BRISTOL, Tenn. — David Stremme wheeled his Lethal Chassis No. 35 DIRTcar modified to victory in dominant fashion Friday night on the first race night of the World of Outlaws Bristol Bash at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Stremme led all 20 laps to pocket the $5,000 top prize over Kyle Hammer and Ryan Ayers.
“I tell people when you walk in here, you gotta look around,” Stremme said. “To win here is pretty cool. Just to win at anything anymore is hard.”
At the drop of the green, Stremme wasted zero time making his presence felt, wrestling the lead away from Hammer on the low side as they rounded turns one and two. From that point forward, it was all Stremme’s race out front, as he piloted his No. 35 machine around the fast, high-banked track.
“I think the track crew did a great job. I feel for the amount of cars we have here, it was in a lot better shape than I thought it would be,” Stremme said. “You could move around quite a bit, and that’s all you can ask for.”
As a former NASCAR star on its concrete surface, Stremme has gotten to know Bristol’s high banks well since the start of his motorsports career. While the banking has been cut down to 19 degrees on the dirt, he said he’s been able to recognize the similarities between the two configurations and use it to his advantage.
“It still has the same characteristics – each corner is different. Obviously, I’m able to use that, and there is stuff there that I felt I could still do, whether it was in a [NASCAR] Cup car or Xfinity car,” Stremme said.
Hammer was solid up front all night long in his Elite Chassis No. 45. Initially, he lost second to Taylor Cook on lap seven, after a restart, but regained the spot when Cook ran into issues and dropped out with five laps left. Even with the solid runner-up, Hammer still wants to be better for Saturday’s finale.
“Definitely learned we need to be a little stiffer on the right-front,” Hammer said. “At these speeds, these things really upset our cars.”
Ayers had a great showing in his Lethal Chassis No. 6, coming all the way from 11th to finish third. With a wreck on the initial start and a great run down low on lap one to get by cars, Ayers was already in fifth as he crossed the line to complete the first circuit.
After gaining two more spots before the home stretch, Ayers was forced to play some tough defense for a moment, as a hungry Nick Hoffman was putting the pressure on from behind for the third spot.
Hoffman ultimately slipped on the high side in the end but showed Ayers a better line in the process.
“The first 13 or 14 laps, I was right around the bottom,” Ayers said. “Nick showed me the top with about four or five [laps] to go, and I moved up. It was a lot better.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps) 1. 35-David Stremme [1][$5,000]; 2. 45-Kyle Hammer [6][$2,500]; 3. 6A-Ryan Ayers [11][$1,700]; 4. 2-Nick Hoffman [8][$1,400]; 5. 3W-Dylan Woodling [10][$1,200]; 6. 10Y-Trent Young [5][$1,000]; 7. OOD-David Reutimann [13][$800]; 8. 8A-Austin Holcombe [15][$700]; 9. O5-Dave Wietholder [22][$600]; 10. 67-Garret Stewart [21][$550]; 11. 7-Evan Taylor [24][$500]; 12. 97-Mitch Thomas [23][$500]; 13. 44-KC Burdette [17][$500]; 14. 21-Taylor Cook [7][$500]; 15. 1S-Brian Shaw [12][$500]; 16. 11-Troy Loomis [16][$500]; 17. 72-Todd Neiheiser [14][$500]; 18. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum [18][$500]; 19. 45S-Nick Stroupe [19][$500]; 20. 2ND-Jake Leitzman [20][$500]; 21. 99W-Chris Arnold [3][$500]; 22. 21A-Nick Allen [2][$500]; 23. 8-Kyle Strickler [4][$500]; 24. 95-Michael Altobelli [9][$500] Hard Charger: O5-Dave Wietholder[+13]