ROSSBURG, Ohio – Tyler Courtney has always had a liking for racing at Eldora Speedway. Saturday night, he proved it once again.
Courtney, a multi-time USAC sprint car winner at Eldora, blitzed the USAC Silver Crown Series field at the half-mile dirt track owned by Tony Stewart for his first win of the season in the Champ Cars. He took the lead from the outside pole and paced all 50 laps of a nearly non-stop feature.
The Indianapolis, Ind., native handily beat out Chris Windom, taking the checkered flag in front by a whopping 7.986 seconds in the Chris Dyson Racing No. 9.
It was Courtney’s first ride behind the wheel of the Dyson-owned, Sean Michael-wrenched Silver Crown entry.
The only caution of the race occurred for a flat right-rear tire on debuting rookie Nathan Moore’s machine at lap 10. After that, Courtney set sail to the finish.
Though he made the victory look effortless, Courtney tipped afterward that the day wasn’t nearly as simple as it appeared to be.
“It was a rough start to the day,” Courtney explained. “I killed two wheels and a front end and had to change a front end before qualifying. I made these guys work way harder than they needed to. I just had to find my limit and I sure did. I had a weekend open up, kind of last minute, put it together, and I’m glad we did. This is cool. Anytime you get to win at Eldora, especially in a Silver Crown car, is special.”
Windom lamented that “freaking Tyler is just hard to beat here” after climbing from his car.
“I wish we could’ve gotten one caution there to make it interesting at any point, but he was really good,“ said Windom of Courtney. “I felt like I finally got my line figured out in one and two and I was making good time, but I felt like once it started taking rubber in three and four there through the middle, I might have been able to stay with him, but I never got the chance. He got out front and got great track position on everybody, and he’s always the guy to beat here.
“Running second sucks, but coming from ninth to do it isn’t bad.”
Kody Swanson, who finished second in the Superstar Racing Experience feature earlier in the night, charged from 15th to complete the podium behind Courtney and Windom. Kevin Thomas Jr. finished fourth and Brady Bacon was fifth.
Matt Westfall, Dallas Hewitt, Logan Seavey, Shane Cottle and Robert Ballou closed the top 10. Ballou was the final car on the lead lap at the finish.
Saturday night’s Silver Crown feature was completed in just 20 minutes, 12.060 seconds.
The finish:
Feature (50 laps): 1. Tyler Courtney (2), 2. Chris Windom (9), 3. Kody Swanson (15), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 5. Brady Bacon (3), 6. Matt Westfall (8), 7. Dallas Hewitt (12), 8. Logan Seavey (13), 9. Shane Cottle (16), 10. Robert Ballou (11), 11. Jake Swanson (7), 12. Shane Cockrum (21), 13. Jason McDougal (6), 14. C.J. Leary (1), 15. Carmen Perigo (14), 16. Chris Phillips (26), 17. David Byrne (25), 18. Eric Gordon (10), 19. Travis Welpott (17), 20. Mike Haggenbottom (23), 21. Bryan Gossel (28), 22. Casey Buckman (22), 23. Matt Goodnight (19), 24. Austin Nemire (20), 25. Chris Fetter (27), 26. Justin Grant (4), 27. Dave Berkheimer (29), 28. Nathan Moore (18), 29. Kyle Robbins (30), 30. Terry Babb (24). (20:12.060)
Lap Leader(s): Tyler Courtney 1-50.