PETERSEN MEDIA
After a tough couple of weeks, Paul Nienhiser got the monkey off of his back at Jacksonville Speedway in 2020 as he rolled to victory lane on Sunday night.
“We didn’t have a great weekend with the Outlaws in Pevely, MO, but I felt like the new car was way better,” Nienhiser said. “Sunday night things came together for us, and it feels great to put this car back in victory lane at the home track.”
Spending Friday and Saturday night with the World of Outlaws at I-55 Raceway, Nienhiser was eager to put a new car to work and see how it felt.
Making it into the feature, the Chapin, IL driver would get shuffled back through the field in the early stages of the night and opted to pull off the racing surface and save his stuff for Saturday.
Saturday night saw Nienhiser transfer out of the ‘B’ main into the feature aboard his CAM2 Blue Blood Racing Oil/Mason Sound/Innovative Design entry, and he had the same game plan as Friday night if he couldn’t get his machine moving forward in the early stages of the feature.
With the race already tough on equipment being 55-laps, Nienhiser would battle for position during the first 10-laps of the feature, but then again made the business decision to pull back to his trailer and set his sights on Sunday night.
Confident in his equipment after his trip to Missouri despite the results, Nienhiser would flex his muscle early on Sunday as he raced into second in his heat race only to have his machine bicycle on him as he slipped back to fifth.
With a strong car under him, Nienhiser would race his way back to second and end up fifth in nightly points which placed him fifth on the starting grid for the feature event.
Using some mid race restarts to jump into the Top-Three, Nienhiser would use another restart to pounce into the lead where he would pound the top for 12-laps before the final yellow flew setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Nailing the restart, it would be smooth sailing in the final stanzas as he capped the weekend off with the win.
“I am really proud of this whole team for continuing to dig and not giving up despite how bad things got,” Nienhiser said. “They deserved a win, and this one feels really good after losing one a couple weeks ago with a part failure on the last lap. I also want to send a big thank you to Dennis Richardson for buying us some fresh rubber!.”
Nienhiser would like to thank CAM2 Blue Blood Racing Oil, Mason Sound, Innovative Design, Bradshaw Custom Pumping, Wessler Bros. Agency, Bob Hawks Auto Body, Littleton Storm & Timber, Fierce Herbicide, Sunstoppers Window Tinting, Engler Machine and Tool, FK Indy, Rider Racing Engines, Kaeding Performance, Smith Titanium Products, Vortex Wings, Signature Signs and Design, and Team Simpson for their continued support.
2020 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-22, Wins-2, Top 5’s-5, Top 10’s-9
ON TAP: Paul Nienhiser will be in action at FALS on Saturday for an IRA/MOWA combo show.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Paul Nienhiser by following him on Twitter @Paul_Nienhiser or by clicking over to www.paulnienhiser.com.