It’s been a busy last 10 days for the Larson Marks Racing team. They earned two top-10 finishes at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo., August 5 and 6. The team then went on to earn two wins and a top-three finish the following week at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway during the Knoxville Nationals.
Friday night in Pevely, Stewart timed in 11th and finished third in his heat race. He advanced two positions to earn a sixth-place finish. The following night, Stewart qualified sixth and won his heat race, advancing him into the night’s dash. Stewart finished second in the dash and third in the series’ longest race of the season.
After Saturday night’s race, the LMR crew drove through the night to make it to Knoxville, Iowa for the fifth annual Capitani Classic. Stewart qualified second in group two and finished second in his heat race, advancing him into the Pole Shuffle. He won Round 6 of the Pole Shuffle, but finished second in the final round, lining him up to start on the outside of the front row for the 25-lap feature event. Stewart got the lead on the initial start, but a caution came out before a lap was put in the books and the field went back to a complete restart. After going back to green, Stewart took the lead on lap 3 and lead the remaining 22 laps to win back-to-back Capitani Classics.
“I tried to clean the trailer out the last time I was in town,” chuckled Stewart in Victory Lane. “I’ve got to thank Justin [Marks] and Kyle [Larson]. We haven’t had the best of seasons but they’ve stuck with us and keep giving us everything we need to stay out here and keep doing our jobs.”
After taking two nights off from racing, Stewart was the 42nd out of 47 cars to qualifying Wednesday night for the team’s preliminary night for the Knoxville Nationals and timed in 12th quickest. Stewart started sixth in his heat race and advanced three positions to earn the final transfer spot of the heat race into the feature event. Stewart started fourth and was up to second in the opening five laps. He took the lead on lap 10 and survived two restarts to earn his second win in as many races.
After both preliminary nights were complete, Stewart sat eighth in overall points, locking him into Saturday night’s 56th annual Knoxville Nationals. Stewart wasted no time moving forward and advanced two positions in the opening lap, but settled in sixth until lap 22 when he moved into the top five just before the halfway caution was displayed. On the lap 25 restart, Stewart advanced to fourth and with five laps remaining moved up to third, where he finished despite losing a cylinder about halfway through the second segment.
“I’m so proud of Scotty [Martin], Andrew [Seamans] and Heath [Moyle]; they’ve put in a lot of hard work for a successful week of racing,” said Stewart. “We were fast tonight. I wish we could have seen where we would have ended up on eight cylinders instead of seven, but I’m still happy with where we finished.”
[title size=”4″ content_algn=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]Quick Notes[/title]
TRACK: Federated Auto Parts Raceway
QUALIFYING: 11th
DASH STARTING POSITION: N/A
STARTING POSITION: 8th
TRACK: Federated Auto Parts Raceway
QUALIFYING: 6th
DASH STARTING POSITION: 2nd
STARTING POSITION: 2nd
TRACK: Knoxville Raceway
QUALIFYING: 4th
DASH STARTING POSITION: 3rd
STARTING POSITION: 2nd
TRACK: Knoxville Raceway
QUALIFYING: 12th
DASH STARTING POSITION: N/A
STARTING POSITION: 4th
TRACK: Knoxville Raceway
QUALIFYING: N/A
DASH STARTING POSITION: N/A
STARTING POSITION: 8th
DATE: August 5, 2016
HEAT RACE: 3rd
DASH FINISH: N/A
FEATURE FINISH: 6th
DATE: August 6, 2016
HEAT RACE: 1st
DASH FINISH: 2nd
FEATURE FINISH: 3rd
DATE: August 7, 2016
HEAT RACE: 2nd
DASH FINISH: 2nd
FEATURE FINISH: 1st
DATE: August 10, 2016
HEAT RACE: 3rd
DASH FINISH: N/A
FEATURE FINISH: 1st
DATE: August 12, 2016
HEAT RACE: N/A
DASH FINISH: N/A
FEATURE FINISH: 3rd
[title size=”4″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]Season Statistics[/title]
STARTS: 69
WINS: 9
TOP FIVES: 32
TOP 10s: 56
[title size=”4″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]Next Race[/title]
Larson Marks Racing will be back in action tomorrow at Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Neb.
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