LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — Just two laps into Thursday’s USAC National Sprint Car Series event at Lawrenceburg Speedway, Brady Short knew he was going to win. 
With a machine that responded anywhere he drove it, Short led all 30 laps of the second stop of 2008 Indiana Sprint Week. Hunter Schuerenberg, Shane Cottle, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Dave Darland filled the top five.
Short said that the car was perfect for the track conditions and after flipping during the feature the night before, admitted that the victory gave the crew a big boost. “These guys worked hard all night,” he said. “Two of them didn’t sleep at all last night. They do all of that just for this.”
Short quickly built a three-second advantage and his Indiana Stone Works-sponsored Maxim was untouchable. With nearly everyone else staying close to the inside, Schuerenberg worked around Cottle to take second on lap four. 
Several yellow flags slowed the pace and Short admitted that he’d rather not see the caution flag. 
“I’m kind of a rhythm guy and once I start going, I run the same pace and I’m hard to mess up,” he said. “But those yellows were making me a little bit nervous. You never know, somebody can go in there and slide up in front of you, hit you and wreck you. But it all paid off and I’m glad that it’s over now.”
The three-eighths-mile oval was uniformly fast and overtaking was difficult. Drivers trying to pass on the outside frequently lost several spots. With the exception of Schuerenberg and Cottle, the first five took the checkers in the same order they completed the first lap. Meanwhile, Cole Whitt romped from 17th to finish sixth.
Schuerenberg was pragmatic after finishing second. “The cushion was really, really tall and it wasn’t the type of cushion that you could run up there for 30 laps, stay consistent and make up ground without upsetting the car or bikin’ it,” he said.
The track was significantly slower for early qualifiers and several drivers who ran well the night before found themselves in unusual situations.  Tracy Hines, who had to come through the non-qualifiers race, then from the tail of his heat, battled from 22nd to 15th.  He noted that the field was 22 deep with good racers, adding, “It was just hard to get through the pack.”
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Dave Darland, 2B Racing 2b, 13.319; 2. Blake Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick 10f, 13.411; 3. Hunter Schuerenberg, Walker/Guiducci 11, 13.460; 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., Dynamics 69, 13.527; 5. Brady Short, Short 36, 13.537; 6. Neil Shepherd, Shepherd 4n, 13.598; 7. Shane Cottle, Contos 4, 13.618; 8. Chris Windom, Triple Crown 1h, 13.642; 9. Brad Sweet, Kahne 9, 13.646; 10. Daron Clayton, R & B 10, 13.651; 11. Tim Spindler, Rock Steady 2c, 13.702; 12. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 13.706; 13. Scotty Weir, Edison 10e, 13.740; 14. Bret Mellenberndt, Mellenberndt 97, 13.752; 15. Sammy Imel, Imel 35, 13.783; 16. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 13.810; 17. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 13.823; 18. Zach Martini, Rose 6, 13.826; 19. Ryan Pace, Pace 44, 13.828; 20. John Memmer, Memmer 4m, 13.838; 21. Kyle Robbins, Robbins 17r, 13.877; 22. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 13.899; 23. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 13.926; 24. Jeff Bland, Bland 21s, 13.928; 25. Dustin Morgan, M & M 93x, 13.955; 26. Brett Burdette, Burdette 17b, 13.958; 27. Thomas Meseraull, R & B 10t, 14.011; 28. Cole Whitt, Kunz 67k, 14.038; 29. Josh Spencer, Batcheldor 66, 14.116; 30. Kyle Wissmiller, Price 0, 14.125; 31. Jon Stanbrough, Fox 53, 14.126; 32. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 14.127; 33. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 14.208; 34. Brad Kuhn, Riggs 37, 14.218; 35. Kevin Thomas, Jr., Thomas 9k, 14.223; 36. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 14.245; 37. Henry Clarke, Kruseman 5k, 14.271; 38. Shain Mathews, Mathews 1m, 14.390; 39. Brent Beauchamp, Beauchamp 112, 14.396; 40. Joss Moffatt, Moffatt 5j, 14.457; 41. Ted Hines, Hines 12, 14.510; 42. Derek Franks, Law 77, 14.531; 43. Kevin Studley, Studley 57, 14.707; 44. Shawn Westerfeld, Westerfeld 89, 14.713; 45. Chad Boespflug, Gatten 98, 14.788; 46. Austin Mero, Kruseman 71k, 15.001; 47. Matt Goodnight, Goodnight 39, 15.041; 48. Mike Weber, Weber 22w, 15.621.
First Qualifying Race (8 laps): Hockett, Beauchamp, Boespflug, Thomas, Clarke, Goodnight, Te. Hines, Studley.
Second Qualifying Race (8 laps): Tr. Hines, Kuhn, Moffatt, Mero, Franks, Mathews, Westerfeld, Weber.
First Heat (10 laps): Spencer, Robbins, Sweet, Darland, Boespflug, Hockett, Boat, Weir, Short, Morgan.
Second Heat (10 laps): Wissmiller, Jones, Clayton, Martini, Mellenberndt, Fitzpatrick, Shepherd, Thomas, Burdette, Beauchamp.
Third Heat (10 laps):  Stanbrough, Gardner, Cottle, Tr. Hines, Meseraull, Imel, Schuerenberg, Spindler, Moffatt, Pace.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Whitt, Bland, Ballou, Bacon, Windom, Coons, Hagen, Kuhn, Mero, Memmer.
Semi (12 laps): Coons, Schuerenberg, Short, Fitzpatrick, Windom, Weir, Hagen, Shepherd, Boat, Meseraull, Boespflug, Imel, Hockett, Beauchamp, Spindler, Mero, Mellenberndt, Thomas, Moffatt, Burdette, Memmer.
Feature (30 laps): Short, Schuerenberg, Cottle, Coons, Darland, Whitt, Hagen, Bacon, Windom, Weir, Jones, Bland, Boat, Fitzpatrick, Tr. Hines, Sweet, Martini, Spencer, Hockett, Robbins, Stanbrough, Ballou, Gardner, Wissmiller.