Officially Joey Saldana only led three times for three single laps on Friday night in the Missouri High-Banked Nationals at U.S. 36 Raceway, but he traded the top spot with Johnny Herrera countless times over the course of the 40-lap event, sometimes multiple times on the same lap, as the pair battled tooth and nail in heavy lapped traffic on the high-banked bullring.
Saldana would go on to lead the most important lap, the final one en route to picking up his 11th A-Feature win of the season and the 50th of his World of Outlaws career, making him just the 10th driver in the 30-plus year history of the series to accomplish the feat.
Saldana was running second coming to the white flag lap as the pair charged into turn one with a lap machine on the high side of the track. Herrera was bottled up for just a split second with the slower machine, giving Saldana the opening he needed as the pair headed for turn two. Saldana took the lead and would stay out front for the final half a lap.
“I don’t know what to say” said Saldana in Victory Lane. “I’m very proud of this team and this is a great team. It’s great to win. My dad just got inducted into the BCRA (Big Car Racing Association) Hall of Fame today so it’s pretty cool to win here tonight.”
Saldana started fourth and quickly got to third with Terry McCarl leading from the pole, but a caution came out before that lap was completed leading to a complete restart. On the second start, he again got to third after battling with Jason Meyers and he then got under McCarl in turn four to take the runner-up spot.
At this point, Herrera, who took the top spot on the opening lap of the second start from McCarl, opened a comfortable lead as he worked his way up to lapped traffic. Saldana closed in as the pair negotiated the slower machines, with a red flag flying on the seventh lap and giving them clean track to work with.
Herrera used a strong restart to quickly jump to a lead while Saldana had his hands full with Jason Meyers who was battling him for the second position. As Herrera got to traffic again, Saldana was able to gain ground and get right back up on him.
On the 16th lap Saldana used a slider off turn four to take the lead, but Herrera won a drag race down the front straightway to officially be credited with leading the lap at the line. On the next go-around, Saldana went high in turns three and four and took the lead to officially be credited with the lead for the first time on the night. On the 18th lap, Herrera retook the lead in turn one with Saldana inching ahead in turn two, with them battling into turns three and four with Herrera being scored the leader on that circuit. The 19th lap saw Saldana again get around Herrera in traffic, with the latter getting back by him on the next lap.
“Lapped traffic was the whole race,” noted Saldana. “That’s how I got him and then he just snookered me on the restart. He outdrove into (turn) one and two and I went in there too easy. I just kept digging and got him at the end.”
Saldana would run second for the next 20 laps, most it in heavy lapped traffic before snagging the lead on the last lap in the Budweiser Maxim. He continually used the high side of the track just inches off the wall in turn four as he tracked Herrera down.
“I was pretty good on top of (turn) four and I kept screwing up and hitting the fence.” he stated. “I knew if I could hit my marker, I would have something for him. Those last two laps, I just ran it in there to win and won the race.”
Herrera, who was looking for his first World of Outlaws win since 2000 wound up second in the Perfect Circle Bending Maxim. It was the second time this season he led laps in a World of Outlaws event.
“It was a heck of a race with Joey (Saldana),” said Herrera. “He is a long time friend of mine and we had a great race. I got a little messed up with lapped traffic there one time and he got a good run on me and I got a good run on him on a restart. There at the end I made one little bobble and hesitated just a little bit with a lapped car and went to the wrong part of the race track and he got a run on me. I didn’t know how close he was, but obviously he was close enough.”
For Herrera, who led 37 of the 40 laps on Friday night, it was his best finish of the season with the World of Outlaws. He started the night by turning in a strong run in time trials, which coupled with a fourth-place finish in the third heat race earned him a spot in the Crane Cams Dash in his debut at the high-banked bullring.
“This is a real racy place,” shared the runner-up. “I’m glad all of you fans came out. I have to thank Larry Woodward, my car owner, he was here tonight. I sure would have liked to have gotten that win for him tonight and for me tonight. Thanks to Troy (Renfro) and all the guys that work on the car and everyone back home. Without their support, I would not be doing what I love to do. Without them it would not happen.”
Kraig Kinser wound up third in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim to earn his second consecutive finish of fourth or better. He also was making his debut at U.S. 36 Raceway on Friday night.
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