. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [2]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [8]; 7. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 8. 71X-Ayrton Olsen [6]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 11-Dale Blaney [1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 3. 14-Tony Stewart [4]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman [3]; 5. K4-Chad Kemenah [5]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 71-Gio Scelzi [1]; 2. 97-Max Stambaugh [2]; 3. 70-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 4. 4-Cap Henry [4]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel [5]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 3-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 2. 16-DJ Foos [1]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee [9]; 4. 3C-Cale Conley [4]; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu [11]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 8. 71X-Ayrton Olsen [10]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson [12]; 10. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 11. 19-Mitch Harble [13]; 12. 5H-Jordan Harble [6]; 13. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [2]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 11-Dale Blaney [1]; 2. 71-Gio Scelzi [2]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson [3]; 4. 70-Brock Zearfoss [6]; 5. 4-Cap Henry [8]; 6. 70X-Spencer Bayston [11]; 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel [10]; 8. 26-Cory Eliason [12]; 9. 17-Josh Baughman [7]; 10. 49X-Tim Shaffer [17]; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich [15]; 12. 97-Max Stambaugh [4]; 13. A79-Brandon Wimmer [16]; 14. 13-Paul McMahan [19]; 15. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [13]; 16. 3C-Cale Conley [24]; 17. 99-Skylar Gee [23]; 18. 35-Tyler Esh [20]; 19. 16-DJ Foos [22]; 20. O7-Gerard McIntyre [26]; 21. W20-Greg Wilson [25]; 22. 3-Jac Haudenschild [21]; 23. 5T-Travis Philo [14]; 24. 14-Tony Stewart [5]; 25. 40-George Hobaugh [18]; 26. K4-Chad Kemenah [9] Lap Leaders: Dale Blaney (1-30)
2019 Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing Standings (After 6/16/2019):
1. Dale Blaney – 296
2. Kyle Larson – 294
3. Spencer Bayston 276
4. Tim Shaffer – 270
5. Brock Zearfoss – 264
6. Cory Eliason – 260
7. Parker Price-Miller – 256
8. DJ Foos – 254
9. Aaron Reuztel – 240
10. Buddy Kofoid – 234