Pittman Pounces for Pevely Payday

The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume VI, No. 5

Lonnie Wheatley, PEVELY, Mo. (April 21, 2018) – Daryn Pittman is serious about getting his season turned around.

After being denied a top-five finish in the opening nine rounds of the 2018 Craftsman World of Outlaws slate, the 2013 series champ picked off his second win in as many nights by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s 40-lap feature atop a rubbered-down Federated Auto Parts I-55 Raceway.

“This is starting to be fun again,” Pittman exclaimed after the score aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing ionomy No. 9 Sprint Car.  The first of Pittman’s three 2017 series wins came at I-55 as well.

With the track locking down in the early rounds after a POWRi Midget feature that shredded left rear tires, Pittman patiently stayed in the low-groove rubber to move past Ian Madsen for second near the midway point and then drove underneath Sheldon Haudenschild for the point in turn two on the 31st circuit.

“Once it locked down, I knew to just stay in the rubber,” Pittman explained.  “Once we got to traffic, Sheldon didn’t hesitate to move up out of the rubber and Ian did the same thing.  That was what allowed us to go from third to first.”

Madsen had paced the opening seven circuits, fending off Haudenschild until the eighth round.   The field found its way to the low line two laps later with Haudenschild leading the freight train.

But impatience in traffic by both opened the door for Pittman’s second win of  the year as nine-time and reigning series champion Donny Schatz followed suit, working his way to second in similar fashion.  Second by the 35th round, Schatz pressured Pittman until one final caution with four laps remaining gave the Owasso, OK, driver that clear track that he needed to cruise to the stripe unabated.

Schatz settled for second with Haudenschild filling out the podium in third.  David Gravel moved to fourth when Madsen popped his right rear tire in the final handful of laps with Brad Sweet rounding out the top five.

The Vitals

Series:  Craftsman World of Outlaws Sprint Cars

Track:  Federated Auto Parts I-55 Raceway (Pevely, MO)

Car Count:  44

Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Sides (1), Gravel (1), Sweet (1), Schatz (1).

Dash Winner:  Schatz (4).

“C” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses):  G. Wilson (3).

“B” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses):  Swindell (3).

“A” Main Cautions:  Five

5 Laps – Kerry Madsen turns it around in turn two and rejoins the race.

6 Laps – Sammy Swindell comes to a stop in turn four after contact with the Madman.

13 Laps – Cory Eliason comes to a stop on the track with all remaining restarts deemed single-file due to track conditions.

24 Laps – Another stoppage far an idle car.

35 Laps – Ian Madsen pops a right rear tire going into turn one.

“A” Main Hard Charger:  Brent Marks picked up the honor after utilizing a provisional to start the feature, advancing a dozen positions from 25th to 13th.

The Box Score…

Qualifying Flight-A: 1. 7S-Jason Sides, 10.764; 2. 5-David Gravel, 10.809; 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 10.828; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen, 10.861; 5. 18-Ian Madsen, 10.899; 6. 9-Daryn Pittman, 10.943; 7. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 10.998; 8. 21-Brian Brown, 11.011; 9. 24-Rico Abreu, 11.053; 10. 26-Joey Saldana, 11.092; 11. 3-Sammy Swindell, 11.105; 12. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 11.113; 13. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg, 11.225; 14. 1M-James Moughan, 11.256; 15. O1-Matt Vandervere, 11.342; 16. OO-Dane Lorenc, 11.348; 17. 51B-Joe Miller, 11.495; 18. W20-Greg Wilson, 11.503; 19. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 11.539; 20. 8S-Steve Short, 11.683; 21. 10P-Jim Perricone, 12.327

Qualifying Flight-B: 1. 49-Brad Sweet, 10.808; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 10.961; 3. 91-Cale Thomas, 10.997; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 11.056; 5. 2-Shane Stewart, 11.059; 6. 5C-Christopher Bell, 11.061; 7. 45-Paul McMahan, 11.085; 8. 83-Cory Eliason, 11.094; 9. O5-Gary Taylor, 11.104; 10. 99-Brady Bacon, 11.156; 11. 19-Brent Marks, 11.207; 12. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 11.248; 13. 21X-Carson Short, 11.452; 14. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.506; 15. 64-Scotty Thiel, 11.514; 16. 13-Clyde Knipp, 11.554; 17. 25-Jacob Blackhurst, 11.896; 18. 5B-Chase Briscoe, 11.987; 19. 12-Robert Ballou, 11.994; 20. 79J-Jacob Patton, 12.153; 21. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman, 12.176; 22. 71M-Andy Bradley, 12.193

