WoO: Stewart Wins Thursday’s Joker’s Wild Event and Finishes 15th in King’s Royal Finale and Eldora
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series’ Month of Money continued this past weekend at the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Shane Stewart and his Kyle Larson Racing team won Thursday’s Joker’s Wild weekend opener, finished 23rd in Friday’s Knight Before the Kings Royal and 15th in Saturday’s King’s Royal finale.
Stewart qualified fifth in Flight A of time trials Thursday night at the Big E. He advanced one position in his heat race to finish second, earning a spot in the Sears Craftsman Dash. Stewart drew the pole starting spot for the dash and earned an outside front row starting position for the 30-lap feature event.
The Bixby, Okla., native settled inro second for the opening laps of the race, but slipped back to third on lap 9. While battling for position, Stewart and David Gravel made contact, which resulted in Gravel ending up backwards with 10 laps complete. Stewart lined up on the outside of the front row for the restart and he impressively took control of the field down the backstretch and never looked back, earning the team’s first win of the season. Watch the Jokers Wild highlights here.
“I never want to win a race by crashing a guy,” said Stewart in Victory Lane. “I thought I had David clear, it was all my fault. I don’t ever want to race like that. We’ve been close to winning a couple of times this year. Hopefully, we can have some momentum now and get rolling. It’s always special to win at this track and to get a win in the Month of Money is huge. I can’t thank everyone who is a part of this team – Kyle [Larson], Paul [Silva], Lee [Stauffer], Heath [Moyle] and Jakob [Weaver]. And of course, all of our sponsors – ENEOS, DC Solar, BRANDT, GoPro Motorplex and everyone else that makes this all possible.”
The following night, Stewart qualified 15th in Flight A of qualifying and finished third in his heat race from the fifth starting spot. After starting 17th in the main event, he fell back as far as 26th from lack of grip on the slick surface. He was able to gain a few spots back and finished 23rd in the Knight Before the Kings Royal 30-lap feature race.
As a result of winning Thursday’s weekend opener, the KLR team got to pick when they went out for qualifying. They were the sixth car to record a lap time and ended up ninth after all 51 competitors completed their two laps. Stewart advanced two positions in his heat race to finish second and earn the ninth starting position for the 40-lap Kings Royal feature event. He raced within the top-10 for most of the race before slipping back in the final ten laps to finish 15th.
“It was definitely an up and down weekend for us,” said Stewart. “It sure felt good to finally break through and get our first win of the season. I wish we could have carried that momentum on throughout the weekend, but we seem to struggle with grip on a dry slick track. We will continue to work on it and get back to winning form. We’ve still got a big month ahead and hopefully we can pick off a couple more wins.”
TRACK: Eldora Speedway
STARTING POSITION: 2nd
TRACK: Eldora Speedway
STARTING POSITION: 15th
TRACK: Eldora Speedway
STARTING POSITION: 15th
DATE: July 12, 2018
FEATURE FINISH: 1st
DATE: July 13, 2018
FEATURE FINISH: 23rd
DATE: July 14, 2018
FEATURE FINISH: 15th
Season Statistics
STARTS: 40
WINS: 1
TOP FIVES: 12
TOP 10s: 25
Next Race
The Kyle Larson Racing team will be back in action Tuesday, July 17 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Penn., for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup. Team owner Kyle Larson will also be competing in the Silva Motorsports BRANDT/Finley Farms/Priority Aviation No. 57. Tickets for Tuesday’s Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup are available here.