By Brian Walker
MECHANICSBURG, PA – October 22, 2022 – A historic edition of the 60th annual Champion Racing Oil National Open played host to a historic happening on Saturday night.
Going back to the fountain of youth, 57-year-old Lance Dewease held off two of the fastest rising PA Posse stars and a slew of full-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series drivers to win his fifth-career National Open – becoming the second driver in history to reach that feat behind Donny Schatz’s six titles.
Leading from flag-to-flag in the 40-lap, $75,000-to-win finale at Williams Grove Speedway, Dewease made history as the first man to conquer the National Open in four decades, winning the Pennsylvania staple in 1996, 2001-02, 2018, and 2022.
With the Hall of Fame trio of driver Dewease, owner Don Kreitz Jr., and crew chief Davey Brown Sr., the #69K made it clear they’re not going anywhere.
“We’re not stopping now,” Dewease said after his record-extending 111th win at Williams Grove. “I don’t plan on retiring and these guys want to keep racing. Someone has to keep these young guys honest out here. Brent [Marks] and Anthony [Macri] are two of the best and I love racing against them. I’m not done yet.”
“It’s pretty special to break a tie with Steve Kinser for anything,” he added, passing “The King” for second-most National Open titles. “I don’t know how many more of these I’ve got left, but I know [Donny] Schatz is next in our picture. We’re just taking it one race at a time. My son [Cole Dewease] recently started racing Micro Sprint and it’s been a joy.”
Scoring the fifth-highest payday of the season didn’t come easily for Dewease, who was forced to fend off Myerstown, PA’s Brent Marks for the entirety of the race. Marks actually slid by and took the lead on a Lap 28 restart, but the red flag flew and negated his pass before he could cross the finish line to count the lap.
“I caught a lucky break with Brent on that restart,” Dewease noted. “I was having radio problems the whole Feature and worried too much about that. I wasn’t paying attention as well as I should have been and fell asleep on that restart. Brent is so fast here right now that I don’t think we could’ve beat him had he actually passed us. We took advantage of everything we needed, though, and it paid off.”
On the heartbreaking side of Saturday’s loss, Marks finished 0.792-seconds shy of completing his dream season in the Murray-Marks Motorsports #19. He settled for a $25,000 payday and now looks to end his season on a high note with three more chances at World of Outlaws Victory Lane during the World Finals in November.
“It’s extremely disappointing,” Marks said after falling short of his second National Open title. “It just didn’t go our way tonight. We had a fast car, but it was so top-dominant and I needed lap traffic to make a move. I was so close to the flagstand when that red flag came out after taking the lead, that was a big bummer. Proud to be standing on the frontstretch, though.
Finishing third and completing the PA Posse podium sweep was Dillsburg, PA’s Anthony Macri with a ninth-to-third charge fueling his career-best National Open effort. “The Concrete Kid” rallied late in the running and applied pressure to both Marks and Dewease, but ran out of time and track in his charge to the front.
“That was a lot of hard racing for $75,000 tonight,” Macri mentioned after contact nearly sent him over in the final laps. “I gave it my all tonight, but we came up in third place. It sucks, but we’ll take it and move on. Considering that we started ninth and how narrow it was in the early running, I’m impressed with our run. The cookie just didn’t crumble completely our way this time.”
Behind the PA Posse’s lead trio was a pair of full-time Outlaws closing out the top five. Spencer Bayston finished a career-best fourth at Williams Grove in the CJB Motorsports #5, while David Gravel finished fifth in the Big Game Motorsports #2 as he closed on the championship lead for the sixth-straight race.
Rounding out the top-10 of the 60th National Open was Justin Peck in the Buch Motorsports #13, Jacob Allen in the Shark Racing #1A, Danny Dietrich in the Gary Kauffman Racing #48, Carson Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing #41, and James McFadden in the Roth Motorsports #83.
NOS NOTEBOOK (WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY, 10/22/22)
Dewease is the 32nd driver in World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series history to reach 20 victories – tying him for 31st on the All-Time Win List with fellow PA Posse legend, Greg Hodnett. He concluded the 2022 campaign at Williams Grove Speedway with five consecutive wins (two against the World of Outlaws) to push his all-time record to 111 wins at the Mechanicsburg, PA 1/2-mile.
At 57 years, 16 days, Dewease passes another Posse icon, Fred Rahmer (55 years, 7 months, 2 days), as the oldest winner in National Open history. His fifth win now puts him second all-time in National Open titles – trailing Donny Schatz (6) – and makes him the first to ever win the race in four different decades – 90’s, 00’s, 10’s, 20’s.
Saturday marked the first-ever PA Posse podium sweep at the National Open under World of Outlaws sanction. Of his five titles at the race, the Kreitz Racing #69K is the first car that Dewease has won with on multiple occasions.
Breaking a rear axle on Lap 5, championship leader Brad Sweet suffered his first DNF since July 2020 – snapping a 166-race streak of completing 5,461 consecutive laps. Pairing that with David Gravel’s fifth-place result, the title gap is now only 16-points entering the World Finals in two weeks.
UP NEXT (Nov) – All that remains in 2022 for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is the season-ending World Finals on November 2-5 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, NC. The Greatest Show on Dirt will be joined by the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series and Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds for one huge weekend to conclude the season. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.
NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (40 Laps) – 1. 69K-Lance Dewease [1][$75,000]; 2. 19-Brent Marks [2][$25,000]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri [9][$10,000]; 4. 5-Spencer Bayston [4][$6,000]; 5. 2-David Gravel [3][$4,000]; 6. 13-Justin Peck [6][$3,500]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [7][$3,200]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich [19][$3,000]; 9. 41-Carson Macedo [13][$2,700]; 10. 83-James McFadden [5][$2,600]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz [21][$2,500]; 12. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [26][$650]; 13. 9-Kasey Kahne [12][$1,850]; 14. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [8][$1,500]; 15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [10][$1,400]; 16. 11-TJ Stutts [11][$1,350]; 17. 27-Daryn Pittman [16][$1,300]; 18. 39-Troy Wagaman [28][$]; 19. 44-Dylan Norris [22][$1,300]; 20. 1S-Logan Schuchart [14][$1,300]; 21. 71-Cory Eliason [24][$1,300]; 22. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [20][$1,300]; 23. 19R-Matt Campbell [23][$1,300]; 24. 11K-Kraig Kinser [27][$]; 25. 1M-Landon Myers [15][$1,300]; 26. 55K-Robbie Kendall [18][$1,300]; 27. 49-Brad Sweet [17][$1,300]; 28. 7S-Robbie Price [25][$]. Lap Leaders: Lance Dewease 1-40. KSE Hard Charger Award: 5W-Lucas Wolfe[+14]
NEW Championship Standings (71/74 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (8,854); 2. David Gravel (-16); 3. Carson Macedo (-106); 4. Donny Schatz (-214); 5. Sheldon Haudenschild (-238); 6. Logan Schuchart (-386); 7. James McFadden (-446); 8. Spencer Bayston (-580); 9. Jacob Allen (-672); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-954).