Danny Lasoski won his first race as part of the Parsons Motorsports team last month on the East Coast, and while that win was special for a number of reasons, one thing was missing for the 2001 World of Outlaws champion and that was his car owner Lonnie Parsons, who was not able to attend that event. With Parsons in attendance on Sunday night at Nodak Speedway in Minot, North Dakota, Lasoski battled Joey Saldana and came out on top to earn his second victory of the season and more importantly the first with the veteran car owner in attendance.
For Lasoski, the victory was worth $10,000 and it was the 83rd A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career and his first triumph at Nodak Speedway in just his second start at the high-banked 3/8-mile.
“I want to thank this man standing right here, Lonnie Parsons for giving me the opportunity to drive this great car,” said Lasoski in Victory Lane, as he gave his car owner a big hug. “He certainly deserved that. Thank you Lonnie for letting me run this car. He told me to meet him out here (in Victory Lane) before the race.”
Lasoski started fourth in the 30-lap contest and got around Tony Bruce Jr. on the opening lap to move to third and then worked on Kraig Kinser for the next seven laps, taking the runner-up position from him on the eighth circuit and setting his sights on leader Joey Saldana who started on the pole and led from the outset.
Lasoski and Saldana battled through lapped traffic, for a number of laps, running side-by-side for a majority of the middle portions of the race. After a caution on the second lap, there was a long stretch of 22 consecutive green flag laps, which put the leaders in traffic for most of those laps, with Lasoski nearly taking the lead on a couple of occasions as he used both the top and bottom of the race track. Both drivers used lapped cars as picks several times as they jockeyed for the top spot.
On the 24th lap Lasoski used the high side exiting turn two aboard the Casey’s General Store JEI to power his way around Saldana as the pair charged down the back straightaway to take the lead and never looked back, enduring one caution and leading the final 11 laps of the race. He crossed the line over three seconds ahead of Saldana, as he masterfully weaved his way through lapped traffic down the stretch.
“Our car was good anywhere, the top and the bottom,” shared Lasoski. “I caught Joey (Saldana) in traffic and wherever he went, I went the opposite and it worked out for us.”
Lasoski and Saldana traded the lead unofficially a number of times, with Lasoski inching ahead with Saldana battling back and officially leading at the line each of the first 23 laps. For the third consecutive night lapped traffic came into play with the leaders working their way around the slower machines for most of the race, keeping the huge crowd on the edge of their seat.
“Thank you all for coming out tonight,” said Lasoski with a smile. “Thanks for reworking the track and giving us a place to race. I enjoyed the heck out of it.”
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