WoO: Lance Dewease Has The Right Stuff In Rite Aid Outlaw Showdown
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May 24, 2008
Lance Dewease
Concord, NC— Lance Dewease has been one of the best drivers in Central Pennsylvania over the course of the last 20 years. After winning well over 200 races and numerous track championships in the Keystone state, he decided to expand his horizons this season and take to the road, for a very ambitious schedule that will see him compete nearly 100 times all across the country.
One of the dates on his calendar was the Rite Aid Outlaw Showdown at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He made the most of his trip south, as he led all 30 laps of the contest to earn his fifth career Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature win. He earned $12,000 for his victory which aired live on SPEED, before a standing room only, sell-out crowd at the track.
“Any win against the Outlaws is real special,” said Dewease. “To win on television definitely means a lot and it’s pretty special for all of the people involved that sponsored this event and who sponsor our team. I love sprint car racing and it’s all I ever want to do. We are looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Dewease lined up second for the A-Feature aboard the Dreez Builders/America’s Best Builders J&J and quickly darted to the lead in the first turn as he battled Joey Saldana in the early going. The win was the second this season for a J&J chassis with the World of Outlaws.
Lucas Wolfe, the series leading rookie this season moved into second on the opening lap and set his sights on Dewease. As the pair approached lapped traffic on the fifth lap, Wolfe began to close in, before a yellow flag flew for Daryn Pittman who lost a rear end.
On the ensuing restart, Joey Saldana used the extreme high side of the track to get a run on Wolfe and nearly move into the runner-up spot. Jac Haudenschild in fourth also closed in on the lead battle before another caution flag flew. Under yellow a hole in the fuel line was discovered in Lucas Wolfe’s car, thus ending his night and his hopes for his first World of Outlaws win, while running second.
After an extended green flag period, Dewease began to pull away, while Jason Meyers steadily worked his way into the Top-Five, as did Jason Sides and Danny Lasoski. With 10 laps to go Dewease again got into heavy traffic, with Jac Haudenschild just behind him and closing fast. The yellow flag flew with just six laps to go after Saldana has a right rear tire explode while running fourth.
The restart saw Dewease again jump to a large lead, with Meyers moving into second. After just one more lap was in the books, the red flag flew for a Jason Johnson flip. After Johnson made contact with Steve Kinser, the latter had a hole in his right rear tire, which his crew patched during the open red flag. The 20-time series champion would soldier on for a seventh-place finish.
Meyers the current World of Outlaws championship point leader had a very solid night, coming from the 11th starting spot to finish second. He has nine Top-10 finishes in 10 starts, with eight of those being in the Top-Five. He extended his lead in the standings to 11 markers over Craig Dollansky, who finished fifth on Friday night.
“It was a great run for this entire team tonight,” said Meyers, who pilots the GLR Investments KPC. “What a great run on television. The guys worked hard on the car all night. We were pretty good all night. We qualified just a little bit behind where we needed to be. They gave me a great race car as always. Congratulations to Lance Dewease on a great run. He’s a great competitor and I’m proud to see him run up front. I wish we would have had something for him there at the end, but I just kind of was out of tire.”
After beginning the night as the fastest qualifier for the third time this season, Shane Stewart earned his second Top-Five finish of 2008 with a third-place performance on Friday. He lined up fifth for the 30-lap event and ran in the Top-Five for most of the race aboard the Roth Motorsports machine.
“It was survival of the fittest to say the least,” Stewart said. “My guys have been working really hard. We haven’t been racing that much and it seems like we are three-quarters through the year. We went to Indianapolis and got a few new cars. This was the first night on it and it looks like it has been through a torture chamber. It’s beat up and bruised, but overall I’m excited with a third. It seems like when we do good, we are third, so next time I do good, I’ll have to move up a couple more spots. It was a good finish for the team and hopefully we can carry it on in the races to come.”
