Eldora Speedway will always be near and dear to Jason Sides. After all, he won his first career World of Outlaws race at the famed track in the 2004 Kings Royal, making history, as he scored his first win with the series in one of the crown jewel events of sprint car racing. On Friday night he returned to the hallowed ground that is Eldora’s Victory Lane, taking the opener of the Team Chevy Four Crown Nationals.
For Sides it was his second A-Feature win of the season and the fourth of his career with the World of Outlaws. He dove under Tim Shaffer on the front straightaway on the 26th lap to take the lead and would pace the field for the final five laps of the 30-lap event to earn the $10,000 victory.
“This feels great,” said Sides. “It’s different when you start on the pole and win, like when we started on the pole at Chico (Silver Dollar Speedway) and finished second. We started eighth here tonight and drove up through there and actually passed cars and that makes it that much more special. I can’t thank everyone involved in this team enough. My crew does a great job and thanks to Shawn Dancer from Dancer Logistics and Kimball Wetherington from WTS, my parents and everyone that helps us do this.”
Sides started eighth and was up to third by the eighth lap and then battled Joey Saldana for the runner-up spot for the next 18 laps, nearly taking the spot on several occasions. He dove under Saldana in turn one on the 26th lap to take second as the pair worked lapped traffic and quickly closed in on Tim Shaffer who was leading and took the lead that same lap.
“You have to be in position to win the, this year,” explained that native of Bartlett, Tennessee. “Nobody fell out in front of us other than (Terry) McCarl having a flat. Other cars we actually passed. It was good all night and the car was really good in open air. It felt really good all night.”
The race began with Sammy Swindell leading from the pole, with Terry McCarl taking the top spot on the second lap coming off turn two. Swindell came to a stop on the sixth lap while running second with a mechanical failure bringing out the first caution of the night.
McCarl would pace the field until the eighth lap when Shaffer dove under him in turn two for the top spot. That same lap, McCarl came to a stop with a cut tire. On the ensuing restart Shaffer jumped to a quick lead with Sides battling Saldana for second.
Shaffer led again on a restart after a lap-13 red flag with Sides nearly taking second from Saldana at this point. By the 18th lap Shaffer had a big lead as he began to encounter lapped traffic. Shaffer worked through traffic pretty well for a couple of laps and then was held up a bit, allowing Saldana and Sides to close right in on him. After taking the lead on the 26th lap, Sides endured one final caution and used a very strong restart to pull away at the end in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim.
“In traffic the car was still a little tight,” Sides shared. “When we had that restart it just drove away. It was really good. The car took off great and the motor ran great. It sure feels good to get this one, after we’ve had a couple slip away from us this year.”
Shaffer wound up leading 18 laps en route to finishing second in the Kistler Engines J&J to score his best finish of the season with the World of Outlaws and his fourth Top-Five in eight starts with the series in 2009.
“It was a great night for us,” Shaffer said. “You definitely want to win, but Jason (Sides) had a great car and he did a great job. He got through lapped traffic really good.”
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