CONCORD, N.C. — Monday night’s racing action at the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout saw a quartet of first-time winners etch their names squarely into the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout history books during the second round of the 10-race summer series held on the frontstretch quarter-mile at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Todd Midas (Legends Car Masters), Gus Dean (AAA Carolinas Legends Car Semi-Pro), Giovanni Bromante (Legends Car Young Lions) and Garrett Lowe (Beginner Bandolero) each won their respective division features for their first-career Shootout victory of any kind, while second-generation star Austin Green notched his maiden victory in the premier In Light Wellness Legends Car Pro division over the course of the night.
Midas led wire-to-wire for the Masters win, but his road to victory was far from that easy.
He was involved in a multi-car incident on the initial start that saw front-row starters Scott Whitaker and Mark Green tangle going down the backstretch, with Green’s left-front wheel shearing off, Whitaker’s right-rear bumper cover being knocked loose and Midas sliding heavily through the grass to avoid serious contact.
While Green was done for the night, Midas and Whitaker restacked at the head of the pack and took off on the restart, with Midas gaining the advantage through a crossover move in turn three and never looking back en route to the breakthrough win.
He held off round one winner Robbie Faggart all the way, running the fastest lap of the race with five to go in a run that went caution-free following the initial scrum on the start.
“I can’t believe this right now, and it’s a great feeling,” Midas said. “This is our second year of racing at the Shootout, and I think this shows just how much better we’re getting — so watch out, field!”
Faggart finished second, followed by Carl Cormier, Whitaker and Jan Ingram.
Dean’s Semi-Pro victory came with a myriad of late-race battles for position out front, including one that ultimately “gifted” him the top spot.
Jacob Heafner was the dominant car in the caution-laden main event, leading laps four through 20 after a three-wide move early on, but John Holleman shot the gap to take the lead away moments before a caution for debris bunched the field up with four circuits remaining.
On that restart, Heafner and Holleman came together exiting turn two, with Heafner going around and Holleman being black-flagged for his part in the incident. As such, Jordan Stillwell inherited the lead, but could not hold off Dean on the race’s final restart as Dean squeezed to the inside in turns one and two before scooting away for the victory.
“I was definitely protecting that inside line the last couple of laps,” said Dean, whose win came in just his fifth career Legends car start. “Jordan had a really fast race car, and it was a lot of fun to race with him. We weren’t the best car — we needed that incident with the 95 (Heafner) and the 4 (Holleman) to get up there — but we got lucky and it worked out in the end for us. These cars are so fun to drive; there’s nothing like what goes on here at the Shootout and I had a blast.”
Tyler Truex worked his way around Stillwell for second in the final laps, ahead of Grant Winchester and Scott Joy.