HAUBSTADT, Ind. — Daron Clayton scored an unpredictable victory, and Dave Darland secured his third Indiana Sprint Week championship, as the eight-race series concluded Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway.
Clayton passed Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. for the victory, as Stenhouse, Chad Boespflug, Jon Stanbrough and Dustin Morgan filled the top five.
What made Clayton’s second Sprint Week victory so unpredictable is that he was at the wheel of Jeff Walker’s Jam-It-In Storage DRC, the third different team he had driven for during the series. It was also a car that had been hastily repaired after a hard somersaulting wreck.  
Clayton’s tumble came at the start of the second heat race, as several cars banged wheels coming off the second turn, sending the Walker machine end over end.
“There were a few things a little weird with the car in the feature. I’m not sure what it was, but it was a little inconsistent. I just tried to make up for it, but overall the car was about 95-percent good,” he admitted. 
The race was stopped on the fifth lap when Brady Bacon and Kyle Wissmiller tangled coming off the fourth turn, and both cars barrel-rolled several times before collecting Robert Ballou in the melee. One lap after the restart, Neil Shepherd and Kevin Swindell made contact while trying to avoid Jesse Hockett, who slowed with a flat tire.  Both cars flipped, stopping across from the flag stand. 
Stenhouse led the first 22 laps of the 30-lap event before being overtaken by Clayton as they came off the fourth turn. Clayton built a half-straightaway lead at the finish. 
Although Darland came into the Sprint Week finale with a lead of more than 40 points over Levi Jones and Jon Stanbrough, he had to take a provisional and started the feature in the last row.  He secured the Sprint Week championship with an 11th-place finish, while Stanbrough and Jones were fourth and seventh. 
While Darland was elated with the title, he wasn’t pleased with their performance. “I didn’t really aim to cut it that close,” he said. “I knew that we had a good lead, but I knew that we had to still finish it off.  I had all good intentions of coming in here and winning the race. But we just weren’t that good tonight.”
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Jerry Coons, Jr., Dynamics 69, 12.912; 2. Daron Clayton, Walker/Guiducci 11d, 13.110; 3. Shane Cottle, Edison 10e, 13.212; 4. Dustin Morgan, Walker/Guiducci 11, 13.240; 5. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Stewart 21, 13.288; 6. Chris Windom, Windom 17, 13.295; 7. Chad Boespflug, Gatten 90, 13.316; 8. Kyle Wissmiller, Wissmiller 2k, 13.319; 9. Jon Stanbrough, Fox 53, 13.327; 10. Mat Neely, Neely 17n, 13.344; 11. Mike Spencer, Kunz 67k, 13.350; 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, R & B 10t, 13.376; 13. Dave Darland, Pace 44, 13.409; 14. Brady Short, 2B Racing 2b, 13.415; 15. Hud Cone, Cone/Corry 14, 13.427; 16. Shane Hollingsworth, R & B 10, 13.430; 17. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 13.491; 18. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 13.500; 19. Cory Kruseman, Kruseman 21k, 13.524; 20. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 13.557; 21. Kyle Robbins, Robbins 17r, 13.574; 22. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 13.579; 23. Brent Beauchamp, Beauchamp 112, 13.590; 24. Chris Urish, Urish 77u, 13.592; 25. Michael Trimble, Alexander 4, 13.616; 26. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 13.639; 27. Jimmy Light, Light 23, 13.646; 28. Cole Whitt, CW 29x, 13.675; 29. John Memmer, Memmer 4m, 13.684; 30. Davey Pombo, Crossno 38s, 13.690; 31. Neil Shepherd, Shepherd 4n, 13.693; 32. Kyle Cummins, Cummins 3c, 13.707; 33. Bill Rose, Rose 6, 13.725; 34. Danny Holtsclaw, Holtsclaw 3, 13.772; 35. Bret Mellenberndt, Mellenberndt 97, 13.775; 36. Scotty Weir, Crossno 38, 13.786; 37. Todd Chandler, Chandler 5c, 13.789; 38. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 13.813; 39. Tim Spindler, Byram 2c, 13.957; 40. Kevin Swindell, Kahne 9, 13.982; 41. Brett Burdette, Burdette 17b, 14.012; 42. Geoff Dodge, Morgan 7m, 14.015; 43. Kevin Studley, Studley 57s, 14.093; 44. Kevin Thomas, Jr., Thomas 9k, 14.137; 45. Randy Bateman, Bateman 51, 15.337.
Non-qualifiers Race (10 laps): Holtsclaw, Swindell, Rose, Weir, Mellenberndt, Hagen, Dodge, Thomas, Spindler, Bateman, Chandler, Burdette, Studley.
First Heat (10 laps): Memmer, Hockett, Stanbrough, Stenhouse, Darland, Trimble, Coons, Holtsclaw, Robbins.
Second Heat (10 laps): Jones, Bacon, Swindell, Pombo, Short, Neely, Gardner, Windom, Clayton.
Third Heat (10 laps): Cone, Shepherd, Boespflug, Kruseman, Spencer, Beauchamp, Cottle, Light, Rose.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Whitt, Ballou, Weir, Schuerenberg, Cummins, Urish, Wissmiller, Morgan, Hollingsworth.
Semi (12 laps): Clayton, Cottle, Coons, Morgan, Neely, Wissmiller, Darland, Gardner, Spencer, Trimble, Rose, Beauchamp, Light, Hollingsworth, Robbins, Windom, Urish, Short, Holtsclaw, Cummins.
Feature (30 laps): Clayton, Stenhouse, Boespflug, Stanbrough, Morgan, Cottle, Jones, Neely, Schuerenberg, Whitt, Darland, Kruseman, Hagen, Hockett, Weir, Swindell, Memmer, Coons, Pombo, Trimble, Cone, Shepherd, Wissmiller, Bacon, Ballou.