PUTNAMVILLE, Ind. — C.J. Leary romped from 11th on the grid to win his second USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series feature in as many nights Friday at Lincoln Park Speedway.
After winning Thursday at Plymouth Speedway, Leary raced from 11th and tracked down Jake Swanson with three laps remaining to claim victory on the opening night of the Bill Gardner Sprintactular.
Leary’s weekend thus far has already doubled his win output from the first 16 races of the season. After a U-Joint malfunction at Bloomsburg (Pa.) Fair Raceway during qualifying on June 20, Leary was forced to pull down the untested “backup” Michael Motorsports/Kodiak Products – Gray Auto – Valvoline/DRC/Cressman Ford machine that the team had constructed this past Winter.
The new car went 21st to 7th at Bloomsburg in its first outing, won at Plymouth on Thursday in its second test, then aced the third exam on Friday.
“I think we’ve hit on something,” Leary relayed. “This second car has been really good, but I don’t know what happened in group qualifying tonight. We started our night off 34th quick. I don’t think I’ve ever been that bad before. I said these races were hard to win if you aren’t on the front row, and I kind of debunked that idea.”
An adverse start to the feature saw contact between fifth-starting Kyle Cummins and the rear bumper of fellow third row inhabitant Shane Cottle on the bottom of turn one on the opening lap, which sent Cummins into a 180-degree loop and stopping at the edge of the infield and the racing surface.
Meanwhile, up at the top of turn one, as the trailing field scrambled to miss the melee, 16thstarting Ryan Thomas climbed the wheel of another car and flipped wildly over the banking.
While Leary was picking his way through the pack, outside front row starter Brady Bacon had established his footprint as the driver to beat early on. Once Bacon surpassed pole sitter Zach Daum in turn on the initial lap, he quickly applied the hammer forcefully to nail down a half-straightaway lead within the first three laps while third-starting Jake Swanson slotted into the runner-up spot past Daum.
Swanson edged his way closer and closer to Bacon, decreasing his deficit from 1.7 seconds to 1.2 between lap nine and lap 11, and dropping the interval another half-second to 0.7 on lap 13. By the 15th circuit, Swanson had arrived right at the rear bumper of Bacon entering the first turn.
A narrow escape of misfortune for both Bacon and Swanson came on the 15th lap when Bacon entered the high line of turn one, then rotated his car to dart straight down to the bottom of turn two. Not fully expecting that sequence to unfold was Swanson who narrowly avoided contact between his right front wheel and Bacon’s left rear corner.
A similar occurrence came to a head on lap 17 for Swanson and Bacon between turns one and two. Swanson’s heart skipped a beat for a second time, but after straightening his car out, Swanson didn’t miss a beat in re-tracking down Bacon for the race lead, which he did amid traffic, making a beeline off the turn four cushion, then sliding up in front of Bacon in turn one just inches apart from each other without a single ounce of contact.
Three laps later, Leary tore around the outside of Bacon in turns one and two for the second and chased the leader.
“I passed Brady there late in the race and I really didn’t know what position I was in at that point,” Leary explained. “I looked up and saw Jake and didn’t really see anybody else. I was like, ‘I don’t think someone could be that far ahead.’ I reeled him in, got a couple good sliders on him, and I thought I finally had him cleared there when the red came out.”
Leary had slid past Swanson between turns three and four on both lap 26 and 27, but each time, Swanson cut back underneath to beat Leary to the line by a half-car length with four laps to go and by half a wheel with three laps remaining when the red flag was displayed for a turn two flip by 14th-running Cole Bodine.
Leary stuck to his guns and tried the same turn three maneuver once more when action resumed on the 28thlap. Nonetheless, Swanson had an answer by matriculating his way back under Leary to get to the line first by a full car length with two laps left.
Leary took the game to the other end of the racetrack on lap 29, diving to the bottom at the entry of turn one and gliding his way past Swanson to the top in turn two. Swanson momentarily stumbled atop the turn two cushion, losing momentum as he managed to pull himself even with Leary’s left rear midway down the back straightaway.
Responding with a resounding shut of the door, Leary collapsed on the low line at the approach to turn three, keeping Swanson behind him to lead the way to the stripe for the first time. Leary secured his position at the front for the remaining lap-and-a-half to become the third three-time series winner this season.
Leary’s advancement from 11th to first equaled the furthest back any winner has started this year. Kyle Cummins also won from the 11th position at na’s Tri-State Speedway in April.
For the second time this season, Swanson led laps but ultimately finished second.
“It hurts. I really, really want that USAC win,” Swanson admitted. “C.J. is a really good racecar driver, and to be running up front with these guys, it says a lot about this race team; it says a lot about how far we’ve come in just a short amount of time.”
Shane Cottle finished third.
“The track was a little technical and you had to hit your marks really good,” Cottle noted. “The slick coming off of two, if you missed that, you were a sitting duck. The Hodges team put a good car under me. I screwed up after that red there late. I got it too tight and pushed the nose there. I thought I had something for them there. I’ll take that one and put it on my shoulders. These guys work their butts off, and I appreciate everything they do.”
The event was co-sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series.
To see full results, turn to the next page.