KOKOMO, Ind. — Luck was riding with C.J. Leary Saturday night as he won round two of NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week at Kokomo Speedway.
Leary had bad luck during Friday’s opener and was collected in a crash but benefitted on Saturday when leader Tyler Courtney spun with three laps remaining.
From there, Leary drove his Leary Racing machine to his 10th career USAC triumph.
“Last night we just stepped on it. The driver made a mistake,” Leary said. “Just like what Courtney did tonight, when you’re racing as hard as we are now, mistakes happen. Sometimes, it costs more than others. To come back tonight and get a win is great, I feel like we’ve been really fast all year and we were really fast last year, and we only won two races.”
Those two victories and the championship that came along with it were part of Leary’s sensational 2019 season as the pilot of the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports ride. The Reinbold-Underwood team won Friday’s ISW opener at Gas City with Logan Seavey at the wheel.
It was an encounter by Leary and his former team owner during the post-race at Gas City that, as it turned out, may have provided a little bit of that good fortune for Leary on Saturday.
“Last night, I went over and talked to (team owner) Andy (Reinbold) after the race. I was like, ‘Man we should’ve won this one last year and now you guys won it this year for some redemption. You guys got all the luck. I’m going to pit next to you tomorrow and steal some of that luck.’ (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports crew chief Tyler Ransbottom) came over after tonight’s race and said, ‘Don’t ever pit next to me again,’” Leary related.
In the end, Leary beat Brady Bacon to the checkered flag by 1.254 seconds.
Justin Grant, Robert Ballou and Chase Stockon rounded out the top five.
To see full results, turn to the next page.