Daryn Pittman Cruises to
It had been so long since his last
But in the Wichita Twister Showdown Saturday night at 81
The victory Saturday night also marks the first win on the
Following Pittman and Kinser to the checkered flag were Brooke Tatnell,
“They’re all good, but this win ranks probably as high as my first one,” said
Pittman, whose troubled 19th-place run Friday at Outlaw Motor Speedway made
leading all 35 laps Saturday for the $10,000 victory all the more sweet as the
series next heads to historic Knoxville Raceway. “It’s been so long since we
won a race. I’ve had a lot of really good people stay behind me throughout that
whole time. They probably wondered if we were ever going to win another one,
and it had entered my mind a lot, too. It would probably rank up there in the
top two or three.”
On each of the five restarts, including two before a lap could be completed,
Pittman quickly built an advantage. But like Friday night, a late-race caution
threatened to change the almost certain outcome. One night earlier, Steve
Kinser restarted behind front-runner Meyers with three laps to go and stole the
victory by locking into a low groove while Meyers ran the top.
Saturday night, with six laps left, a caution followed by a red flag waved when
second-place running Joey Saldana ran out of fuel. To that point, Pittman had
been nearly untouchable in the high groove on the 3/8-mile oval, but the caution
turned the feature into a 6-lap sprint. Pittman saw on the scoreboard that
Kinser had moved into second, but Pittman’s crew chief, Glenno Inglis, knew
that unlike Friday, Kinser couldn’t make up ground on the bottom of the track
and relayed the information to Pittman.
“I just more or less said to Daryn, ‘Stay on the top. He’s never going to get
you on the top,’” Inglis said. “The only way he was going to get by us was in
lapped traffic, which we were getting close to.”
So on the restart, Pittman pinched the field to the bottom of the track and
then surged to the high side in Turns 1 and 2, keeping Kinser about six
car-lengths behind.
“I knew the top wasn’t going to be good for the restarts because I was afraid
I’d spin the tires too much, and there was quite a bit of moisture on the
starts on the bottom,” said Pittman, an Owasso, Okla.-native whose last main
event victory came in Beaver Dam, Wis., but was followed up later in 2003 with
a preliminary feature win at Texas Motor Speedway. “Normally if you can pinch
guys around the [bottom of the track] it’s awfully hard for them to roll into
the throttle behind you. When Steve’s behind you, you know he’s going to lay
back about three or four car lengths and get a run on you. So I tried to go
early enough before he even thought I was going to so if he was still three
car-lengths back, maybe I’d have five on him at the [start line]. I figured
that’s what I was going to need to stay ahead of him. I felt good. I could keep
the tires underneath me all the way down the front chute. I knew as long as we
did that we’d be tough to beat going into Turn 1.”
Kinser admitted he was slow to react to the fastest lane around the speedway.
With Pittman pulling Saldana and Tatnell around the high side of the track for
most of the first 26 laps, Kinser tried running in a middle groove but couldn’t
gain ground.
“I was trying down there, but that’s what got me down to fourth,” said Kinser,
a Bloomington, Ind.-native who won his 518th feature Friday. “I messed around
trying to run the bottom. Daryn was down there blocking me the first time, if I
had known the top was that fast then, I should have gone up there and drove
around him. But I stayed there and dropped to fourth. I just ran a bad race.
“It was just so fast around the top, there wasn’t any place I could pass. I
knew I wasn’t going to catch him in a 6-lap run so I just sort of hung in there
with no lapped traffic and I knew I was done. Once you get passed by one car
down there and then let another get by, I was about to let three or four go by.
I just hung in there too long.”
Despite his team’s belief that Kinser couldn’t catch him, Pittman still pushed
as hard as possible until the checkered flag waved to ensure the victory.
“He’s just so good,” Pittman said of the 19-time champion. “Honestly, as much
as you hate to admit it, it’s almost like he has you beat. When you look up at
the board and see that’s who is behind you, you know he’s coming. I knew he was
back to fourth or fifth at one time, and then to look up and see he was second
right behind me on that last restart, I thought, ‘This isn’t good, either.’ But
I just tried to buckle down and say forget it, he’s just another car, make your
laps and make him earn it to get by you. He’s tough to pass, and probably tougher
to keep behind you.”
Pittman earned the pole for the feature by rolling to victory in the Stacker 2®
Dash, while Steve Kinser secured the outside front-row position after grabbing
the second Dash.
In the B-main, Terry McCarl outlasted an early four-car battle and opened a
huge lead to earn the win.
In the first heat race, Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award contender Tim
Kaeding picked up the victory while Pittman had to work to finish in a transfer
position. In the second heat, Jason Sides charged in front going into Turn 1
and built a massive lead to take the checkered flag as Saldana outlasted Stevie
Smith for the final transfer spot. In the third heat, Brandon Wimmer, another
rookie contender, jumped out to a full-turn lead and extended it to the
checkered flag.
