Shane Cottle
Shane Cottle (Mark Funderburk photo)

Shane Cottle Wins Charleston WAR

CHARLESTON, Ill. — Night two of the Illiana Showdown featuring the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR Sprint League found many of the night one frontrunners mount charges to the front of the pack, as Shane Cottle capitalized early and used throttle control on the low line to grab the feature victory.

Earning the night’s High Point Qualifier Award placed Colton Cottle on the pole with Joe B. Miller alongside. Separating themselves from the field in the opening lap saw Miller seize the early lead with an immense pile-up occurring behind the leader on the second lap involving seven cars.

After the caution was cleared and the field was narrowed, Miller again took the lead only to see Brandon Mattox mount a charge to the front off turn two taking the lead on lap four. Shane Cottle would follow Mattox to the front, only to overtake and capture the lead on lap six.

With racing action hot and heavy a blanket could be thrown over the top six drivers as Shane Cottle maintained the racing advantage, Miller maintaining second, and a hard-charging Anthony Nicholson closing on the leading pair quickly.

As laps clicked off at a rapid pace, Shane Cottle spread the field by nearly a four-second lead using the low-line and throttle control to perfection, never looking back to claim the feature win.

Miller and Nicholson would round out the podium finishers.

“This means a lot to me, winning at our home track, in front of a crowd like this, it’s hard not to be happy, we’re definitely going to be celebrating tonight,” said Shane Cottle.

The finish:

1. 74X-Shane Cottle [7]; 2. 31M-Joe B. Miller [2]; 3. 16-Anthony Nicholson [17]; 4. 28-Brandon Mattox [6]; 5. 29-Mitch Wissmiller [3]; 6. 44-Wesley Smith [4]; 7. 52F-Logan Faucon [18]; 8. 54-Trey Gropp [8]; 9. 38-Chet Williams [14]; 10. 74-Xavier Doney [12]; 11. 27X-Evan Mosley [19]; 12. 91-Riley Kreisel [16]; 13. 27-Steve Thomas [21]; 14. 99-Korey Weyant [11]; 15. 6-Mario Clouser [5]; 16. 8D-Terry Babb [22]; 17. 8-Justin Standridge [15]; 18. 10-Aric Gentry [9]; 19. 5C-Colten Cottle [1]; 20. 311-Zach Daum [10]; 21. 34-Sterling Cling [13]; 22. 7S-Sam Scott [20].