PERRIS, Calif. — After his dominant performance Saturday at Perris Auto Speedway, Johnny Rodriguez should consider changing his nickname from “J-Rod” to “J-Rocket.”
Making his first start in the brand new J.W. Mitchell Motorsports/JM Realty No. 87 Maxim, Rodriguez started the evening by turning the fastest lap in qualifying and ended it with his first-career USAC-CRA sprint-car victory. 
“We just fired this car for the first time on Wednesday, so tonight was its debut,” Rodriguez said. “We really came down here hoping just to run 30-laps in the main event, but Mike Spencer and Jake Argo helped out and gave me baseline set-up that was so good that we really didn’t defer from it too much throughout the night.”
Unfortunately, the main event was marred by too many guys trying to “knock the fence down.” In fact, nearly one-third of the 22-car field flipped during the race, and only half of the starters were running at the finish. 
Rodriguez used a lap-26 restart to grab the lead from R.J. Johnson and held on the remainder of the distance for the victory.
Point-leader Cory Kruseman came on to finish second, with Johnson, Tony Jones and Blake Miller filling the top five.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Johnny Rodriguez, Mitchell 87, 16.623; 2. Matt Mitchell, Mitchell 37, 16.634; 3. Cory Kruseman, Kruseman 21k, 16.647; 4. Tyler Brown, Gardner 96, 16.809; 5. Josh Ford, Ford 73, 16.898; 6. Mike Spencer, Chaffin 50, 16.948; 7. R.J. Johnson, Martin 15, 16.993; 8. Tony Jones, Alexander 4, 17.049; 9. Blake Miller, Gardner 93, 17.067; 10. Danny Sheridan, Kittle 18, 17.115; 11. Garrett Hansen, Priestley 7, 17.169; 12. David Cardey, Crossno 83, 17.250; 13. Alan Ballard, Stansberry 75, 17.280; 14. Davey Pombo, Crossno 38, 17.380; 15. Rickie Gaunt, Gardner 25x, 17.382; 16. Jordan Hermansader, Rase 32, 17.625; 17. Nic Faas, Faas 117, 17.643; 18. Billy Blinn, Blinn 26, 17.671; 19. Rodney Argo, Argo 19, 17.695; 20. Cody Williams, Jory 3, 17.714; 21. Royal Adderson, Adderson 40, 17.767; 22. Henry Clarke, Kruseman 41k, 17.989; 23. Eric Severson, Cherry 11c, 17.992; 24. Tony Everhart, Everhart 55, 18.278; 25. Brein Kinney, Persall 85, 18.679; 26. Joe Gunderson, Gunderson 57, 18.732; 27. Austin Mero, Kruseman 71k, 18.983; 28. Chris Tramel, Everhart 15t, 19.214; 29. Lawrence O’Connor, O’Connor 10x, 19.241; 30. Luis Espinoza, Sertich 92, no time.
First Heat (10 laps): Faas, Rodriguez, Ford, Ballard, Miller, Adderson, Kinney, O’Connor.
Second Heat (10 laps): Spencer, Sheridan, Pombo, Mitchell, Blinn, Clarke, Gunderson.
Third Heat (10 laps): Kruseman, Gaunt, Hansen, Johnson, Severson, Argo, Mero.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Cardey, Jones, Brown, Williams, Hermansader, Espinoza, Everhart, Tramel.
Semi (12 laps): Argo, Miller, Severson, Hermansader, Adderson, Espinoza, Everhart, Mero, Clarke, O’Connor, Tramel, Blinn, Kinney.
Feature (30 laps): Rodriguez, Kruseman, Johnson, Jones, Miller, Ballard, Faas, Argo, Severson, Adderson, Espinoza, Mitchell, Hansen, Sheridan, Gaunt, Cardey, Williams, Ford, Hermansader, Brown, Spencer, Pombo.