6/26/2022
ASCS
Johnson Spoils Brown’s Surprise Visit at I-70 Motorsport Park’s 360 Nationals!
Lonnie Wheatley, ODESSA, Mo. (June 25, 2022) – Brian Brown’s unexpected visit to I-70 Motorsports Park very nearly netted a $5,000 payday in Saturday night’s Inaugural 360 Nationals atop the ½-mile clay oval.
But an ailing powerplant coupled with a late caution opened the door for Oklahoma City’s Wayne Johnson to slide into the lead and pace the final two rounds to collect the payday with his third Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour feature win of the season aboard the Select Coatings Two-C Racing No. 2c Sprint Car.
Johnson gunned into the lead from the pole position in the 30-lapper, countered a Brown slider in the opening pair of corners and proceeded to set the pace for 15 rounds before Brown capitalized on lapped traffic to take command at the midway point.
“I knew he had to be back there somewhere, but I wasn’t sure how close he was,” Johnson explained in victory lane. “I was trying to be cautious through traffic and I guess I was being a little too cautious.”
Traffic was a factor from the early going with the lead duo of Johnson and Brown reaching the tail of the filed by the sixth round as Jason Martin and Blake Hahn kept them within striking distance as well.
Playing a high-speed game of chess through heavy traffic over the next 13 circuits, Brown pressured Johnson before taking advantage to race into the lead on the 16th lap.
Brown kept Johnson at bay over the ensuing rounds, but trouble was brewing for the Casey’s/FVP No. 21b Sprint Car with smoke beginning to emanate from the machine.
Brown held the point even after a lap 19 caution for Ben Brown, staying ahead of Johnson and Martin, who joined in on the lead chase.
As Brown’s engine continued to sour, a final caution setting up a two-lap dash to the stripe proved too much to overcome as Johnson charged past Brown in turns one and two and raced on to the checkered flag ahead of Brown and Martin.
“I could tell there was something wrong with his car, but wasn’t sure what it was,” Johnson explained. “You could tell he wasn’t accelerating off the corners as well as he should have been.”
Brown concurred, explaining that, “I could still go pretty well as long we kept going, I just kept changing lines and trying to make myself as wide as possible. But I just couldn’t take off that well on that last restart, and with a guy like Wayne behind me, he’s experienced enough to know how to take advantage.”
Martin settled for third, commenting that, “I thought I might have a shot at getting those two guys on that last restart. I thought they might get to sliding each other and mess each other up, but that didn’t quite work out.”
Brandon Anderson raced to the stripe in fourth with Garet Williamson charging through the field from 17th to round out the top five.
Matt Covington was sixth with Austin Neal picking off a handful of positions to rank as the top-finishing ASCS Warrior Region representative in seventh. Tony Shilling crossed the stipe in eighth as the final car on the lead lap with Jake Griffin and 21st-starter Landon Britt completing the top ten.
Hahn held down fourth for 28 rounds before losing power and coming to a stop to precipitate the race’s final caution.
Johnson kicked off the night by establishing a new 360-ci track record of 14.449 seconds in qualifying with Kyler Johnson, Shilling, Tim Crawley and Anderson picking off heat race wins.
Williamson scored the “B” Main win before his charge through the feature field. Austin Alumbaugh held second in the “B” Main until reaching the white flag and suffering rear end failure that cut his drive short, allowing Ryan Bickett to snare the eighth and final transfer position.
The 2022 season will mark the 31st year of competition for the American Sprint Car Series. Spearheaded by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, the ASCS Nation includes Regional Tours that encompass both wing and non-wing competition.
For fans not able to attend, the series can be seen live on two platforms, with RaceOnTexas.com on FloRacing.com featuring National Tour events in tandem. Both are subscription-based sites. FloRacing.com is $20 per month, billed annually at $150 per year. RaceOnTexas.com All Access is $39.99 per month.
For other news, notes, and information on any of the tours under the ASCS banner, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Warrior Region
I-70 Motorsports Park (Odessa, Mo.)
