PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Lucas Wolfe gazed at his No. 5W sprint car that parked on the frontstretch runway of Port Royal Speedway on Friday night, as if he looked back on two years worth of struggle.
Hard times have sabotaged Wolfe’s pleasure since the summer of 2019, soon after he won a fourth Pennsylvania Speedweek title.
He’s injured his spine twice. He went winless in 2020 and then lost his ride with Barshinger Racing. He split from a perceived rebound with Mark Coldren and confronted the thought his driving days were running dry.
On Friday, Wolfe flourished like his old self in his second-place finish in the Night Before The 50 at Port Royal. He ruminated on the night, until someone approached Wolfe and broke his deep thought.
“Welcome back, Lucas,” a lady told Wolfe, who lifted his head and smiled.
Wolfe already snapped his long winless streak this past April at Williams Grove Speedway but this setting, with a 55-car field on the weekend of a Crown Jewel, felt different.
He dueled with Daryn Pittman in a nostalgic battle of former World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series champion versus a driver once regarded as a Pennsylvania Posse kingpin.
“It’s a good result,” Wolfe said. “Daryn is quite good. It’s a good result for me certainly.
“I’ve certainly had terrible results [the past two years],” he added.
Wolfe set fast time with his revitalized team and its pretty colors, the Pabst Blue Ribbon machine owned by Jim and Laura Allebach.
In a way, Wolfe felt the uptick in speed coming, especially with a trusted Charlie Garrett engine to lean on.
Wolfe pieced together a quiet but formidable night on Thursday, digging himself out of an early hole to finish 10th.
He had a shot to start from the pole of Friday’s 30-lap main event, but Pittman outworked him in the four-lap dash to earn those rights.
Wolfe started third and rode there the first half of the main event. On a lap 13 restart, he raced by Cory Eliason for second and started to run down Pittman as traffic neared.
One more restart with nine laps to go ensued, and Wolfe needed a good launch to set up a slide job into turn one to have any chance of overtaking Pittman.
Wolfe sailed it into the corner, raced up the banking, but could only pull alongside Pittman as he squeezed by and into clean air.
“I just didn’t get enough of a restart,” Wolfe said. “[Daryn] was rolling well.”
A little more output tonight in the 54th annual Tuscarora 50 could put him in victory lane for the first time since July 6, 2019. It could also fulfill his fight back to prominence.
“It was a good night, it’s a big weekend,” Wolfe said. “Hopefully we continue on this path moving forward.”