Pittman paced the 31-car field with a lap around the 3/8-mile oval in 13.485
seconds. Steve Kinser’s 13.395-second run on
The
All the action from 81
If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the
excitement of the
The
Qualifying
1) Daryn Pittman, Titan Racing USA 21, 13.485
2) Joey Saldana, Woodward 2, 13.539
3) Shane Stewart, Rudeen Racing 26, 13.558
4) Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 13.635
5) Kraig Kinser, Kinser 11K, 13.637
6) Terry McCarl, McCarl 24, 13.649
7) Paul McMahan, Helm 11H, 13.658
8) Craig Dollansky, Karavan 7, 13.700
9) Brooke Tatnell, Rush Racing 8, 13.707
10)
11) Sammy Swindell, Forbrook 5, 13.731
12) Danny Lasoski, Stewart 20, 13.745
13) Tim Kaeding, Roth 83, 13.758
14) Jason Sides, Sides Motorsports 7S, 13.807
15) Brandon Wimmer, Wimmer-Luck Motorsports 7TW, 13.812
16) Tim Shaffer, Parsons 6, 13.832
17) Jason Solwold, Carnahan R19, 13.859
18) Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 13.860
19) Kevin Swindell, Swindell 1, 13.868
20) Billy Alley, BG Racing 66, 13.874
21)
22) Jesse Hockett, Kahne 9, 13.885
23) Peter Murphy, Wright 35, 13.963
24) Danny Smith, Smith 4, 14.021
25) Jeremy Campbell, Campbell 10C, 14.049
26) Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 14.046
27) Sean Walden, Walden 14W, 14.140
28) Mike Woodruff, Woodruff 17, 14.280
29) Dion Hindi, Hindi 11D, 14.394
30) C.J. Johnson, Johnson 44, 14.520
31) Garry Lee Maier, Maier 11X, 14.816
First Heat Race
(8 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Tim Kaeding
2) Donny Schatz
3) Danny Lasoski
4) Paul McMahan
5)
6) Daryn Pittman
7) Kevin Swindell
8) Terry McCarl
9) Jeremy Campbell
10) Garry Lee Maier
11) Mike Woodruff
Second Heat Race
(8 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Jason Sides
2) Craig Dollansky
3) Jason Solwold
4) Sammy Swindell
5) Kraig Kinser
6) Joey Saldana
7) Stevie Smith
8) Peter Murphy
9) Billy Alley
10) Dion Hindi
Third Heat Race
(8 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Brandon Wimmer
2) Tim Shaffer
3) Brooke Tatnell
4) Steve Kinser
5)
6) Shane Stewart
7) Danny Smith
8) Sean Walden
9) Jesse Hockett
10) C.J. Johnson
Stacker 2® Dash
(6 laps, finishing order determined inside first 6 rows of A-feature)
1) Daryn Pittman
2) Shane Stewart
3) Kraig Kinser
4) Craig Dollansky
5)
6) Danny Lasoski
Second Dash
(6 laps, finishing order determined outside first 6 rows of A-feature)
1) Steve Kinser
2) Joey Saldana
3) Brooke Tatnell
4) Paul McMahan
5) Sammy Swindell
6) Tim Kaeding
B-main
(12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Terry McCarl [$20]
2) Kevin Swindell [$20]
3) Jesse Hockett [$20]
4) Danny Smith [$20]
5) Billy Alley [$20]
6) Stevie Smith [$20]
7) Peter Murphy [$200]
8) Jeremy Campbell [$180]
9) Dion Hindi [$175]
10) C.J. Johnson [$160]
11) Mike Woodruff [$150]
12) Garry Lee Maier [$150]
13) Sean Walden [$150]
A-main
(35 laps)
1) Daryn Pittman [$10,000]
2) Steve Kinser [$5,500]
3) Brooke Tatnell [$3,200]
4)
5) Kraig Kinser [$2,500]
6) Danny Lasoski [$2,300]
7) Paul McMahan [$2,200]
8) Jason Solwold [$2,100]
9) Tim Kaeding [$2,050]
10) Donny Schatz [$2,000]
11) Sammy Swindell [$1,500]
12) Craig Dollansky [$1,200]
13) Tim Shaffer [$1,100]
14) Terry McCarl [$1,050]
15) Stevie Smith [$1,000]
16) Jason Sides [$900]
17) Brandon Wimmer [$800]
18) Jesse Hockett [$800]
19) Peter Murphy [$800]
20) Joey Saldana [$800]
21) Billy Alley [$800]
22)
23) Kevin Swindell [$800]
24) Danny Smith [$800]
Lap leaders: Daryn Pittman 1-35
Notes: Jason Solwold changed rear end after warm-ups. ... Before the
A-main, Shane Stewart’s car stalled on the frontstretch as the field was lining
up. Stewart was not able to make repairs, and thus did not receive credit for
starting the A-feature.
Rk. Driver Points Back
1 Steve Kinser 2157 0
2 Craig Dollansky 2094 -63
3
4 Kraig Kinser 2009 -148
5 Donny Schatz 1974 -183
6 Danny Lasoski 1941 -216
7 Daryn Pittman 1873 -284
8 Joey Saldana 1850 -307
9 Shane Stewart 1835 -322
10 Paul McMahan 1824 -333
11 Tim Shaffer 1817 -340
12 Tim Kaeding 1816 -341
13 Jason Solwold 1731 -426
14 Jason Sides 1687 -470
15
16 Terry McCarl 1663 -494
17 Brooke Tatnell 1632 -525
18 Brandon Wimmer 1543 -614
19 Mark Kinser 1333 -824
20 Sammy Swindell 1204 -953
21 Randy Hannagan 1186 -971
22 Kevin Swindell 1004 -1153
23 Danny Smith 946 -1211
24 Chad Kemenah 889 -1268
25 Peter Murphy 724 1433