JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Returning to his roots for a rare Sunday afternoon program, 2019 series champion Paul Nienhiser picked up his 21st career victory with the Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series at Jacksonville Speedway.
Sunday’s victory moves Nienhiser one step closer to overtaking five-time series champion Jerrod Hull, who sits at 22.
Nienhiser, who started on the pole, pulled away to a commanding lead with Brandon Hanks following. Sixth starting Ayrton Gennetten, fresh off a series victory at Lee County (IA) Speedway, worked his way to third behind Hanks before a lap-seven yellow forced him pit side after contact with the outside retaining wall.
Returning to green-flag action, Nienhiser was able to place his No. 9x machine around the top shelf of the quarter-mile bullring worked his way through lapped traffic as he never looked back en route to his first win of the 2021 season with the series.
“There’s a lot of great guys who run with the (MOWA) series, and I think sometimes it’s overlooked,” said Nienhiser. “I can’t say enough about my crew, with me away (running USAC) and they still come to the shop to make sure everything is ready when I get to come back and race the winged car.”
Brandon Hanks scored his best finish of 2021 with the series with a second, just ahead of Chris Urish, Jake Neuman and Zach Daum who rounded out the top five.
The finish:
- – Paul Nienhiser 9x (1), 2 – Brandon Hanks 84 (2), 3 – Chris Urish 77U (4), 4 – Jake Neuman 3N (7), 5 – Zach Daum 31 (10), 6 – Mitchell Davis 56 (16), 7 – Cale Thomas 44 (13), 8 – Joe B Miller 31 (8), 9 – Austin ODell 3 (5), 10 – Korey Weyant 99W (12), 11 – Bret Tripplett 83 (20), 12 – Jeremy Standridge 10S (9), 13 – Logan Faucon 52F (21), 14 – Dylan Tuxhorn 9T (19), 15 – Andy Bishop 42 (22), 16 – Cory Bruns 42 (15), 17 – Ayrton Gennetten 3 (6), 18 – Robbie Standridge 17* (11), 19 – Caden Englehart 71M (3), 20 – Tyler Duff 84 (17), 21 – Jason Keith 2K (23), 22 – Jacob Patton 79J (14), DNS – Dustin Barks 22 (18)