Cottle Wins Opening Round of Indiana Sprint Week With Last-Lap Pass of Grant Friday Night at Gas City I-69 Speedway

GAS CITY, Ind., July 23 —*Shane Cottle of Kansas, Ill., only led one lap of Friday’s USAC AMSOIL national sprint car feature at Gas City I-69 Speedway, but it was the one that counted.

The two-time track champion had to qualify through the semi and he started tenth in the feature, but he charged under point leader Justin Grant of Avon, Ind. in Turn 1 on the final lap to win an eventful opening feature of the 35th annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week.

The event attracted 52 non-wing sprint cars and a packed house of fans to the quarter-mile dirt track between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.

Defending All Star Circuit of Champions TQ midget champion Joey Paxson of Connersville, Ind., led all 20 laps of that series’ supporting feature.*

USAC AMSOIL Non-Wing Sprint Cars

For the bulk of the non-wing sprint car headliner the main players were Robert Ballou of Tipton, Ind.; Grant; C.J. Leary of Greenfield, Ind., and Brady Bacon of Winchester, Ind.

Ballou, the polesitter, led the first 13 laps before Grant, who started second, snuck under him in Turn 4 to lead lap 14. Meanwhile, Leary and Bacon exchanged third a couple of times before Bacon took command of the spot by dipping under Leary in Turn 2 working lap seven. *

Up front, Ballou regained the lead from Grant to lead laps 15 and 16, with a pause between those two laps for a yellow due to an errant cone on the frontstretch. *

Grant repassed Ballou for the lead by dipping under him in Turn 4 on lap 17, while on the same lap Leary passed Bacon for third. But working lap 20 Leary clipped a couple infield tires in Turn 2 and slipped from third to sixth.*

Bacon charged from fourth to second on lap 20, passing Leary and then Ballou on the outside on the backstretch for the runner-up spot. However, as Bacon and Ballou flew through Turn 3 with 20 laps complete they made contact, and Bacon’s car flipped hard at the top of the turn to bring out a red flag. Bacon got out of his car under his own power and marched to the frontstretch, where Ballou was parked under the red flag, to express his displeasure with Ballou. It was a sad end to Bacon’s night, as he had worked hard to come from last to earn the final transfer spot to the feature in the third heat.*

Cottle didn’t even appear in the top five until lap 19, when he passed Chase Stockon of Fort Branch, Ind., for fifth. He was third on lap 20 with Bacon’s departure and Leary’s encounters with the infield tires. He got one more spot following the restart on lap 21 by passing Ballou for second, leaving only Grant to deal with further up the track.

On lap 25 Leary passed Ballou for third in Turn 1. Grant had built up a 1.191-second lead over Cottle by that time.*

More fireworks were on the horizon, however. Grant’s lead was 1.313 seconds on lap 29 when Leary flipped hard on the frontstretch after contact with Ballou. Leary’s car landed upside down a little past the flagstand. Like Bacon, Leary was unhurt but angry with Ballou. After getting out of his badly damaged car Leary jogged from the frontstretch to where Ballou was parked on the backstretch near Turn 3 under the red, and kicked Ballou while Ballou sat in his cockpit, falling down in the process before a USAC official broke up the confrontation.*

The red flag for Leary set up a green-white-checkered finish. Grant held the lead, barely, on the white-flag lap, but on the final circuit Cottle slipped under him in Turn 1 to post a 0.265-second victory over Grant. *

“I love running the bottom here; I’ve won a lot of races around here just like that,” Cottle said afterwards. *

Mitchel Moles of Raisin City, Calif., who topped Fatheadz qualifying earlier in the evening, ended up finishing third. Ballou finished fourth and Stockon finished where he’d started, in fifth place. Kyle Cummins of Princeton,Ind., was the hard charger, as he finished sixth after starting 17th. *

Cottle’s winning car is the Hodges Motorsports/Hodges Automotive No. 74X, which is a DRC chassis powered by a J & D Chevy. The car is sponsored by J.B. Henderson and Ortega’s Appliance.*

The series will be back at Gas City on Thursday, Sept. 22 for the James Dean Classic, when it will be joined by the USAC NOS Energy Drink national midgets. *

For more information on USAC and Indiana Sprint Week, see usacracing.com.

All Star Circuit of Champions TQs

*

Paxson started on the pole in the TQ midget feature and led the wholerace in his Tony Stewart Racing No. 1, which is sponsored by Jenmarco.com,Vance & Hines, and Acro Engineering.

Robbie Roland of Carthage, Ind., and Matt Lux of Manilla, Ind., exchanged positions, as Roland started third and finished second, and Lux started second and finished third. Two-time champion Cory Clay of Morgantown, Ind., placed fourth. Johnny Heydenreich of Indianapolis came from 12th to pass Logan Prickett of Shelbyville, Ind., on the last lap to round out the top five finishers.

Rylan Gray of Greenfield, Ind., flipped hard in Turn 4 to bring out a red flag with six laps down. He reportedly suffered a knee injury in the accident. *

Kaylee Bryson of Muskogee, Okla., started sixth, passed Lux for second on lap five, and pressured Paxson until she pulled off on the backstretch with 14 laps down with a mechanical issue. *

Additional Red Flags

In addition to the two flips in the sprint car feature and the flip in the TQ feature, there were three sprint flips earlier in the evening. Drivers from Lebanon weren’t very lucky, as Austin Graby of Lebanon, Pa., flipped in Turn 4 during warmups and Kyle Shipley of Lebanon, Ind., flipped in the same turn during time trials. Defending Indiana Sprint Week titlist Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Ala., also flipped between Turns 3 and 4 during trial trials. *

What’s Next?

This coming Friday night, July 29, is the “Summer Thunder Mod Madness” show featuring crate late models, street stocks, modifieds ($1,000 to win), hornets, and the USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 midgets. It’s also Hoosier Auto Racing Fan (HARF) Appreciation Night. On Friday, Aug. 5 the track will host its “Beach Night Bash” for non-wing sprint cars, modifieds, street stocks and hornets. The Midwest Oldtimers Vintage Racing Club will also be on hand with a display and an exhibition.

For Gas City’s complete 2022 schedule and more information see the track’s website at gascityI69Speedway.com and also follow its social media outlets. *The track is on Twitter (@GasCitySpeedway), Instagram (@GasCitySpeedway)and Facebook (GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas).*

Gas City I-69Speedway is located on State Road 22, approximately a half-mile west of exit 259 of Interstate 69.*