Saturday, June 25, 2022
Car Count: 29
The Driver's Project Group Qualifying
Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 21B-Brian Brown, 14.580[2]; 2. 187-Landon Crawley, 14.898[3]; 3. 0-Jake Griffin, 14.900[8]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 14.982[5]; 5. 7C-Chris Morgan, 14.998[4]; 6. 50Z-Zach Chappell, 15.139[6]; 7. 10P-Dylan Postier, 15.349[7]; 8. 16-Dustin Clark, 15.457[1]
Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, 14.520[3]; 2. 21-Gunner Ramey, 14.638[1]; 3. 7-Tony Shilling, 14.725[7]; 4. 11A-Austin O'Neal, 15.008[4]; 5. 2-Dylan Opdahl, 15.539[2]; 6. 9C-Tony Crank, 15.658[6]; 7. 38-Kevin Frisbie, 17.306[5]
Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, 14.462[2]; 2. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, 14.565[6]; 3. 98P-Miles Paulus, 14.879[4]; 4. 1X-Tim Crawley, 14.927[1]; 5. 2J-Zach Blurton, 15.002[3]; 6. 86-Timothy Smith, 15.062[5]; 7. 10-Landon Britt, 15.070[7]
Qualifying 4 (3 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 14.449[4]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, 14.522[7]; 3. 24-Garet Williamson, 14.560[1]; 4. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 14.721[2]; 5. 7B-Ben Brown, 14.729[5]; 6. 33-Austin Alumbaugh, 14.758[3]; 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 15.118[6]
SCE Gaskets Heat Races (All drivers advance to the A-Feature)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Kyler Johnson[1]; 2. 21B-Brian Brown[4]; 3. 0-Jake Griffin[2]; 4. 187-Landon Crawley[3]; 5. 50Z-Zach Chappell[6]; 6. 7C-Chris Morgan[5]; 7. 16-Dustin Clark[8]; 8. 10P-Dylan Postier[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Tony Shilling[2]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 3. 11A-Austin O'Neal[1]; 4. 21-Gunner Ramey[3]; 5. 9C-Tony Crank[6]; 6. 2-Dylan Opdahl[5]; 7. (DNS) 38-Kevin Frisbie
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1X-Tim Crawley[1]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 3. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[3]; 4. 98P-Miles Paulus[2]; 5. 2J-Zach Blurton[5]; 6. 86-Timothy Smith[6]; 7. 10-Landon Britt[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson[4]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 4. 7B-Ben Brown[5]; 5. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[6]; 6. 24-Garet Williamson[2]; 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett[7]
BMRS B-Feature (Top 8 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 24-Garet Williamson[1]; 2. 50Z-Zach Chappell[4]; 3. 2J-Zach Blurton[3]; 4. 7C-Chris Morgan[6]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[9]; 6. 2-Dylan Opdahl[8]; 7. 16-Dustin Clark[11]; 8. 17B-Ryan Bickett[10]; 9. 10P-Dylan Postier[12]; 10. 86-Timothy Smith[7]; 11. 9C-Tony Crank[5]; 12. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[2]; 13. 38-Kevin Frisbie[13]
A-Feature
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[1]; 2. 21B-Brian Brown[3]; 3. 36-Jason Martin[2]; 4. 55B-Brandon Anderson[6]; 5. 24-Garet Williamson[17]; 6. 95-Matt Covington[9]; 7. 11A-Austin O'Neal[12]; 8. 7-Tony Shilling[8]; 9. 0-Jake Griffin[11]; 10. 10-Landon Britt[21]; 11. 17B-Ryan Bickett[24]; 12. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 13. 7C-Chris Morgan[20]; 14. 2-Dylan Opdahl[22]; 15. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[10]; 16. 187-Landon Crawley[16]; 17. 2J-Zach Blurton[19]; 18. 50Z-Zach Chappell[18]; 19. 7B-Ben Brown[14]; 20. 21-Gunner Ramey[13]; 21. 98P-Miles Paulus[15]; 22. 16-Dustin Clark[23]; 23. 1X-Tim Crawley[5]; 24. 45X-Kyler Johnson[7]
Lap Leader(s):Wayne Johnson 1-15, 29-30; Brian Brown16-28
Hard Charger: Ryan Bickett +13
Quick Time: Wayne Johnson 14.119-seconds
High Point Driver: N/A
Provisional(s): N/A
ASCS Online:
American Sprint Car Series: http://www.ascsracing.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lucasoilascs
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lucasoilascs [@lucasoilascs]
Instagram: LucasOilASCS
Broadcast: RaceOnTexas.com on FloRacing.com
Live-Scoring [Where Applicable]: MRP Live
2022 Race Winners: Wayne Johnson – 3 (3/18 – Devil's Bowl Speedway; 6/18 – Boothill Speedway, 6/25 - I-70 Motorsports Park); Derek Hagar – 2 (3/25 – I-30 Speedway; 6/17 – Texarkana 67 Speedway); Seth Bergman – 1 (3/19 – Devil's Bowl Speedway); Aaron Reutzel – 1 (3/26 – I-30 Speedway); Dylan Westbrook – 1 (5/28 – Lake Ozark Speedway); Sam Hafertepe, Jr. – 1 (5/29 – Thunderbird Speedway);
2022 Driver Points (Top 15): 1. Wayne Johnson 1,020; 2. Blake Hahn 963; 3. Garet Williamson 928; 4. Jason Martin 914; 5. Brandon Anderson 879; 6. Tim Crawley 873; 7. Matt Covington 844; 8. Landon Crawley 759; 9. Landon Britt 738; 10 Kyler Johnson 737; 11. Dylan Westbrook 729; 12. Ryan Bickett 712; 13. Dylan Postier 620; 14. Dylan Opdahl 588; 15. Ryan Timms 566;
ASCS National Tour Drivers:
1x - Tim Crawley (Benton, AR)**
2 - Chase Porter (St. Joseph, MO) (R)
2c - Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK)**
2d-Dylan Opdahl (Madison, SD) (R)
10 - Landon Britt (Atoka, TN) (R)
10p - Dylan Postier (Stillwater, OK) (R)
17b - Ryan Bickett (Romona, SD)
23 - Seth Bergman (Snohomish, WA)
24 - Garet Williamson (Columbia, MO)
36 - Jason Martin (Liberal, KS) (R)
45x - Kyler Johnson (Quinter, KS) (R)
47x - Dylan Westbrook (Scotland, ONT. Can)
52 - Blake Hahn (Sapulpa, OK)**
55b - Brandon Anderson (Glenpool, OK) (R)
95 - Matt Covington (Glenpool, OK)
187 - Landon Crawley (Benton, AR) (R)
(R) Signifies Brodix National Rookie
** Signifies past ASCS National Champion.
Sponsors:
The American Sprint Car Series is brought to you by Lucas Oil Products (https://lucasoil.com) and presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network (https://www.mavtv.com). Heat Races are presented by SCE Gaskets (https://www.scegaskets.com), B-Features are sponsored by BMRS (https://www.bmrs.net).
All Champions of the American Sprint Car Series, from National to Regional Tours, will receive a new Superior Steering Wheel (https://superiorsteeringwheel.com).
Submitted By: Bryan Hulbert
