BY BROOKE JOHNPIER, SPORTS STAFFER
Wednesday through Saturday saw The World Finals for both the Super DIRTcar Series and the World of Outlaws series at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. Let’s take a more in-depth look at what happened in each specific series.
Super DIRTcar Series: Wednesday saw the series roll in over 50 cars. The teams got settled in and patiently waited for qualifying to start the next day.
Series veteran Jimmy Phelps took home Thursday’s overall quick time award with a 16.296-second lap. This put him on the pole for his group for Friday’s qualifying, as well as an extra five points, putting him 4th overall over Mike Mahaney.
“[The Dirt Track at Charlotte] is one of those places where you really never know what you have,” said Phelps. “It’s exciting to come off the truck fast. Hopefully, we can translate that into a Friday night top-qualifying effort that’s just as good and we can keep ourselves up front. Anytime you can put yourself up front in the Heat Race, it’s definitely where you want to be.”
Mat Williamson also got quick time for his qualifying group with a 16.580-second lap, while defending series champion Matt Sheppard got the pole award for his 16.676-second lap.
Thursday night saw the series’ first race with Sheppard taking home the win.
“I kind of decided I needed to change my strategy,” said Sheppard. “Lucky for me, I was able to move back up and carry some really good speed in the middle of the track and was able to get back around [Mat Williamson].”
The race started off with Max McLaughlin on the pole. Williamson took an early lead, jumping out in front of McLaughlin on Lap 1. Sheppard threw a slide job on McLaughlin on Lap 5 and came after Williamson, taking over the top spot on the 13th lap. Winning the race put Sheppard 83 points ahead of Williamson, making his 10th Super DIRTcar Series title look closer than ever.
Friday night saw long-time racer Tim Fuller take home the win after passing pole-sitter Anthony Perrego at the drop of the green flag.
“When you’re in second, I’ve always said it, you’re the one in the prime spot,” said Fuller. “He made a little mistake and I had to capitalize right in that moment.”
Immediately after Fuller overtook Perrego, a caution happened causing the field to slow down. On the restart, Williamson beat Perrego in the same fashion that Fuller did and kept second place until the finish.
Saturday saw Matt Sheppard win both the series championship and the 40-lap feature.
“We’ve been good all week and we had track position tonight,” said Sheppard. “We got out front early, kind of dictated the race a little bit, running my own pace, that certainly helped tonight, for sure.”
Sheppard started the race on the pole and would keep that position so well that he caught up to lapped traffic on Lap 9. Meanwhile, Williamson had flown up to five positions to third. Although Williamson wasn’t able to pass Phelps or Sheppard, he passed McLaughlin to take home third place and second in points. Sheppard took home $15,000 and his 10th Super DIRTcar Series championship.
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series: Much like the SDS, the WoO arrived on Wednesday with over 50 teams ready to go for their qualifying sessions which started later in the day.
The overall quick time went to Sheldon Haudenschild with his 13.694-second lap and the fastest lap for his qualifier. It gave Haudenschild his 29th career fast-time and fifth of the season.
The second qualifier saw “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney take the quick time with his 13.843-second lap.
That night, David Gravel took home the first win. Running the bottom the entire race and holding off Rico Abreu, Gravel held first place for the entire race. The win put him only 42 points behind leader Brad Sweet, as well as giving him his 12th victory in the series this year, the 88th of his career and his sixth at Charlotte.
Friday saw the “Myerstown Missile” Brent Marks take home the win.
“It feels amazing,” said Marks. “To win in front of this crowd is an amazing moment. Standing up here on this stage at this racetrack means a lot to me.”
Marks started off on the pole but wouldn’t keep it for long as Courtney pulled a slide job on him and took the lead early. Marks got Courtney back immediately, though, pulling a slide job on him in the opposite turns.
On the 10th lap, Courtney passed Marks and took the lead. Three laps later, Justin Peck soared past both Marks and Courtney. As the track conditions changed and more rubber was laid down, Marks used slide jobs to his advantage to take his pole position back.
Saturday saw “The Big Cat” Brad Sweet take home the win and the championship.
“Just happy to be here in front of this large crowd,” said Sweet, “Happy we were able to get our NAPA Auto Parts car in Victory Lane.”
Sweet started on the pole but lost it quickly as Rico Abreu came up behind him. Racing side-by-side for the entire race, Sweet passed Abreu for the lead with two laps to go, winning the 25-lap feature and his fifth consecutive championship. The win was be Sweet’s 11th of the year and 90th overall, putting him ninth all-time.
World of Outlaws Late Model Series: Wednesday saw the Late Models arrive in the same fashion as the other two series, but more than 70 teams had entered.
The first qualifier quick time award went to veteran Scott Bloomquist with his 15.648-second lap.
“It makes me feel pretty good, really,” said Bloomquist.
Bloomquist was racing with a severely injured foot due to heavy machinery falling on it at his shop in Tennessee. .
The overall quick time award and the second qualifier went to Brandon Overton with his 15.091-second lap.
Mike Marlar placed well in his qualifier on Wednesday, and that would show as he won Thursday’s 35-lap feature.
“I’ve been so busy, I couldn’t even think about winning,” said Marlar. “But we did.”
Marlar started on the pole and kept that position the whole race, putting a two-second gap between him and second placer Brandon Overton. The win was Marlar’s fourth career WoO win, as well as his second at the World Finals.
Friday night’s winner, Ricky Thornton Jr., hadn’t been to Charlotte in nine years.
“I’ve only been here two other times – 2010 and 2014 – and I think out of those six nights, I only made one show,” said Thornton. “We did a lot better this year.”
Starting on the pole, Thornton only had one issue coming at him: Chris Madden. Madden took the lead from Thornton early on with Dale McDowell also passing Thornton. Lap 10 saw the race’s only restart and Thornton used it to take back second. On Lap 19, Thornton passed Madden on the bottom. McDowell also passed Madden and took home second place while Madden took home third, his second podium finish in two races.
Saturday saw Thornton win for a second time and Bobby Pierce taking home the championship. The 50-lap feature race saw Thornton start 10th. Taking the high side, Thornton moved up the ranks until he hit third place on Lap 17.
“I started losing track of the guys on the bottom,” said Thornton. “I’m like, ‘You know what, the top looks pretty good.’ I could see [Brandon] Sheppard running up there and figured if I was gonna have a shot to win it, I just gotta go now.”
Lap 24 saw Thornton close in on Madden and dive underneath him, taking over second. Three laps after that, Thornton took over the lead by going around Cade Dillard. Thornton kept the lead, even after a Lap 33 caution put him and Madden side-by-side. Series champion Pierce came home sixth.
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