PHOENIX — Danny Lasoski’s car didn’t sound too good when it crossed the finish line Friday night at Manzanita Speedway, and the left-rear tire didn’t look too good, either.
But all that mattered was that it crossed the line first, as he earned his sixth World of Outlaws triumph of the season.
The 2001 World of Outlaws champion lost a cylinder on the 11th lap and nursed the car over the final 19 circuits. He also had a left rear tire that blistered as the laps wound down. For his 80th World of Outlaws A-feature triumph, Lasoski took home $10,000.
Lasoski used a strong restart with four laps to go to cross the line nearly a second and a half ahead of Donny Schatz. Lasoski led twice for 24 laps.
“That thing went pretty good for only having seven cylinders,” the winner said.
The race started with Lasoski winning a drag race with Justin Henderson down the front straightaway to lead entering the first and second turns.
Lasoski opened up about an eight-car-length lead on the second lap, with Steve Kinser in tow before the latter spun while running second to bring out the first caution. Lasoski used another good restart to stay in front and open a slight lead on Jason Solwold. With lapped traffic looming, Solwold began to close in on Lasoski again. On the 19th lap in traffic, he took the lead from Lasoski with a move on the low side of the track entering the first turn.
Solwold saw his night end on the 25th lap, as his car let off a big puff of smoke and he also lost a right-rear tire, giving the lead back to Lasoski.
On the final restart with just five laps to go, Lasoski pulled away from Henderson, who had his hands full with point-leader Donny Schatz.
“It helped to have the open track,” Lasoski said. “That way I could keep it wide open and not spin the tires.”
Schatz finished second, to earn his 50th top-five finish of the season.
“It was one of those nights where the race track was good to move around on,” Schatz said. “I didn’t feel all that great. You give Danny an open race track with five laps to go and it’s pretty tough to catch him. I tried and went all over. I was running the middle, the top and the bottom and I was kind of the same speed all over.”
Henderson’s third-place finish matched his career-best run. Daryn Pittman and Joey Saldana rounded out the top five.