The young Hoosier wasn’t fazed by the caution, though. Hamilton pulled away on the restart as the rest of the top five scrapped for positions behind him, with 2014 Rumble points champion Bryan Nuckles finally working clear into second on lap 37 and giving chase to the No. 32 Curtis Motor Sales Spike-Esslinger.
That pursuit looked to be futile before a red flag with four laps to go, originally brought out as a caution for the spinning Mike Fedorcak in turn two but converted into a stoppage shortly after to clear fumes from the Expo Center.
Nuckles lined up on Hamilton’s tail tank but couldn’t make anything happen on the green flag, instead having to wait for his chance until a slowing Chance Rice set up a green-white-checkered finish.
Though Nuckles tried to dip his nose underneath Hamilton to move him up the track in turn three after the final restart, the contact instead sent Nuckles himself nearly out of control and dropped him back two positions as Hamilton pulled away into the distance.
Kyle O’Gara took advantage of the late chaos to slip through into second, saying afterwards that he felt like he had a shot to win if he could have gotten one final restart to work with.
“Our car was on a rail this weekend; it was by far the best piece I’ve ever had here in Fort Wayne,” said O’Gara. “We came into the day with a different game-plan than usual and I think it paid off for us. We turned some heads … came from eighth to second, and I feel like I had something for Nick if there had been one more restart. There’s a lot of positives, though, so we’ll come back next year and try to win then!”
Rumble rookie and three-time USAC Silver Crown champion Kody Swanson completed the podium, followed by Nuckles and Welpott, who faded back to fifth at the checkered flag after leading 21 laps.
After starting 10th on the 16-car field, three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart struggled to make passes on the one-seventh mile oval all night long and could only get to sixth at the finish.
Kyle Hamilton finished eighth as he watched his brother take the checkered flag, marveling in the special year the Hamilton family has had after he won the Little 500 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway in May.
“What a year we’ve had,” said Kyle Hamilton. “I couldn’t be happier for my little brother. It’s an amazing moment for him and one he’ll never forget, just like I cherish my first win last year. It’s special for all of us.”
John Ivy swept the companion winged and non-winged 600cc mini sprint features, pushing his career victory total at the Rumble to 16 across all classes.
The 21st annual Rumble in Fort Wayne will be held Dec. 28-29, 2018, back inside the Allen County Memorial Expo Center.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
