
It was something that worked pretty well, and even though I was making mistakes on top, I didn’t think anyone else could do it a whole lot better than me.” “We had turns three and four from Thursday night and one and two from Friday night, so we did a combination on the car.

“We kind of had a little mixture,” Bacon noted on the team’s car setup. His lead stood at four-plus seconds with little obstruction along the way, sans a singular pack of lapped cars that caused little to no hiccups on Bacon’s warpath of dominance on both ends of the half-mile dirt oval. Swanson then took on Axsom and shot underneath in turn three with three laps remaining to slot into second.Īt that point, Bacon had race officials with Sharpies in hand preparing to endorse his name on the mega-sized victory lane check.
Goodway auto driver#
The seventh starting driver grazed the bottom, and when Ballou drifted up a full lane at the exit of turn four on lap 20, that left the door open for Swanson to scoot under Ballou for third at the halfway mark. Thereafter, the biggest mover and shaker instantly became Jake Swanson. Oval Nationals Rookie Daniel Whitley was pushed away as well until his right front wheel decided to go solo and rolled aimlessly on the track through turns three and four. Gardner eventually dropped out soon after and finished 22nd. Meanwhile, Gardner made an excursion to the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area, wounded with a flat right rear tire, which was promptly swapped out for new rubber that returned him to the race. In a desperate attempt to avert the scene of the wreckage, Max Adams (13th), Tommy Malcolm (14th) and Daniel Whitley (17th) all tangled and stopped. On lap 17, calamity ensued in turn three when car of newly crowned 10-time AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Car champion Damion Gardner (10th) slowed suddenly. Nearing the middle stages of the 40-lap feature, Axsom didn’t go away quietly as he kept pace with Bacon and, at times, was able to pull even in the fight for the lead.

Obviously, the goal was to win this race and now I’ve got a $40,000 swing the other way.”īacon didn’t exactly get away scot-free once he initially established himself as the race leader. I was kind of nervous about that all day. “If things faltered, or if I had a problem, it could’ve been a $20,000 loss. “This race is pretty important for our season financially,” Bacon explained.
Goodway auto series#
The evening was a lucrative one for Bacon as he not only pocketed $20,000 for his Oval Nationals main event win, but also added a $10,000 bonus as the champion of the 10-race Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster series Presented by Spire Sports + Entertainment. Bacon led the final 30 laps to record his second feature victory in a three-night span.īacon’s latest triumph was the 46th of his USAC National Sprint Car career, moving him past three-time champion Larry Dickson and into a tie for fourth on the all-time list alongside USAC and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Jack Hewitt. There was no such consternation this time around for Bacon, who had previously logged five top-five finishes on the final night of the “Ovals” throughout his career, bested with a third in 2017. “It seems like we always miss it a little bit for the Saturday night feature here.” “It feels good to finally get this one,” Bacon exhaled. But, when all was said and done, this one was finally his, ending years and years of oh-so-closes and almosts. On the 11th circuit, Bacon took his ride to the front of the field, launching down the back straight and blowing past Axsom for the race lead, then carrying onward to score one of his largest paydays with a $20,000 score aboard his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – Cressman Sanitation – DriveWFX – Tel-Star/Triple X/Rider Chevy.įor the four-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National champion, it was a long time to wait for a coveted “Ovals” win, and it was a long time coming. When pole sitter Justin Grant drifted off the bottom in turn four on lap eight, again, Bacon was there to capitalize.

Starting fourth, Bacon tore around the outside of Friday night prelim winner Robert Ballou to take over third on lap four. native on Saturday night’s 26th running of the marquee event as Bacon had no room to wait any longer. There was no more time spent in the waiting room for the Broken Arrow, Okla. 2022 USAC Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway
