The green flag waved and Shane Stewart was gone. Literally. The Bixby, Oklahoma, driver completely dominated the 25-lap finale for his third straight and fourth overall title in the Arnold Motor Supply 360 Nationals at the Knoxville Raceway.
Roger Crockett brought the field to the green flag with Stewart to his outside and by the time they hit the back stretch Shane was already halfway down it before the rest of the pack exited turn two. The battle for second was a good one though as Crockett, Brady Bacon and Kevin Swindell went at it with Swindell securing the spot following a good slider on Bacon in turn two. From there it was a chase through traffic with Swindell actually cutting into the lead mid-race even though he was still a full straightaway back. Stewart was flawless though and that was all the closer that Swindell would get as the race went non-stop. Swindell would have to settle for second with Bacon not too far behind him in third, Jack Dover was fourth and Crockett held on the complete the top five. Dusty Zomer finished sixth, opening night winner Danny Lasoski was seventh, Brian Brown was the hard charger in eighth, Wayne Johnson was ninth and Tim Kaeding finished tenth.
After the race Stewart displayed the calm confidence of a driver who had just collected his third straight win in such a dominating fashion and he made it clear that when he drives Paul Silva's #57, he has no idea what is done to the car before he climbs aboard. Stewart has put together an interesting schedule in 2012 driving winged sprint cars for several different owners and when he is not in the #57 he takes on a much more significant role in the setup of his ride. When he noted that it is tough to drive six different cars, Kevin Swindell chimed in "at least they are the same type of cars" as he has driven midgets, 360's, 410's, ARCA Stock Cars and just about anything else when given the opportunity.
Saturday Notebook
E-Main....Young Trey Starks ran in the top five early when he made his Knoxville Raceway debut with the World of Outlaws here in May and he had to be disappointed to find himself in the E-Main for the 360 Nationals. Starks made the most of it though as he went flag-to-flag to win the 8-lap opener for the night. Current ASCS Warrior Region point leader Kyle Bellm finished second. Gary Wright made one slow lap and then pulled in to put the wrap on his efforts here at Knoxville in this his final season of competition.
D-Main.....Matt Covington won the 360 season opener here a couple of years ago and tonight he pulled away from the field to win the D ahead of J.D. Johnson and Jonathan Allard. Danny Smith was in a qualifying spot, but slowed coming to the checkers and dropped to 13th.
C-Main.....Daryn Pittman, A.J. Johnson and Ryan Roberts got upside down on the front stretch as the green flag waved with all three drivers climbing from their battered cars under their own power. Sam Hafertepe Jr. was looking to be the third driver to win from the pole tonight and appeared to have things well in hand as the field behind him raced for the five transfer spots into the B-Main. R.J. Johnson slowed on lap four while running second and Matt Juhl had his power plant go up in flames as he was racing in fourth with just two laps remaining. On the restart Jason Meyers was able to drive past Glenn Styres for second and he then powered past Hafertepe on the final lap for the win. Behind that the race for the fifth and final transfer saw Covington and Jeff Swindell swap sliders for two laps with the veteran Swindell prevailing.
B-Main......Gary Taylor turned over eight times down the back straightaway on the opening lap and as the wrecker towed away his mangled race car both Dennis Moore Jr. and Swindell fixed damaged front wings in the work area. Moore had started eighth and would now have to go to the rear moving the outside row behind him, including Brian Brown, up a spot. Front row starters Justin Henderson and Seth Brahmer drove away from the field with Tim Shaffer chasing in third. Tony Bruce Jr. settled into the fourth and final transfer and was looking good to make the show until the final lap when Brown, who had restarted tenth, made the pass in turn one. This would put Brown in the 24th and final starting position for the main event and while Stewart's dominating performance would be the story, Brown's run up to eighth in the flag-to-flag finale would be the show.
Twenty-six 305 c.i. Sprint provided support tonight with much of the purse money being taken back to the tiny northern Iowa town of Arthur. Casy Friedrichsen put the slider on Bart Friedrichsen for the lead on lap five and then picked his way through traffic for the win. Bart was second, Alan Ambers finished third, pole-starter Matt Stephenson took fourth and Mitchell Alexander filled out the top five.
The 22nd Annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Nationals is in the books and the 410's take center stage tonight at Knoxville Raceway for the inaugural running of the Capitani Classic honoring longtime track promoter Ralph Capitani who retired at the end of last season. The weather is perfect today here in Iowa and the racing should be fantastic. What better way to spend a Sunday night in August?
Hope to see you there!
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