Bryan Hulbert – Wheatland, Missouri (September 29, 2012) For the second year in a row Jason Johnson stood atop the podium at Lucas Oil Speedway as the champion of the Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV.
In a very emotional victory lane interview, Jason related his relationship with his Crew Chief to that of Jesse Hockett and Daniel McMillin.
“Jesse and Daniel were great friends of Phillip and I and I’m lucky we’re still on this earth. I know Jesse and Daniel are in a better place but I tell you what he must ride with me. That guy was a great friend of mine”
Failing to lock in through Friday night’s feature, Jason Johnson charged from sixth to first in his heat to gain the high point position to get into the redraw for the night’s A-Feature. Taking to the grid on the outside of the front row the MVT/Roush Yates Ford No. 41 jumped to the point ahead of the Casey’s General Store/FVP/Searsboro No. 21 of Brian Brown.
Able to pull to a comfortable advantage, Johnson would find the back of the field by the tenth circuit. Allowing Brian Brown to close with Shane Stewart and Brady Bacon in tow, the potential battle for the lead quickly became a race for the runner up spot as Stewart and Bacon stalked Brown.
Continuing this trend into the final ten laps, Brian Brown would nearly see his night end after contact with a slower car on lap 23 sent the Casey’s General Store No. 21 careening towards the outside wall. Able to save the car, Brown would fall to fourth as Shane Stewart and Brady Bacon sailed by.
Able to run down Jason Johnson under green flag laps, the Digital Delivery Network No. 3g was all smoke off the right rear as the white flag waved. Making what was thought to be the last lap effort for the win would see Johnson holding off the charge of Stewart only to have the caution wave as Johnny Herrera came to a stop exiting turn 2 with a shredded right rear tire.
Going back to the last completed lap, Jason Johnson would not look back with two laps to run and clear race track. Shane Stewart settled for second with Brady Bacon making up the podium. Brian Brown crossed the line fourth with Logan Forler rounding out the top five.
Tony Bruce Jr. was sixth with Wayne Johnson coming from twelfth to seventh. Gary Wright crossed the line eighth with Jonathan Cornell ninth with Derek Hagar coming from sixteenth to complete the top ten and in doing so earnig the Impact Signs, Awnings, and Wraps Hard Charger Award as well as the PitStopUSA.com Hard Charger award with the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV.
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, Missouri
September 29, 2012
Event Car Count: 54
Night #2 Car Count: 49
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21TX-Brandon Schure[3]; 2. 9-Gary Wright[6]; 3. 9M-Mitchell Moore[1]; 4. 75-Tyler Blank[2]; 5. 24-Lanny Carpenter[4]; 6. 5-Matt Close[8]; 7. 2A-Randy Hibbs[5]; DNS 53-Jack Dover
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5H-Logan Forler[4]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar[2]; 3. 5M-Miranda Arnold[1]; 4. 86-Kyle Bellm[3]; 5. 47-J Kinder[5]; 6. 71-R.J. Johnson[8]; 7. 38-Cody Baker[7]; 8. 27-Mark Finnell[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 48-Jake Martens[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 3. 23B-Brian Bell[2]; 4. 29-Brandon Hahn[4]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 6. 01-Terry McCarl[6]; 7. 3Z-Zach Davis[7]; 8. 17B-Ryan Bickett[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Dustin Morgan[1]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet[3]; 3. 28-Jonathan Cornell[7]; 4. 94L-Layne Himebaugh[4]; 5. 14-Andrew Turley[6]; 6. 