GAS CITY, Ind. — Cole Whitt captured the third round of Indiana Sprint Week for USAC’s National Sprint Car Series, pacing a one-two finish for Keith Kunz Motorsports.  The victory was Whitt’s second USAC triumph of the season and third at Gas City I-69 Speedway.  He was followed by teammate Darren Hagen, Brad Sweet, Jon Stanbrough and Shane Cottle. 
Whitt credited the triumph to being smooth and to the preparation of the Keith Kunz Motorsports Ferguson-Red Bull Bullet. 
“I knew it would be hard for everyone else to hit their marks and I just figured if we kept our cool and stayed calm, I figured we’d be pretty good,” the 16-year-old driver said. “I just counted the laps down in my head.”
Keeping up with a changing race track was key to a successful night. Ultimately, the popular line was around the bottom, not because it was fast, but because it was the shortest. 
While Damion Gardner and Whitt showed the way early, Brady Short found out how quickly you can slip from the penthouse to the outhouse in the sprint-car game. After winning Thursday night, Short used a provisional to start the feature and flipped on the second lap.
While Whitt pressured Gardner on the restart, Hunter Schuerenberg moved to the top and began battling his way steadily forward. On the seventh lap, Gardner slipped wide in the second turn, and Whitt quickly shot through the hole, building a three-car length advantage before the end of the lap.
Whitt maintained his lead while working through slower cars at the halfway point, but the caution came out just a couple laps later.
Following the final restart, Whitt reestablished his advantage, and as the leaders stayed in a line on the bottom, scored a straightaway-length victory. While he, Hagen and Sweet started in the first three rows, Stanbrough battled from the seventh row to fourth, while Cottle raced from 19th to finish fifth. 
“We just had to hit the bottom perfect,” Hagen said. “Cole started third and we started fifth, and I was watching him go through there and I tried the same thing. But he never missed his mark, he hit it perfect every lap.”
Whitt said that the victory was huge, following his wins in the two previous local events at the track.  “Those were big shows and we won two in a row, so we knew that we’d be good here,” he said. “It was kind of nice coming in the pit gate, we kind of had our heads held up a little high, so that was good.”
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Scotty Weir, Edison 10e, 12.464; 2. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 12.489; 3. Brad Sweet, Kahne 9, 12.499; 4. Cole Whitt, Kunz 67k, 12.502; 5. Kenny Biro, Biro 22, 12.534; 6. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 12.539; 7. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 12.557; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, Walker/Guiducci 11, 12.600; 9. Daron Clayton, R & B 10, 12.610; 10. Jeff Bland, Bland 21s, 12.615; 11. Dave Darland, 2B Racing 2b, 12.629; 12. Jerry Coons, Jr., Dynamics 69, 12.649; 13. Casey Shuman, Burkey 57b, 12.656; 14. Steve Barth, Barth 14b, 12.664; 15. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 12.666; 16. Thomas Meseraull, R & B 10t, 12.697; 17. Kyle Cummins, Cummins 1c, 12.712; 18. Chris Gurley, Gurley 12g, 12.712; 19. Josh Spencer, Batcheldor 66, 12.722; 20. Jon Stanbrough, Fox 53, 12.752; 21. Sammy Imel, Imel 35, 12.781; 22. Cory Kruseman, Kruseman 21k, 12.819; 23. Blake Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick 10f, 12.823; 24. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 12.873; 25. Steve Ott, Ott 0t, 12.880; 26. Chris Windom, Triple Crown 1h, 12.887; 27. Bret Tripplett, Tripplett 7x, 12.898; 28. Austin Mero, Kruseman 71k, 12.924; 29. Shane Cottle, Contos 4, 12.926; 30. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 12.929; 30. Zach Martini, Rose 6, 12.933; 32. Ryan Pace, Pace 44, 12.945; 33. A.J. Anderson, Baldwin 5, 12.961; 34. Kyle Wissmiller, Price 0, 12.972; 35. Kyle Robbins, Robbins 17r, 12.982; 36. Ted Hines, Hines 12, 12.992; 37. Brett Burdette, Burdette 17b, 13.003; 38. Matt Goodnight, Goodnight 39, 13.014; 39. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 13.015; 40. Neil Shepherd, Shepherd 4n, 13.039; 41. Kevin Thomas Jr., Thomas 9k, 13.054; 42. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 13.073; 43. Brady Short, Short 36, 13.085; 44. Chad Boespflug, Gatten 98, 13.117; 45. Rex Norris III, Norris 63, 13.131; 46. John Memmer, Memmer 4m, 13.148; 47. Henry Clarke, Kruseman 5k, 13.205; 48. Anthony Peterman, Peterman 7p, 13.205; 49. Bret Mellenberndt, Mellenberndt 97, 13.288; 50. Brent Beauchamp, Beauchamp 112, 13.332; 51. Kevin Studley, Studley 57, 13.367; 52. Craig Dori, Shoestring 38, 13.503; 53. Jonathan Hendrick, Hendrick 68, 13.528.
First Qualifying Race (8 laps): Anderson, Robbins, Mellenberndt, Ballou. Hendrick, Short, Burdette, Clarke, Thomas, Studley.
Second Qualifying Race (8 laps): Te. Hines, Wissmiller, Boat, Goodnight, Boespflug, Memmer, Peterman, Beauchamp, Dori, Shepherd.
First Heat (10 laps): Cottle, Ott, Anderson, Imel, Weir, Clayton, Shuman, Cummins, Mellenberndt, Biro.
Second Heat (10 laps): Windom, Bacon, Kruseman, Bland, Gurley, Tr. Hines, Hagen, Barth, Ballou, Robbins.
Third Heat (10 laps): Darland, Jones, Gardner, Boat, Martini, Fitzpatrick, Sweet, Te. Hines, Tripplett, Spencer.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Coons, Schuerenberg, Hockett, Stanbrough, Pace, Meseraull, Wissmiller, Goodnight, Mero, Whitt.
Semi (12 laps): Weir, Hagen, Sweet, Whitt, Tr. Hines, Clayton, Cummins, Ballou, Martini, Gurley, Pace, Barth, Fitzpatrick, Mero, Shuman, Robbins, Tripplett, Goodnight, Mellenberndt, Meseraull, Te. Hines, Wissmiller.
Feature (30 laps): Whitt, Hagen, Sweet, Stanbrough, Cottle, Tr. Hines, Darland, Jones, Coons, Windom, Weir, Bacon, Schuerenberg, Boat, Clayton, Kruseman, Imel, Gardner, Pace, Ott, Hockett, Anderson, Bland, Short.