BRANDON, S.D. – C.J. Leary charged from sixth to first to top the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series field on night two of the Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals Saturday night.
Leary made quick work of the field, going from sixth to nearly taking the lead at the completion of the opening lap. Finally, on lap three, Leary stuck the position, then withstood a plethora of late-race restarts to score his fourth USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature win of the season in his Michael Motorsports/Kodiak Products – Gray Auto – Valvoline/DRC/Cressman.
Leary’s 15th career triumph moved him into 38th all-time on the USAC National Sprint Car win list, equaling Bobby East, Cory Kruseman and Brian Tyler.
“When you get a really good racecar, it gives you a ton of confidence,” Leary explained after collecting $5,000 for his winning efforts. “Last night, I didn’t know how good our racecar was. We all started back there, and we were all kind of running the same speed. We started sixth tonight, made quick work, and got to the front. That was the key to winning the race.”
The initial start to the 30-lap feature was halted by a melee involving several cars. Initiated by fourth-starting Mario Clouser’s spin in turn two, collected into the carnage was Kevin Thomas Jr. who nosed into the left side nerf bar of the spinning Clouser. Justin Grant ramped his right rear over the front bumper of Thomas. Logan Seavey spun to the inside in a valiant effort to avoid the altercation. Glen Saville clipped Thomas and flipped over. Matt Westfall nearly did the same as Saville, but was hit in his car’s undercarriage by Alex Banales, which rotated Westfall back on all four wheels.
All drivers were unharmed in the incident, and all were able to restart, with Thomas carving all the way from near the tail of the 24-car field to finish fifth with Seavey eighth, Clouser 11th, Grant 14th, Banales 20th, Westfall 23rd and Saville 24th.
When action resumed, Leary, the 2019 USAC National Sprint Car driving champion, burst by Tanner Thorson, Jason McDougal, Ryan Bernal and Brady Bacon in quick succession, and soon found himself side-by-side with pole sitter Charles Davis Jr. at the conclusion of the opening lap, with Leary missing out on the lead by a half-car length at the stripe.
At the end of lap two, the difference between the two was about an inch with Davis just a sliver of a hair ahead of Leary. Moments later, Leary powered by Davis with a slider entering turn one to occupy his position at the head of the field while Bacon slotted into second one lap later as the first pair of positions embarked on a two-car breakaway in the early going.
Twelve laps in, the frontrunners were now hustling their way through the backend of the field with Leary splitting between the two lapped cars of Westfall and Chad Frewaldt in turn three. Bacon attempted to go underneath both lappers on the following lap in turns one and two, but lost the momentum, which Jake Swanson now possessed and utilized to rip around Bacon for the runner-up spot nearing midway.
It became a match of point/counterpoint between Leary and Swanson with each of Leary’s escape artist maneuvers being repeatedly answered without an ounce of hesitation by Swanson. Leary completed a double-slider with seven laps remaining between turns three and four with Leary and Chapple bouncing wheels off each other at the exit of turn four. Swanson retaliated by swiftly overtaking both and positioned himself to within a single car length with five laps remaining.
Following in close-quarters with Leary’s rear bumper was a hungry Swanson, a three-time runner-up finisher this season who’s yet to breakthrough with a first career USAC National Sprint Car feature win. Swanson’s hopes for that breakthrough found a roadblock when he bounced off the turn one cushion on lap 26, dropping him back and forcing him to watch as Leary began to stretch his lead out.
With the white flag unfurled, that’s when things got a tad hairy. In their joust for the fourth position, Thorson jumped to the inside of turn one in an attempt to surpass Ryan Bernal. Thorson’s front wheels climbed over the infield berm on entry and contact was made between Thorson’s right rear and Bernal’s left front, sending Bernal backwards hard into the outside wall.
Sixth-running Robert Ballou was caught up as a victim in the fracas as he plowed into Bernal, which spun him around backwards against the wall. Meseraull, in ninth, also slid to a stop to avoid contact with Bernal and Ballou, both of whom were unable to restart while Meseraull returned to finish just where he had been, in ninth.
On the restart, Leary’s prowess of the third-mile rolled on without interruption toward a five-car-length advantage while the fight for second was on. Second-running Swanson, however, banged the right rear tire off the turn four cushion coming to the white flag, allowing both Thorson and Davis to glide by on the low slide while Swanson fell back to fifth momentarily, but was able to drive back past Bacon to grab the fourth spot on the final lap.
Leary finished off his duties with a 0.640 second victory over Thorson, Davis and Swanson, which made it an all-Arizona team top-four with the Grand Canyon State’s Michael Motorsports (Chino Valley), Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports (Gilbert), Davis Race Team (Buckeye) and Team AZ Racing (Phoenix) earning the top-four finishing spots.
A succession of late yellows made for an arduous journey to the checkered flag for Leary, but it resulted in reaching the promised land once again, and for the first time in South Dakota.
“Those late yellows are always tough,” Leary lamented. “You never really know where to go and whether you should protect or just keep doing what you’re doing. The racetrack took rubber at the end, and I was trying to figure out if it was faster to rail the top or come down a lane and get in the rubber. Lapped traffic was hectic too, but we hit this setup pretty good on the 77m.”
Friday night winner Thorson finished second, with 53-year-old Davis taking third in an impressive performance.
The finish:
1. C.J. Leary (6), 2. Tanner Thorson (7), 3. Charles Davis Jr. (1), 4. Jake Swanson (9), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (8), 6. Brady Bacon (2), 7. Chris Windom (10), 8. Logan Seavey (11), 9. Thomas Meseraull (12), 10. Brandon Mattox (18), 11. Mario Clouser (4), 12. Chase Stockon (24), 13. Terry Richards (21), 14. Justin Grant (13), 15. Isaac Chapple (19), 16. Ryan Bernal (3), 17. Robert Ballou (14), 18. Chad Frewaldt (16), 19. Cam Schafer (22), 20. Alex Banales (20), 21. Robert Bell (23), 22. Jason McDougal (5), 23. Matt Westfall (15), 24. Glen Saville (17).