Shane Stewart has always enjoyed racing at Attica Raceway Park in Ohio and has had a good deal of success there over the years. He has won twice at the high-banked track and has had a number of strong finishes, but the races he remembers most are a couple of the ones that he was leading on the last lap that slipped away. He’ll look to make up for these near misses, as he makes his first start at the track this season on Friday, May 30, with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.
Stewart has 11 Top-10 finishes in his career at Attica Raceway Park, including two wins, which both came in 2001. He made five starts at the track last season and had three Top-10 finishes, with two of those being in the Top-Five.
“It’s a good track,” said Stewart. “They have a lot of dedicated fans in the state of Ohio. That part is good. It’s generally a good race there, as long as they don’t get the track too wet. I’ve lost a few heartbreakers there on the last lap, because it’s gotten wide and slick and you are able to go wherever, top or bottom. I’m looking forward to going there and hopefully we can get a win.”
The majority of events so far this season for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series have been on half-mile tracks and Stewart is geared up to tackle another bullring, especially one he knows very well like Attica Raceway Park. This will be the second event of the season on a 1/3-mile track for the series, joining I-55 Raceway in Missouri where the series competed last month. Stewart finished a very solid ninth in that event.
“Any little track with these guys, you have to have your elbows up,” noted the 2005 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year of how to approach Attica. “Any little joint that you go to, you are always in lapped traffic and have cars around you. For sure, you have to have your elbows up there.”
As is the case at most events for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, time trials will play a vital role in determining the ultimate outcome on Friday night. This bodes well for Stewart, who leads the series with three quick time honors this year, setting the pace in the finale of the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida back in February, as well as being quickest at Manzanita Speedway in Arizona back in March and most recently at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina last weekend in an event that was broadcast live on SPEED.
He is currently second in the battle for the Qwik Liner Cup, which has awarded points to the Top-Five qualifiers in each of the first 12 events of the 2008 season. Attica is the last race remaining in the competition, and Stewart is just three points behind Craig Dollansky, with the winner set to receive $5,000.
“It’s a combination of things,” he said of the team’s strength in time trials this season. “Our motors have been running good, and ever since we put this new car together we have been running good. The two of those make my job easier. We have to still work on the rest of our program. Once we get qualified, we have to get through out heat race and into the (Crane Cams) Dash and at least give ourselves a shot at starting up front.”
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