The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season is entering its stretch run, and Jason Meyers knows the pressure is on if he’s going to repeat as champion. On Saturday night in the Commonwealth Clash at Lernerville Speedway, Meyers and his Elite Racing team rose to the occasion and captured their fifth victory of the year and extended their lead in the standings at the same time.
“Wins have been so hard to come by this year,” said Meyers, of Clovis, Calif. “We had a great car all night and then when we got to lap traffic, you never knew where they were going to go. Some went high, some went low. You had to be very patient tonight when it came to getting through all of it. Our car seemed to work really well around the top. I need to thank Brian (Bloomfield) for pointing that out to me during the last yellow flag. Just was another great run for our entire DDNi/Media-Tile/GLR Investments/All-Star Performance team and we’ll use this to go into Williams Grove (Speedway) this weekend.”
Youngster Sam Hafertepe Jr. set Quick Time and started the 35-lap feature on the pole with Sammy Swindell on his outside. Hafertepe Jr. led early until mechanical woes forced the racer from Sunnyvale, Texas, to pull his #15H machine into the pit area and finished 22nd. Meyers inherited the lead and had to fend off four-time series champion Donny Schatz for the remainder of the race.
“We had a really good car tonight,” said Schatz, driver of the Tony Stewart Racing #15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet. “My guys really put their MAC tools to work tonight. The top side was working for us pretty good there for awhile. We were able to catch people in lap traffic so those late race restarts hurt us a bit.”
Sammy Swindell dueled with Jason Sides on the last restart of the race, but he eventually pulled away to earn the final podium spot.
“Our Big Game Treestands car was pretty good tonight,” said Swindell. “We ran pretty well earlier on.”
Sides would settle for the fourth position as Kraig Kinser made his way up to the 5th spot for his fifth top-5 of the season. Jac Haudenschild charged from 22nd starting position to finish 6th to earn the KSE Hard Charger Award. Joey Saldana, who was looking for his third straight win, suffered engine trouble early on and finished 23rd.
The World of Outlaws will go head-to-head with their heated rivals, the Pennsylvania Posse, next weekend at Williams Grove Speedway. The annual National Open weekend at the famed half-mile oval in Mechanicsburg, Pa., is Friday, Sept. 30, and Sat., October 1.
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