ANDERSON, S.C. — Audio and recap by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio, Race Chaser Online and USCS Racing — 3rd Gen Racing photo — For a driver who hails from Sin City, Peyton Saxton certainly felt right at home on Friday night at Anderson Motor Speedway.
Saxton, 15, from Las Vegas, Nevada surged past early race leader and fellow Pro division driver Lee Jordan on lap 2 of Friday night’s 20-lap combined-division US Legend Cars feature on the three-eighths mile South Carolina oval and never looked back, powering out to a near-full straightaway advantage at times and taking the win over Florida hotshoe Joey Padgett in a caution-free affair.
“Our car was really rolling tonight,” Saxton said following the victory. “We came out east for the month to run some at Charlotte and we were supposed to run here last week before it rained, so I’m glad to see we were able to come back and make some big things happen tonight. Dennis Lambert and Mark Nahrstedt have given me great cars and really all I have to do is get in and drive them.”
The race served as a tune-up for Saturday night’s INEX National Qualifier for US Legend Cars at Anderson as part of the United Sprint Car Series Summer Nationals Finale.
Joey Padgett worked his way around Jordan for second on lap 16 after starting the night fourteenth, but did not have enough laps or enough steam to make a concerted charge at Saxton.
“We had a car about equal to Saxton’s, I think, but we just had too much traffic to fight through and not enough time,” Padgett said in his post-race interview. “Tonight was a solid run for us after struggling like we have at Charlotte for the Summer Shootout. We’ll come back and see if we can’t get them tomorrow.”
Track regular Danny Cisson started the feature from the pole position, but fell back quickly and was scored 12th, the last car on the lead lap, at the finish.
Lee Jordan, Hunter Lewis and Rex Brown rounded out the top five.
The INEX US Legends are back in action at Anderson on Saturday night with a National Qualifier for all divisions. The field will be spilt into two groups, Young Lions/Semi Pro and Pro/Masters, and division winners will be guaranteed a starting spot at this year’s Legend Cars Asphalt Nationals at the Bullring in Las Vegas.
RESULTS: US Legend Cars; Anderson Motor Speedway; USCS Summer Nationals; July 25th, 2014
- #10 – Peyton Saxton
- #83 – Joey Padgett
- #81 – Lee Jordan
- #7L – Hunter Lewis
- #75 – Rex Brown
- #50 – Justin Ashley
- #24 – Zach Leonhardi
- #17M – Ryan Millington
- #70 – Julia Chandauer
- #00 – Randy Gunton
- #21M – Karl Moberg
- #15C – Danny Cisson
- #7R – Dwayne Rumsey
- #21X – Wayne Ellison
- #20 – Riley Halverson
Audio with race winner Peyton Saxton:
