Sammy Swindell used several long green-flag runs and a three-lap sprint to the checkered flag on Saturday night at Royal Purple Raceway to earn his first World of Outlaws victory of the season.
Swindell started fourth and charged to the front after Chad Kemenah led the first eight laps in the 40-lap feature event at the quarter-mile speedway just outside of Houston. Swindell then managed the lead while furious battles for position - including a four-wide fight for third at one point - were taking place behind him. A couple of long runs spaced out by scary flips involving Joey Saldana on Lap 20 and Donny Schatz on a restart with three to go gave Swindell all the momentum he needed to secure the win in the Big Game Treestands Maxim.
“Those green flag runs really made a big difference for us tonight,” said a smiling Swindell, of Germantown, Tenn. “My car certainly was better on the long runs and I hated to see those reds and yellows but I’m glad everyone was OK.”
Following Schatz’s end-over-end flip, the field restarted with Jason Meyers trying to hold off Jason Sides for second. The intense battle went down to the final lap. Sides slid under Meyers in the first corner, the two made contact, leaving Meyers in a spin while Sides was able to finish in the runner-up position for the second night in a row.
“I don’t like to race like that,” said Sides, a native of Bartlett, Tenn., who has finished first or second in the past three consecutive World of Outlaws events in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. “We had been going back and forth there and we just made contact. I hate that it happened.”
Craig Dollansky raced to the checkered flag in third, earning the KSE Hard Charger Award after he started in 15th in his Big Game Treestand Maxim.
“We could really run wherever we wanted too,” said Dollansky, who led the most laps of any driver during the World of Outlaws three-night season-opening DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park. “The track was really smooth tonight and it really worked out to our benefit.”
Danny Lasoski and early leader Kemenah rounded out the top five. Meyers, the defending champion, wound up 15th after the contact with Sides on the final lap. Steve Kinser, a three-time winner already this season, finished seventh.
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