ANDERSON, Ind. — Going into Saturday’s 30-lap USAC National Midget Series event at Anderson Speedway, Bryan Clauson knew he probably only needed to do just two things to claim his third victory of the season. 
First, was to outrun Dakoda Armstrong in the first turn, and then fiercely protect the inside line.
Clauson accomplished both, scoring a six-car-length victory over Armstrong, Bobby East, Dave Darland and point-leader Jerry Coons, Jr. 
“I absolutely love running these cars,” Clauson said. “After the way my season ended last year, the opportunity to come back and run with these guys, Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby, allows me to do it on my terms and how we should have ended last year — winning races.”
From outside the front row, Clauson gained a half-car length on Armstrong going into the first turn, taking the lead. 
“We knew basically it was going to come down to who got out first on the start,” he explained. “As tight as the field was today, we knew it was going to be real tough to pass.  After that I was just kind of cruising. I knew that if I didn’t get up off the bottom nobody was going to mount a challenge. I was keeping an eye on the board for the 4-car (East).  I knew he was going to be coming.”
While Clauson cruised to the checkered flag in his Keith Kunz Motorsports Beast/Esslinger Ford, nearly everyone else had brought a different game plan. They needed to move forward against difficult odds on the tight, fast quarter-mile.  East, the fast qualifier, got Coons out of the groove in turn three to take fourth, and then grabbed the bottom lane from Darland on the 18th circuit for third. But that was as far as he advanced.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Bobby East, Klatt 4, 11.648; 2. Travis Young, Young 11y, 11.849; 3. Kevin Swindell, Kahne 79, 11.850; 4. Dave Darland, Nine Racing 9, 11.862; 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., Wilke-Pak 11, 11.879; 6. Bryan Clauson, Kunz 67, 11.884; 7. Dakoda Armstrong, C & A 7a, 11.923; 8. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Stewart 21, 11.936; 9. Stephanie Mockler, East 6, 11.947; 10. Brad Kuhn, Quin 43, 11.948; 11. Kody Swanson, Nine Racing 91, 11.953; 12. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 11.972; 13. Chuck Gurney, Jr., Gurney 51, 11.974; 14. Ricky Ehrgott, Ehrgott 10, 11.989; 15. Brandon Wagner, Wagner 92, 12.009; 16. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 12.056; 17. Darren Hagen, RFMS 32, 12.079; 18. James Robertson, Robertson 42, 12.080; 19. Marc Jessup, Kunz 71, 12.090; 20. Mario Marietta, Marietta 85, 12.110; 21. Slade Miller, Miller 16, 12.130; 22. Alex Pruett, Beast 56x, 12.150; 23. Cole Whitt, Kunz 71x, 12.151; 24. Brett Beauchamp, Beauchamp 112, 12.155; 25. Jim Anderson, Guess 36, 12.156; 26. Jordan Pennington, Pennington 13, 12.171; 27. Tom Schnabel, Schnabel 20s, 12.181; 28. Chris Windom, Windom 17, 12.225; 29. Parker Klingerman, Klingerman 133, 12.229; 30. Joe Liguori, Owen 28, 12.266; 31. Zach Schiff, East 6b, 12.271; 32. David Byrne, Byrne 20d, 12.274; 33. Jason Leffler, Loyet 05L, 12.315; 34. Adam Kramer, Kramer 321, 12.334; 35. Kevin Studley, Studley 57, 12.539; 36. Adam Schuyler, Schuyler 56s, 12.658; 37. Ben Petter, Petter 22, 12.829; 28. Brad Thompson, Batts 6x, 14.030; 29. Chase Barber, Barber 90, no time; 40. Patrick Wilda, Wilda 33, no time.
Non-qualifiers Race (8 laps): Leffler, Kramer, Schuyler, Studley, Thompson, Petter.
First Heat (10 laps): Mockler, East, Klingerman, Gurney, Miller, Coons, Hagen, Anderson, Leffler.
Second Heat (10 laps): Robertson, Pruett, Clauson, Young, Kuhn, Pennington, Kramer, Liguori, Ehrgott.
Third Heat (10 laps): Jessup, Whitt, Schiff, Armstrong, Swanson, Schuyler, Wagner, Swindell, Schnabel.
Fourth Heat  (10 laps): Marietta, Beauchamp, Jones, Darland, Byrne, Bacon, Stenhouse, Windom, Studley.
Semi (12 laps): Coons, Stenhouse, Kuhn, Ehrgott, Swanson, Hagen, Anderson, Miller, Wagner, Schnabel, Leffler, Pennington, Byrne, Windom, Kramer, Liguori, Schuyler, Studley, Bacon.
Feature (30 laps): Clauson, Armstrong, East, Darland, Coons, Young, Mockler, Stenhouse, Ehrgott, Pruett, Hagen, Jessup, Gurney, Marietta, Anderson, Schiff, Whitt, Kuhn, Robertson, Beauchamp, Swanson, Jones, Klingerman.