AUDIO/RECAP: First to Two; Jeff Ward Wins Second Outlaw Truck Race of 2015 at Kentucky

SPARTA, Ky. — Audio, recap and photo by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman —

The hometown hero stole the show during Wednesday night’s =RSR= Outlaw Truck Series event at Kentucky Speedway.

Coined the “Bluegrass Bandit” after he took his first truck win of the season at Michigan, Fairdale, Ky. native Jeff Ward fought a brilliant side-by-side duel with Anthony DeBaro for the lead at the halfway point of the Bluegrass Brawl, then blew past DeBaro’s RCO-Boomtown Sim teammate Corbin Himstreet to lead the final 30 laps en route to his second career series victory, as well as his second in four Outlaw Truck events in 2015.

With the win, Ward becomes the first driver to record multiple Outlaw Truck Series victories so far in 2015.

“This race was pretty intense tonight,” Ward said in Gatorade Victory Lane. “Battling with Anthony was fun there, and if he keeps driving like that he’s going to make a name for himself quick.”

“I thought for sure we were going to wear our tires out trying to work that bottom, but we got saved by a caution and made the right pit call to get out front. Great win, but it definitely didn’t come easy tonight.”

Himstreet dropped back as far as fifth late in the race, but rebounded to steal second from The Wolfpack’s Stefan Marinak inside the final two laps of Wednesday’s race after gaining track position on a two-tire call, and then saving his tires for a late-race charge.

“We did a lot of testing here this week and we found out that two tires worked just as well as four,” Himstreet said after the event. “I restarted from the lead on that restart after halfway, but Jeff Ward is so good — I couldn’t hold him back for even one lap [when he got to me.]”

“After that, we fell back to third but I saved enough; I was glad to be able to get back to second at the end.”

Marinak held on to take third ahead of DeBaro, who led the most laps on the night (39) but faded in the late stages. Marinak’s teammate C.J. LaVair rounded out the top five.

Scott Simley, Jose Gonzalez, Dan Murray, James Thorndike and Kevin Linden were the rest of the top ten.

Polesitter Matt LaCross led the opening lap of the event but fell back quickly and was never a factor for the win after that, finishing 11th.

No major incidents plagued the 26-car field, though several minor spins and dust-ups slowed the field five times for a total of 20 caution laps. The lead changed hands five times between four different drivers.

The event was delayed 45 minutes due to server issues, and as a result was shortened from its originally-scheduled distance of 110 laps down to 90 laps.

Real Sim Racing’s Outlaw Truck Series returns to action in two weeks with the start of the second half of the eight-race season — the Hollywood Casino 165 from Kansas Speedway will air live on LSRTV on May 6 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time.

For more series information, visit www.realsimracing.com.

Audio with race winner Jeff Ward: