Greg Hodnett drove to the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car victory Wednesday night at Volusia Speedway Park. Photo by Paul Arch
Greg Hodnett has served noticed. His Mike Heffner team will be a force to be reckoned with in 2015.
The Thomasville, PA driver was able to maneuver through traffic and led all 30 laps at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, FL to claim the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions victory.
Hodnett’s victory stops a three race win streak for Kerry Madsen.
It was the 81st appearance of Tony Stewart’s New All Star Circuit of Champions at Volusia Speedway Park for the DIRTcar Nationals. For Hodnett it was his 19th career series victory and the second All Star win at Volusia for the driver of the Lelands.com/Eagle Steel/Trone Outdoor machine.
“We qualified well and got a great run in the dash to put us up front and that helped tremendously. The guys gave me a perfect race car. There were times in traffic where I was hand over hand…it was a handful on the cushion at times,” said Hodnett.
“We are working with a new Triple X chassis this year and tried some things and it worked and I got one of these gator trophies,” added Hodnett.
Danny Lasoski, who set the fastest lap in qualifications, took second from Paul McMahan on lap 23 but couldn’t catch Hodnett in traffic.
“I have to thank Todd Quiring for giving me this opportunity. It’s great to be back with Guy Forbrook and I’m extremely excited for the season,” said Lasoski, who leads all drivers with 16 career All Stars wins at Volusia.
“I spun my wheels on the start and that’s what cost me. You can’t give someone like Greg that kind of an advantage,” added Lasoski.
Brad Sweet would drive his Kasey Kahne Racing entry into third on lap 23 after having started seventh on the racy half mile.
“We missed it a little in time trials and you just can’t do that with the level of talent we have here. It was a great first night for our Ollie’s Bargain Outlets, Avantage health, Sage Fruit, Team ASE car,” said Sweet.
“My hands and arms hurt. I have to get in racing shape but I had a lot of fun tonight and can’t wait until tomorrow,” added Sweet.
Hodnett and Lasoski would bring the field to green for their 30 lap main event but eighth place starter Joey Saldana would spin coming out of turn four, with most of the field narrowly missing “The Brownsburg Bullet.”
Donny Schatz and Dave Blaney would also get together in turn one and a red was brought out so that crews could separate the two machines.
When the green came back out, Hodnett set sail as McMahan, Lasoski, Kerry Madsen, Sweet and Dale Blaney gave chase.
The caution flew on lap two when Cody Darrah and Lucas Wolfe spun in turn two. When the race resumed it would go to the end without stoppage.
Hodnett would pull away to a commanding lead while the action for second was heating up between McMahan, Lasoski and Madsen. Hodnett would race into traffic by the 10th circuit.
Hodnett would patiently pick off the lapped cars as McMahan and Lasoski were unable to make up any ground.
With 10 laps to go Hodnett continued to work through traffic as once again McMahan, Lasoski and now Sweet tried to hunt him down. On lap 23 McMahan tried to drive under a lapped car and slid up the track allowing Lasoski and Sweet to get by.
Hodnett would drive to the win over Lasoski, Sweet, McMahan, Madsen, Daryn Pittman (up from 13th), David Gravel (up from 15th), Blaney, Jason Johnson (up from 14th) and Jason Sides would round out the top 10.
Kyle Strickler celebrates in victory lane after scoring the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds win in Thursday’s DIRTCar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park. Photo courtesy DirtCar Nationals Media
In other action, Kyle Strickler held off Ty Dillon to capture the DIRTcar UMP Modified nightcap.
Strickler powered through a clean but wild event, riding the cushion as Ty Dillon applied the pressure. A late caution bunched everybody together but Strickler, of Mooresville, NC, had a strong restart to keep Ty Dillon behind him. Austin Dillon, who won on Tuesday night, advanced four spots to finish third ahead of hard charger Nick Hoffman, who improved 10 spots.
“That cushion was getting a little rough up there, lapped traffic, that was getting a little crazy,” Strickler said. “I wasn’t sure how close the Dillon boys were there. Those guys, they’ve had rocket ships last night and tonight. I knew they would be coming and if I could pick and choose my way through lapped traffic that was going to help me. Starting up front definitely was very important. If I could get to that cushion I was going to have a good restart because I got some of that moisture off of four here and got to the top.”
Nightly doubleheaders at Volusia run Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 21. Thursday night’s action once again features Tony Stewart’s UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars and DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.
For more info on the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions, visit AllStarSprint.com.
For more information on the DIRTcar Nationals, visit DIRTcarNationals.com.
(DIRTCar Nationals Event PR contributed to the DIRTcar UMP Modified portion of this story.)
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Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL
Race Results – Feb. 11, 2015
UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions
1. Greg Hodnett
2. Danny Lasoski
3. Brad Sweet
4. Paul McMahan
5. Kerry Madsen
6. Daryn Pittman
7. David Gravel
8. Dale Blaney
9. Jason Johnson
10. Jason Sides
11. Steve Kinser
12. Donny Schatz
13. Craig Dollansky
14. Chad Kemenah
15. Joey Saldana
16. Cody Darrah
17. Danny Holtgraver
18. Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
19. Lucas Wolfe
20. Kody Swanson
21. Dave Blaney
22. Danny Smith
23. Tim Shaffer
24. Wayne Johnson
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
1. (8) Kyle Strickler
2. (41) Ty Dillon
3. (3) Austin Dillon
4. (2) Nick Hoffman
5. (BD4) Jackie Boggs
6. (64JR) Billy Workman, Jr.
7. (13) Jake Hawkins
8. (36) Kenny Wallace
9. (51) Justin Allgaier
10. (9) Ken Schrader
11. (Z8) Max McLaughlin
12. (67) Garret Stewart
13. (88) Matt Crafton
14. (1G) Devin Gilpin
15. (77) Ray Bollinger
16. (85S) Mike Smith
17. (90) Jason Beaulieu
18. (72) Todd Neiheiser
19. (96) Cory Daugherty
20. (71) Joel Ortberg
21. (33) Jeff Mathews
22. (K9) Will Krup
23. (9M) Dale Mathison
24. (25) Tyler Nicely
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