SLINGER, Wis. – Rain, gusty winds and even hail forced the postponement of the 41st SUPERSEAL Slinger Nationals presented by Miller Lite at Slinger Super Speedway from Tuesday to Wednesday night.
When the skies opened up at around 5 p.m. central time, there was one of the 28 super late models yet to qualify – Ryan Farrell. The track announced all super late models will start the feature. The lineup will be determined later.
Practice for the super late models and the limited late models start at 4 p.m. central with tire scuff to follow at 5:05, followed by limited late model qualifying. Fan gates will open at 5 p.m. Opening ceremonies will be at 6:15 p.m.
When the rain started, Luke Fenhaus held the unofficial fast time at 11.237 seconds. Casey Johnson was second at 11.271 seconds, followed by Bubba Pollard (11.28), Rich Loch (11.287) and John DeAngelis (11.295).
The top 12 automatically qualified for the 200-lap main event. The sixth through 12th places were, unofficially, Steve Apel (12.299), Ryan DeStefano (11.304), Carson Hocevar (11.306), Ty Majeski (11.311), Brad Keith (11.312), Dennis Prunty (11.327) and Alex Prunty (11.352).
The first four that weren’t automatically qualified were Sammy Smith, Johnny Sauter, Derek Kraus and Austin Nason.
Keith was fastest in final practice, turning a lap at 11.203 seconds.
The defending race champion Matt Kenseth, who has won the race a record eight times, is not at this year’s event. There hasn’t been a repeat winner of the Slinger Nationals since Kenseth went back-to-back in 2008 and ’09. In addition, since 2011, only Dennis Prunty is among the Slinger regulars to have won the Slinger Nationals (2015).
This year’s race features five former winners – Majeski (2018), Pollard (2017), Dennis Prunty (2015), Rich Bickle Jr. (1992, ’96, ’03 and ’13) and Conrad Morgan (1999).