The World of Outlaws headed west for the second time this season starting this past weekend. Larson Marks Racing and Shane Stewart completed two nights at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., before traveling to Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., for last night’s show.
Friday night at Skagit Speedway, Stewart earned the quickest lap time in qualifying and finished second in his heat race. With the six-pill drawn for the Craftsman Club Dash inversion, Stewart lined up to start third and earned the fourth starting position for the 30-lap main event.
Stewart settled into third once the green flag dropped. On lap 8, leader Brad Sweet was getting into lapped traffic. Sweet then made contact with a lapped car, sending him spinning and collecting his teammate, Daryn Pittman, who was running second. Luckily, Stewart was able to narrowly miss both cars and assumed the lead. The pilot of the LMR No. 2 survived a few more restarts and lapped traffic to earn his sixth World of Outlaws win of the season.
“I don’t know how the heck I made it through there,” Stewart said in victory lane about the first caution. “That was really, really close and we were able to capitalize on it. My car was pretty good, but once you get into lapped traffic you never really know. The cautions fell our way and it really helped us out, clean air is so important these days. I’ve got to thank my guys, they continue to work very hard for me and my car has been so good lately – I’m just the lucky guy that gets to drive it.”
The following night, Stewart qualified third and won his heat race. He then earned the fourth starting spot for the main event in the Craftsman Club Dash, for the second night in a row. Once the green flag dropped for the 40-lap feature, Stewart settled into the top five. Unfortunately, the Bixby, Okla., native struggled on the restarts and dropped back as far as seventh, but was able to gain a position in the closing laps to earn a sixth-place finish.
Last night at Grays Harbor Raceway, Stewart qualified fourth and finished second in his heat race. He started third in the Craftsman Club Dash and made a beautiful move to the early lead, claiming the win to earn the pole-starting position for the 30-lap feature event. Stewart was able to lead all 30 circuits and held off a late-race charge from Sweet to earn his seventh win of the season.
“I’m happy to be standing here talking to you,” Stewart said to World of Outlaws announcer, John Gibson, in victory lane. “We’re here to compete and win with these guys and it’s no easy task. Again, I have to thank my guys – Lee, Heath and Dennis – they continue to give me a fast car each and every night. We all couldn’t do this without Justin [Marks] and Kyle [Larson], so I have to thank them and of course ENEOS, ParkerStore, and Rider Engines for all of their support as well.”
TRACK: Skagit Speedway
STARTING POSITION: 4th
TRACK: Skagit Speedway
STARTING POSITION: 4th
TRACK: Grays Harbor Raceway
STARTING POSITION: 1st
DATE: September 1, 2017
FEATURE FINISH: 1st
DATE: September 2, 2017
FEATURE FINISH: 6th
DATE: September 4, 2017
FEATURE FINISH: 1st
[title size=”4″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]Season Statistics[/title]
STARTS: 68
WINS: 8
TOP FIVES: 25
TOP 10s: 48
[title size=”4″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]Next Race[/title]
Stewart will be back in action tonight at Cycleland Speedway in Oroville, Calif., at Kyle Larson’s Outlaw Kart Showcase before heading back to Lebanon, Ore., to compete at Williamette Speedway with the World of Outlaws on Wednesday.
View 2017 schedule
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