50LP-Michael Sosebee[2]; DNF 33-Austin Alumbaugh[5]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[6]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[2]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[4]; 4. 4-Jordan Boston[5]; 5. 3H-Brandon Hanks[3]; 6. 48X-Jon Corbin[7]; 7. 65-Trevor (T.J.) Muths[1]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 77X-Wayne Johnson[1]; 2. 76-Jay Russell[2]; 3. 04-Brad Graham[3]; 4. 82-Justin Henderson[7]; 5. 9MX-Bryan Grimes[5]; 6. 1A-Adam Jones[6]; 7. 11C-Matt Covington[4]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 94-Jeff Swindell[1]; 2. 75-Tyler Blank[5]; 3. 9M-Mitchell Moore[3]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 01-Terry McCarl[8]; 6. 94L-Layne Himebaugh[4]; 7. 38-Cody Baker[9]; 8. 04-Brad Graham[2]; 9. 27-Mark Finnell[11]; 10. 5-Matt Close[7]; DNF 11C-Matt Covington[10]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 76-Jay Russell[1]; 2. 71-R.J. Johnson[5]; 3. 86-Kyle Bellm[4]; 4. 5M-Miranda Arnold[3]; 5. 1A-Adam Jones[8]; 6. 3Z-Zach Davis[9]; 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett[10]; DNF 23B-Brian Bell[2]; DNF 9MX-Bryan Grimes[6]; DNF 48X-Jon Corbin[7]; DNS 33-Austin Alumbaugh
B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[1]; 2. 4-Jordan Boston[2]; 3. 3H-Brandon Hanks[7]; 4. 65-Trevor (T.J.) Muths[10]; 5. 47-J Kinder[5]; 6. 14-Andrew Turley[4]; 7. 29-Brandon Hahn[3]; 8. 2A-Randy Hibbs[9]; 9. 50LP-Michael Sosebee[8]; DNF 24-Lanny Carpenter[6]; DNS 53-Jack Dover
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[2]; 2. 3G-Shane Stewart[3]; 3. 99-Brady Bacon[4]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[1]; 5. 5H-Logan Forler[5]; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[6]; 7. 77X-Wayne Johnson[12]; 8. 9-Gary Wright[7]; 9. 28-Jonathan Cornell[9]; 10. 9JR-Derek Hagar[16]; 11. 21TX-Brandon Schure[8]; 12. 05-Brad Loyet[14]; 13. 94-Jeff Swindell[17]; 14. 45X-Johnny Herrera[19]; 15. 82-Justin Henderson[15]; 16. 23-Seth Bergman[13]; 17. 48-Jake Martens[10]; 18. 4-Jordan Boston[22]; DNF 71-R.J. Johnson[21]; DNF 75-Tyler Blank[20]; DNF 76-Jay Russell[18]; DNF 2-Dustin Morgan[11]
Lap Leader(s): Jason Johnson (1-25)
Pitstopusa.com Hard Charger of the Night: Derek Hagar+6
FSR Radiator High Point Driver of the Night: Jason Johnson
Provisional(s): N/A
2012 Feature Winners: Jason Johnson-12, Wayne Johnson-8, Brady Bacon-7, Tony Bruce Jr.-3, Danny Lasoski-2, Shane Stewart-2, Jeff Swindell-2, Brian Brown-1, Seth Bergman-1, Jason Martin-1, Dustin Morgan-1, Danny Wood-1, Cody Baker-1, Jordan Boston-1, Brock Lemley-1, Mason Moore-1, Brad Loyet-1, Brooke Tatnell-1, Kevin Swindell-1
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV Points (top 10): 1. Jason Johnson 6,035; 2. Wayne Johnson 5,985; 3. Brady Bacon 5,850; 4. Johnny Herrera 5,487; 5. Tony Bruce Jr. 5,429; 6. Brad Loyet 5,427; 7. Seth Bergman 5,012; 8. Logan Forler 4,972; 9. Dustin Morgan 4,848; 10. Gary Wright 4,815
The 2012 season marks the 21st year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. For information regarding availability and listings in your area log onto www.mavtv.com.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MavTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire, Brodix, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, K&N Filters, PitstopUSA.com, FSR Radiator and Racing Proucts, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, Wesmar Racing Engines, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com as well as Twitter (@LucasOilASCS) and Facebook. News and information can also be sent to you with the ASCS E-News Letter. Sign up with your Cell Phone by texting ASCS to 22828.
Photo Credt: John Lee