ROSSBURG, Ohio — Reflecting on the history of Eldora Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. called his 4-Crown Nationals midget victory “definitely pretty cool.”
Stenhouse led the final three laps after passing Brad Loyet, to score his fifth USAC National Midget Series triumph of the season. 
Kevin Swindell, Dave Darland and Shane Hollingsworth trailed Loyet at the finish.
Loyet led from the pole over Gary Taylor, Brad Sweet and Stenhouse, who had turned the fast qualifying time in his Tony Stewart Racing Bass Pro Shops/Chevrolet Spike. The fast lane was next to the wall, and the most effective pass was the slide job. With the cars running in tight packs, this made the racing dicey.
Sweet grabbed the lead from Loyet on lap 12, sliding through the inside of turn three, but Loyet turned back under Sweet in turn four. When they came off the turn side by side, Loyet slid into Sweet, who bounced off the frontstretch wall, breaking off the right-rear wheel on his machine.
Several laps later, Stenhouse and Taylor made contact, with Taylor hitting the wall.
Stenhouse chased Loyet until lap 23 when he slid under Loyet entering the first turn. Loyet fought back with a big slider in turn two, but Stenhouse returned the slide in three. They banged wheels as they exited turn four side by side and Stenhouse pulled ahead. 
“He kept messing up there in the center of the corner, ever so slightly, every lap,” Stenhouse explained. “I didn’t want to get too close in case he messed up too much. I got a good run, and we kind of ran each other pretty hard there. But as I thought all night in every single class because the track was so wide that it left the door open for slide jobs, so I’m sure the fans liked it, but I wish we would have had a little bit more room with the wall.”
Point-leader Jerry Coons, Jr. suffered a blown engine in hot laps, another in his heat and a third after 24 laps of the feature.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Stewart 21, 16.608; 2. Gary Taylor, Tel-Star 999, 16.638; 3. Darren Hagen, RFMS 32, 16.678; 4. Brad Sweet, Kunz 67, 16.694; 5. Johnny Rodriguez, Mitchell 87, 16.704; 6. Michael Pickens, Lein 2, 16.726; 7. Dave Darland, Nine Racing 9, 16.770; 8. Brad Loyet, Loyet 05L, 16.786; 9. Davey Ray, Nine Racing 91, 16.796; 10. Brad Kuhn, Quin 43, 16.801; 11. Cole Whitt, CW 229, 16.847; 12. Brad Mosen, Kunz 71, 16.850; 13. Danny Stratton, Klatt 4, 16.919; 14. Matt Mitchell, Mitchell 37, 16.937; 15. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 17.014; 16. Don Droud, Jr., Yeley 1j, 17.047; 17. Bobby East, Klatt 04, 17.059; 18. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 17.077; 19. Dustin Morgan, Morgan 93, 17.162; 20. Mario Marietta, Marietta 85, 17.178; 21. Kevin Swindell, Kahne 79, 17.228; 22. Ron Chaney, Kunz 67x, 17.246; 23. Russ Harper, Harper 09, 17.278; 24. Andy Martin, Two Dogs 49, 17.469; 25. Tracy Readinger, Readinger 86, 17.472; 26. Ryan Smith, Burke 54, 17.503; 27. Brett Beauchamp, Beauchamp 112, 17.503; 28. Matt Westfall, Bordner 14w, 17.555; 29. Chris Windom, Windom 17, 17.557; 30. Brady Short, 2B Racing 2b, no time; 31. Jerry Coons, Jr., Wilke-Pak 11, no time.
First Heat (8 laps): Windom, Stenhouse, Swindell, East, Stratton, Readinger, Rodriguez, Ray.
Second Heat (8 laps): Jones, Pickens, Mitchell, Taylor, Kuhn, Smith.
Third Heat (8 laps): Harper, Darland, Bacon, Whitt, Hagen, Beauchamp, Coons, Morgan.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Sweet, Loyet, Droud, Mosen, Westfall, Hollingsworth, Martin.
Semi (12 laps): Stratton, Kuhn, Ray, Morgan, Hollingsworth, Smith, Beauchamp, Readinger, Rodriguez, Westfall, Hagen.
Feature (25 laps): Stenhouse, Loyet, Swindell, Darland, Hollingsworth, Mitchell, Ray, Whitt, Jones, Stratton, Mosen, Morgan, Windom, East, Hagen, Droud, Bacon, Harper, Coons, Smith, Taylor, Sweet, Kuhn, Pickens.