WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. – Sammy Swindell started from the pole and never looked back en route to winning Saturday night’s 25-lap Lucas Oil ASCS Mid-South Region feature at Riverside Int’l Speedway.
Swindell lined up alongside Dale Howard and powered away from the field when the green flag waved, leading all 25 laps to become the seventh different winner in eight series races this season.
The win by the three-time World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series champion driver in A.G. Rains’ No. 3 High Performance Lubricants sprinter was his fourth-career Mid-South regional victory, tying Swindell with Howard Moore for the most wins in series history since its revival last year.
“Our car was really good tonight; the track was just a little tricky,” noted Swindell. “There were some really sticky spots, and then there were other spots that were slick as well. In (turns) one and two, it got hard to really hit it and get a good run … I tried a few different things, and then right at the end I finally found a good line by just not staying right on the tires.
“We had to go to the middle and the top a few times to get past some of the lap traffic, but thankfully the car was good enough that it did everything I needed it to do,” Swindell continued. “Thanks to A.G., his dad and all the crew guys that help work on this car to make it fast. We’re glad to win one tonight.”
Swindell got the jump off the initial start, but it was called back for a jump, giving Howard a second chance at keeping pace with the Germantown, Tenn., driver.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter, as Swindell got away on the restart and led comfortably before a lap two yellow flag for a spinning car in the first corner. One circuit later, the red flag was displayed for a hard crash on the frontstretch between Marshall Skinner and LeRoy Carley, with both drivers walking away.
Kevin Hinckle’s spin on the fifth round was the last slowdown before a long green-flag run broke out, with Swindell escaping to a straightaway advantage by lap 10. Moore charged past Howard to move into the runner-up spot a quarter-mile later, quickly giving chase to Swindell as the leader entered lap traffic.
Though Moore closed the gap briefly, he soon had to contend with a hard-charging Derek Hagar, who climbed into the top-three with 10 to go and was knocking on Moore’s back nerf bar at the five-to-go mark.
Moments after Swindell took the white flag, the caution flew for a slowing Ronny Howard, who came to a stop in turn one and set up a green-white-checkered restart with two lapped cars separating Moore from Swindell.
That ultimately proved to be the difference-maker, as Swindell rocketed away when the green flag waved for the final time, while Moore was left to settle for second in the end.
“I don’t know if we had enough to take it away from him,” said Moore. “I think I could have pulled up alongside of him, maybe, on the final restart there if there weren’t lap cars there. That was the best run I’d had all night in (turns) one and two, and I wasn’t going to get another one like that. We were really fast tonight, but just came up one spot short.”
Hagar hung on to finish third, followed by Howard and Ernie Ainsworth, who was the hard charger of the race after advancing from ninth to fifth.
Tim Crawley, Justin Webb, Brandon Hinckle, Kevin Hinckle and Rick Kahler completed the top 10.
The finish:
Sammy Swindell, Howard Moore, Derek Hagar, Dale Howard, Ernie Ainsworth, Tim Crawley, Justin Webb, Brandon Hinckle, Kevin Hinckle, Rick Kahler, Ronny Howard, LeRoy Carley, Marshall Skinner, Wally Henson, Spender Meredith, Brad Bowden.
