The World of Outlaws Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway commenced on Wednesday night, November 2nd with two late race passes for the wins as the Late Models and the Sprint Cars took to the track on Wednesday night.
The Late Model feature saw Mike Marlar make a concerted charge using the low line on the track and with just over two laps to go, he would complete his run to the front as he slid up in front of Shane Clanton and then pulled away on the final lap for the win.
The Sprint Car feature would see Carson Macedo lead for twenty eight of the thirty lap main with a couple of late race yellows bunching the field and giving Logan Schuchart chances to make the pass for the win. However, each time Macedo would fight off Schuchart but when a mechanical issue saw Macedo start to lose power in the last laps, he wasn't able to fight off Schuchart who drove past him with two to go and then would take the win.
Under the new format used for the World Finals this year, only two of the three divisions on hand would race on any one night except for the final night on Saturday. The three will rotate so that each has one night off and then all will return for the Saturday night grand finale. Each class racing qualifies and then runs a full show on their nights with points being calculated and on Saturday, instead of three classes qualifying, total points from the two nights they raced will be used to set the heat race lineups for Saturday's events. Therefore, a bad night on either qualifying night could be disastrously damaging to a final night win.
Unlike some years when the weather was very Midwestern like with brisk temperatures, the conditions for opening night were quite comfortable but there existed a nagging few rain drops that would fall from time to time all night, not ever threatening the racing but just enough to be annoying.
Seventy Late Models would sign in to race, up over twenty from last year's event. The top nine in season long WoO point standings were on hand but there were actually quite a few drivers in the top twenty five that chose not to attend for various reasons. However, there were a lot of regional drivers that weren't high in points that joined the action this weekend and the field was solid from top to bottom.
The Late Models would be split into two flights for qualifying with six heat races then to be run. Three Last Chance races would fill the rest of the field with several provisional entrants attaching themselves to the back of the pack.
The track was very fast for the heat races so it seems, as with it is for most heads up start events, heat race passing was at a premium, further emphasizing how important qualifying is. Not surprisingly, all six heats were won from the front row and only Josh Richards and Max Blair were able to advance to the feature with a starting spot further back than the second row of a heat. Perhaps the most compelling part of all the heats was the bad luck suffered by Jonathan Davenport who was involved in two heat race scraps, neither of which was his doing, with the result being that he finished nearly a full lap in arrears in his heat and burying him to a point that he wouldn't make the main event.
Three very large Last Chance races would only take two for the mains with lots of very fine drivers watching the feature race from the sidelines. When provisionals had been passed out, there would be twenty seven drivers that would take the green for the forty lap main.
Despite starting on the pole, Brandon Overton would not lead a lap as Shane Clanton got the run off the top side and moved to the early lead. Trent Ivey and Tim McCreadie would be the early challengers while Marlar very proficiently moved his way to the front after starting ninth as he was making the low line work for himself. Following a mid race yellow for a slowing Ross Robinson, Ivey started to put the pressure on for the lead while McCreadie slipped back and Marlar continued his charge. Several times it looked like Ivey was going to make the pass for the lead but each time Clanton would fight him off.
That's when Marlar picked up the pace, passing Ivey for second and then closing fast on Clanton. He was just ready to make a pass for the lead when the yellow flew for a Tyler Erb spin with just four laps to go. Clanton would hold off Marlar for two laps but Mike was just too strong as he would get a great run off the low side of the track. His winning move would come down the back chute after a strong run off turn two and he slid up in front of Clanton and then pulled away on the final lap.
Marlar would point out in victory lane that seldom is it done when someone starts ninth and wins in just forty laps and that is a true statement, perhaps showing just how strong his efforts were on this night. Clanton would hold on for second and Ivey would dazzle with a strong third place run. Overton and McCreadie would round out the top five but neither would ever be a challenger at the end. Three yellows would slow the race, all for minor issues and for the Late Models it was a very clean night of racing overall.
The point drama in the Late Models would involve the battle for Rookie of the Year honors and when Max Blair edged out Tanner English for the feature finish, it would tighten up the standings even further with two more shows left to be run.
Fifty two Sprint Cars would sign in to race with the top seventeen in points and twenty two of the top twenty five on hand. Throw in a strong contingent of Pennsylvania regulars plus All Star regulars and you have a very strong field of Sprint Car drivers on hand.
Under the Sprint format, such a large field of drivers would require a Non Qualifiers race to send drivers either to the tail of a heat race or to the C Feature. Then there were four heats, a C Feature and a B Feature to set the twenty nine car starting field of the Sprint main, once the provisional entries were added to the back. Just before the green dropped, the lineup had to be jockeyed as Lance Dewease opted for the rear with the report of no brakes. If he indeed had no brakes or they were fixed in a brief stop before the race started, he did well, advancing from twenty ninth to eighth in the thirty lapped.
Despite sharing the front row with Brad Sweet, it would be Carson Macedo that would get the jump and lead the early laps. Schuchart was flying on the top side of the track and would pass Sweet for second and become the main challenger to Macedo. Macedo would lead through two early yellows, including a flip by James McFadden that triggered the red briefly.
Macedo would continue to show the way with Schuchart pressuring from time to time. Sweet continued to run third with Rico Abreu moving up as Donny Schatz rolled to a halt with issues with only four laps to go. Another yellow for a slowing car set up a three lap sprint for the Sprints.
This time there would be problems as Macedo just didn't have the power to pull away and Schuchart would quickly get up to him. Later diagnosed as a motor issue that cut power, Macedo was helpless to fight off Schuchart who drove past him with just two laps to go and would pull away then for the win. Somehow Macedo made his car just wide enough that he was able to limp home second, edging out Sweet for the spot with Abreu and Geo Scelzi completing the top five.
The Outlaws are in a battle down to the wire for the point title and with his third place finish, Sweet opening up just a bit bigger gap over David Gravel who finished sixth. It was a smooth night for the Sprints also with not a lot of wrecks or grinding crashes on what was a fast, smooth but extremely dirty for the fans, track. I just don't know how you can expect to attract new or casual fans to come out and watch on a night like this, when for hard core fans the dust is so bad as to be almost intolerable. This red clay here is not at all like the red clay where I'm from.
While the other two classes had their full shows, the Big Block Mods, the third class for this week, had a "meet and greet" on the front chute during the afternoon with the other two classes being rotated in on their nights off. This seems like a very good idea as otherwise it's tough for fan interaction here unless one buys a pit pass. The plan of running only two classes per night and adding one night to the program seemed like a good idea and the old format of just time trials on Thursday followed by two nights of racing was not a fan favorite at all. However, for the opening night, it didn't seem that there were nearly as many fans around as other years. However, that might be just because the extra day was added or their are a huge amount of Big Block fans that didn't bother to show on Wednesday with their class not running. Answers to these questions will come in the following nights. On Thursday the Sprint Cars have the night off with the Late Models having an important night for those that didn't do particularly well on Wednesday along with the Big Blocks hitting the track for the first time. Pre entries show thirty of them but let's hope there are a few more by Thursday night.
In keeping with the honoring of the late Rick Eshelman, two more Hall of Fame announcers were calling the Late Model portion of the program on this night and throughout the weekend. Of course everyone knows what a great job that James Essex does, but it was a great treat to hear Bret Emrick calling the action also. For someone who hasn't actively announced for a number of years, I thought he did a great job and was the highlight of the evening. I would love to hear his announce anywhere, anytime. What a great job he did!
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