BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — With a lot of marbles at stake, Jerry Coons, Jr. rebounded from a heat-race incident to capture his second-straight Indiana Sprint Week event Friday night at Bloomington Speedway.
Coons led the final seven laps of the USAC National Sprint Car Series event, but that followed the breathtaking duel between Shane Cottle and Bryan Clauson, Dave Darland’s amazing drive, and Coons’s victory, measured in inches, over Levi Jones. 
“We want to win races. That’s what this team’s about,” Coons said. The second victory put the Hoffman team just six points behind Darland in the Sprint Week title.
Cottle and Clauson ran side by side for the lead during the first five laps, with Clauson credited with leading the first three laps and Cottle the fourth. Clauson took control on lap five and began to pull away.
When a caution flag on lap 17 restacked the field, Cottle made the most of the opportunity, passing Clauson at the end of the backstretch. The pair continued to battle for the point after the restart, but the pace slowed again when Jeff Bland, Jr. and Danny Holtsclaw tangled.
Cottle got the jump on the restart and he moved to a lower line on the track. Still racing on the rim, Coons passed both Clauson and Jones two laps later and began to close on Cottle.
On the 24th circuit, Coons rode the rim around Cottle to take the lead. Jones took second, with Darland, who started 22nd, close behind. Jones caught Coons on the last lap, and edged ahead as they ran through the last turns and down the front straightaway side by side. Coons won by inches.
“We’re entertainers and I hope that the fans liked that one tonight,” Jones said. “He made a little bobble and I thought that I got around there as good as I could. I just came up a little short.”
Coons explained that even though he flipped over the turn-two banking on the first lap of the third heat, everything still seemed to work in his favor. 
“You run every lap the best you can and the race plays out. If that yellow hadn’t come out, we probably would have run third or something,” he said. “You have to be good at every part of the race, at whatever gets thrown at you — yellows, reds, and everything.”
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg, Walker/Guiducci 11, 11.137; 2. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 11.157; 3. Jerry Coons, Jr., Dynamics 69, 11.194; 4. Brad Sweet, Kahne 9, 11.247; 5. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 11.275; 6. Bryan Clauson, Jones 2, 11.293; 7. Shane Cottle, Contos  4, 11.319; 8. Chris Windom, Triple Crown 1h, 11.321; 9. Jeff Bland, Jr., Bland 21s, 11.355; 10. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 11.364; 11. Brady Short, Short 36, 11.387; 12. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 11.401; 13. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 11.420; 14. Jon Stanbrough, Fox 53, 11.439; 15. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 11.451; 16. Danny Holtsclaw, Holtsclaw 3, 11.486; 17. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 11.510; 18. Blake Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick 10f, 11.539; 19. Henry Clarke, Kruseman 5k, 11.549; 20. Dickie Gaines, Porttoff 11p, 11.560; 21. Scotty Weir, Edison 10e, 11.569; 22. Cole Whitt, Kunz 67k, 11.586; 23. Daron Clayton, R & B 10, 11.591; 24. Dustin Morgan, M & M 93, 11.599; 25. Chad Boespflug, Gatten 98, 11.624; 26. Zach Martini, Rose 6, 11.633; 27. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 11.634; 28. Bret Mellenberndt, Mellenberndt 97, 11.641; 29. Josh Spencer, Batcheldor 66, 11.648; 30. Thomas Meseraull, R & B 10t, 11.660; 31. Ty Deckard, Deckard 48, 11.668; 32. Sammy Imel, Imel 35, 11.744; 33. Dave Darland, 2B Racing 2b, 11.757; 34. Jesse Cramer, Cramer 12t, 11.796; 35. Brett Burdette, Burdette 17b, 11.799; 36. Bobby Stines, Hurst 9x, 11.863; 37. Kyle Wissmiller, Price 0, 11.872; 38. Kent Christian, Christian 1c, 11.872; 39. Austin Mero, Kruseman 71k, 11.873; 40. Chris Babcock, Babcock 35x, 11.888; 41. Kevin Briscoe, Briscoe 5, 11.888; 42. Kyle Robbins, Robbins 17r, 11.888; 43. Lance Grimes, Grimes 87, 11.919; 44. Kyle Cummins, Cummins 3c, 11.933; 45. Ryan Pace, Pace 44, 11.938; 46. Kevin Thomas, Jr., Thomas 9k, 11.997; 47. Nick Johnson, Johnson 15, 12.146; 48. Drew Ikerd, Ikerd 4d, 12.307; 49. Gary Rooke, Concept Motorsports 42a, 20.215.
First Qualifying Race (8 laps): Darland, Burdette, Wissmiller, Briscoe, Pace, Rooke, Mero, Grimes, Johnson.
Second Qualifying Race (8 laps): Cramer, Babcock, K. Christian, Cummins, Robbins, Stines, Thomas, Ikerd.
First Heat (10 laps): Boespflug, Spencer, Darland, Hockett, Bland, Gardner, Wissmiller, Schuerenberg, Jones, Weir.
Second Heat (10 laps): Whitt, Martini, Hagen, Stanbrough, Fitzpatrick, Bacon, Meseraull, Clauson, Burdette, Briscoe.
Third Heat (10 laps): Ballou, Deckard, Short, Cottle, Cramer, Boat, Clayton, K. Christian, Clarke, Coons.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Mellenberndt, Morgan, Sweet, Holtsclaw, Imel, Hines, Gaines, Windom, Cummins, Babcock.
Semi (12 laps): Schuerenberg, Coons, Bland, Clauson, Jones, Boat, Gaines, Gardner, Hines, Fitzpatrick, Cramer, Meseraull, Imel, K.Christian, Windom, Wissmiller, Cummins, Clayton, Clarke, Babcock, Bacon.
Feature (30 laps): Coons, Jones, Darland, Cottle, Bland, Stanbrough, Ballou, Short, Boat, Schuerenberg, Whitt, Sweet, Hockett, Hagen, Martini, Hines, Bacon, Deckard, Boespflug, Mellenberndt, Clauson, Morgan, Spencer, Holtsclaw.