KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Getting his second career victory with the American Sprint Car Series Friday night, Iowa’s Austin McCarl ran to the lead on lap 16 and never looked back at Lakeside Speedway.
“I felt like I was just as good as Seth (Bergman) early, but we just couldn’t get to traffic or get off the cushion; then (Jack) Dover came and schooled us all there on the bottom for a while, and just had to wait for traffic,” said McCarl of the race. “Really happy to get one, you know I started to get tight, and you never know how good of a lead you have, so I was just trying to go as hard as I could.”
Charing forward from the fifth spot, the Country Builders No. 88 raced to second through a pair of starts as Seth Bergman took off with the lead. Both working topside around the four-tenths-mile oval, McCarl fell to third on lap seven as Jack Dover rolled by on the inside.
Taking the point from Bergman on lap 9, the No. 23 tried to shoot under Dover into the third turn a few laps later but found the door slammed. A wild save by the Bryant Paver Motorsports No. 23 allowed McCarl to move into the runner-up spot.
Building his momentum on Dover, the race for the point came on lap 15 with McCarl nearly taking the spot. Able to carry the momentum through on lap 16, McCarl took over the lead and began pulling away.
Working through several cautions during the race, the final stoppage came on lap 20 as the field had to go under an open red for fuel.
Wasting no time at the drop of the green, McCarl was a blur the closing five laps, with a 2.210-second advantage at the drop of the checkered flag.
Dover crossed second in his first race of the season in his Certified Transmission No. 53, with Bergman keeping his podium steak alive in third. Blake Hahn crossed fourth in his first ASCS National start of the season, with Colton Hardy moving ahead four spots to fifth.
Feature Finish (25 Laps)
1. 88-Austin McCarl[5]; 2. 53-Jack Dover[4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 41-Colton Hardy[9]; 6. 95-Matt Covington[19]; 7. 87J-Jace Park[14]; 8. 51B-Joe B Miller[10]; 9. 14-Jordon Mallett[12]; 10. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[2]; 11. 21B-Brian Brown[8]; 12. 98P-Miles Paulus[13]; 13. 6-Christopher Townsend[16]; 14. 71-Bradyn Baker[21]; 15. 3-Howard Moore[15]; 16. 36-Jason Martin[18]; 17. 45X-Kyler Johnson[11]; 18. 21-Gunner Ramey[17]; 19. 10-Landon Britt[7]; 20. 91-Michael Day[23]; 21. 55B-Brandon Anderson[3]; 22. 0-Chase Porter[20]; 23. 7C-Chris Morgan[22]