WHEATLAND, Mo. — Jason Johnson bested a field of 51 entries to snare his third O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series triumph of the year Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Advancing from fifth starting position aboard Lanny Row’s Wesmar-powered No. 41 Eagle, Johnson passed Brian Brown on the 12th round and led the rest of the way on the state-of-the-art three-eighths-mile dirt track.
“That really was a racer’s race track tonight,” Johnson said. “You could run high, you could run low, and you could cut across in the middle of the corners or do anything you needed to do.”
With Johnson starting the feature in the third row, Brown and Jason Sides led the way to the green flag. And after a pair of early incidents, the final 23 laps ran off in non-stop fashion.
Brown, who topped the O’Reilly ASCoT National series at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2006, outdueled Sides for the early lead.
Johnson wrestled third from Sides on the seventh lap and took second from Zach Chappell on lap 10. Slicing through traffic two laps later, Johnson used the high side of turns one and two to surge past Brown.
Once in front, there was no stopping Johnson as he lapped up to 11th place in the process of notching his 31st career ASCS National Tour victory.
Danny Lasoski battled past Chappell for second on the 22nd round and held the position to the line.
Chappell claimed third, with Sides racing past Brown in the final moments to take fourth. Brown finished fifth.
The finish:
Jason Johnson, Danny Lasoski, Zach Chappell, Jason Sides, Brian Brown, Jack Dover, Wayne Johnson, Kenneth Walker, Travis Rilat, Gary Wright, Don Droud, Jr., Garry Lee Maier, Randy Martin, Toby Brown, Eric Baldaccini, Nick Smith, Gary Taylor, Kathryne Minter, J. Kinder, Chris Tarrant, Terry Hinck, Matt Fox, Natalie Sather, Jay Russell, Josh Fisher.