The star of the restart was defending Showdown winner Joey Saldana, who charged to second and gave chase to Stewart as Duncan applied additional pressure from behind in third. At the halfway point, it was Stewart leading by 2.5 seconds as he entered slower traffic. That would begin to be his undoing, as Duncan was able to close down to 1.9 seconds back with eight laps to go and had cut the deficit to under a second when the yellow flag flew with six laps to go — a flat left rear tire on Jason Sides’ machine the cause.

That set up a barn-burner finish, with Stewart choosing the outside lane for the final restart of the night. As the field took off, Duncan gave chase to Stewart, showing his nose to the inside of the ENEOS/American Born Moonshine No. 2 as five, and then three, laps showed left on the scoreboard.

Once two to go hit, however, the night was all about Wilson — who found rubber on the inside groove that allowed his car to surge forward, first past Duncan and then around a slip-sliding Stewart on the final lap.

The Oklahoma driver and defending Outlaws championship runner-up said after the race that he was “just trying to hang on,” because his tires were “completely shot.”

“Man, that was tough at the end,” Stewart admitted. “I couldn’t be happier for my guys, though. To have (team co-owners) Kyle (Larson) and Justin (Marks) here, along with a bunch of guys from our sponsor ENEOS in the crowd … is really something and I’m proud to pull off a great finish for them because they don’t get to see us race very often.”

“Greg is new to the Outlaw deal; it’s cool to see him get that first win of his first full season. I hate to lose a race like that — man, it’s a real heartbreaker — but hats off to Greg. Normally this year, we have been (towards the) back in slick track conditions and tonight we led some laps and I’m really happy with that. It’s a good solid finish. My tires are gone, though; this track cleaned off so much and killed the rubber on these wheels. We were just trying to survive there in those last laps.”

Duncan rounded out the podium in third, and told Race Chaser Online after the race that his team rolled the car across the scales with a flat tire, suffering a puncture in the closing laps that nearly cost him his third place finish.

“We could taste the win tonight; I feel like we were better than Shane for a long time there,” he expressed. “Just had the issue with the tire there late, and that caused us to fade. We’re going to get there soon though. It’s good to see an Ohio boy like Greg get one, but our day is coming. You can count on that.”

Polesitter Pittman ended the night fourth, with seven-time and defending World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz completing the top five.

The biggest incident of the night occurred during the 12-lap Last Chance Showdown (B-Main), when Wayne Dadetto launched over the spinning car of Andrew Korte and flipped in turn three. Both drivers were alert at the scene, but Korte — crew chief for young gun Clyde Knipp — was unable to continue on the night.

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series continues their 2016 season on Memorial Day Monday, May 30, with a stop at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway.

Audio with race winner Greg Wilson:

Audio with runner-up Shane Stewart:

Audio with third-place Cole Duncan:

RESULTS: World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series; Circle K/NOS Energy Drink Outlaw Showdown; The Dirt Track at Charlotte; May 27, 2016

Circle K/NOS Energy Drink Showdown A-Feature (30 laps):  1. Greg Wilson, 2. Shane Stewart, 3. Cole Duncan, 4. Daryn Pittman, 5. Donny Schatz, 6. Logan Schuchart, 7. Brent Marks, 8. Joey Saldana, 9. Jacob Allen, 10. Brad Sweet, 11. David Gravel, 12. Randy Hannagan, 13. Trey Starks, 14. Paul McMahan, 15. Jason Johnson, 16. Tim Shaffer, 17. Jason Sides, 18. Logan Wagner, 19. Joe Trenca, 20. Kevin Shelbo, 21. Jake McLain, 22. Brandon McLain, 23. Clyde Knipp, 24. Wayne Dadetto.

Time Trials (best of two laps):  1. #2 – Shane Stewart, 13.913; 2. #83 – Joey Saldana, 13.995; 3. #22 – Cole Duncan, 14.084; 4. #W20 – Greg Wilson, 14.171; 5. #1A – Jacob Allen, 14.258; 6. #7 – Paul McMahan, 14.262; 7. #49 – Brad Sweet, 14.270; 8. #1S – Logan Schuchart, 14.276; 9. #7S – Jason Sides, 14.291; 10. #7WD – Logan Wagner, 14.330; 11. #41 – Jason Johnson, 14.330; 12. #13X – Tim Shaffer, 14.354; 13. #15 – Donny Schatz, 14.380; 14. #9 – Daryn Pittman, 14.398; 15. #23 – Trey Starks, 14.432; 16. #5 – David Gravel, 14.444; 17. #1X – Randy Hannagan, 14.556; 18. #19M – Brent Marks, 14.589; 19. #36D – Wayne Dadetto, 15.030; 20. #98 – Joe Trenca, 15.066; 21. #13 – Clyde Knipp, 15.130; 22. #67 – Jake McLain, 15.168; 23. #8 – Kevin Shelbo, 15.524; 24. #21B – Brandon McLain, 16.035; 25. #13K – Andrew Korte, 17.224.

Heat #1 (8 laps; top 6 transfer to A-Main):  1. Greg Wilson, 2. Shane Stewart, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Brad Sweet, 5. David Gravel, 6. Logan Wagner, 7. Wayne Dadetto, 8. Jake McLain, 9. Andrew Korte (DNS).

Heat #2 (8 laps; top 6 transfer to A-Main):  1. Joey Saldana, 2. Daryn Pittman, 3. Logan Schuchart, 4. Jason Johnson, 5. Randy Hannagan, 6. Jacob Allen, 7. Joe Trenca, 8. Kevin Shelbo.

Heat #3 (8 laps; top 6 transfer to A-Main):  1. Cole Duncan, 2. Paul McMahan, 3. Tim Shaffer, 4. Jason Sides, 5. Trey Starks, 6. Brent Marks, 7. Clyde Knipp, 8. Brandon McLain.

Dash (6 laps; determines front three rows of A-Main lineup):  1. Daryn Pittman, 2. Cole Duncan, 3. Paul McMahan, 4. Shane Stewart, 5. Greg Wilson, 6. Joey Saldana.

Last Chance Showdown (12 laps; top six transfer to back of A-Main):  1. Joe Trenca, 2. Clyde Knipp, 3. Kevin Shelbo, 4. Jake McLain, 5. Brandon McLain, 6. Wayne Dadetto, 7. Andrew Korte.

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.

Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: [email protected]

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