Heat #1 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 2. 18-Ian Madsen [3]; 3. 2M-Kerry Madsen [4]; 4. 41-Jason Johnson [2]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 6. 3-Sammy Swindell [6]; 7. 9JR-Derek Hagar [10]; 8. 51B-Joe Miller [9]; 9. O1-Matt Vandervere [8]; 10. 10P-Jim Perricone [11]; 11. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]

Heat #2 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 5-David Gravel [1]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen [2]; 4. 26-Joey Saldana [5]; 5. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [6]; 6. 21-Brian Brown [4]; 7. 1M-James Moughan [7]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [9]; 9. OO-Dane Lorenc [8]; 10. 8S-Steve Short [10]

Heat #3 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [3]; 3. 45-Paul McMahan [4]; 4. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 5. 21X-Carson Short [7]; 6. 19-Brent Marks [6]; 7. 12-Robert Ballou [10]; 8. 64-Scotty Thiel [8]; 9. O5-Gary Taylor [5]; 10. 25-Jacob Blackhurst [9]; 11. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [11]

Heat #4 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 3. 5C-Christopher Bell [3]; 4. 99-Brady Bacon [5]; 5. 83-Cory Eliason [4]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7]; 8. 13-Clyde Knipp [8]; 9. 5B-Chase Briscoe [9]; 10. 79J-Jacob Patton [10]; 11. 71M-Andy Bradley [11]

Craftsman Club Dash (6 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 2. 18-Ian Madsen [5]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [8]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [2]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 6. 9-Daryn Pittman [7]; 7. 5-David Gravel [3]; 8. 2-Shane Stewart [6]

C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer: 1. W20-Greg Wilson [3][-]; 2. 5B-Chase Briscoe [4][-]; 3. 51B-Joe Miller [1][$150]; 4. 25-Jacob Blackhurst [2][$150]; 5. 8S-Steve Short [7][$150]; 6. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [10][$125]; 7. 71M-Andy Bradley [11][$125]; 8. 10P-Jim Perricone [9][$125]; 9. 79J-Jacob Patton [8][$125]; 10. 12-Robert Ballou [6][$125]; 11. 9JR-Derek Hagar [5][$125]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer: 1. 3-Sammy Swindell [3][-]; 2. 19-Brent Marks [4][-]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [8][-]; 4. 21-Brian Brown [1][-]; 5. 1M-James Moughan [7][$300]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6][$250]; 7. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [5][$225]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [13][$200]; 9. 5B-Chase Briscoe [14][$200]; 10. OO-Dane Lorenc [11][$200]; 11. 13-Clyde Knipp [12][$200]; 12. O5-Gary Taylor [2][$200]; 13. O1-Matt Vandervere [9][$200]; 14. 64-Scotty Thiel [10][$200]

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [6][$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [1][$5,500]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][$3,200]; 4. 5-David Gravel [7][$2,800]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$2,500]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [5][$2,300]; 7. 2-Shane Stewart [8][$2,200]; 8. 91-Cale Thomas [14][$2,100]; 9. 26-Joey Saldana [15][$2,050]; 10. 19-Brent Marks [22][$2,000]; 11. 45-Paul McMahan [10][$1,500]; 12. 5C-Christopher Bell [12][$1,200]; 13. 99-Brady Bacon [16][$1,100]; 14. 41-Jason Johnson [13][$1,050]; 15. 11K-Kraig Kinser [23][$1,000]; 16. 24-Rico Abreu [17][$900]; 17. 21-Brian Brown [24][$800]; 18. 2M-Kerry Madsen [9][$800]; 19. 83-Cory Eliason [20][$800]; 20. 18-Ian Madsen [2][$800]; 21. 1S-Logan Schuchart [25][$]; 22. 21X-Carson Short [18][$800]; 23. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [19][$800]; 24. 1A-Jacob Allen [11][$800]; 25. 3-Sammy Swindell [21][$800] Lap Leaders: Ian Madsen 1-7, Sheldon Haudenschild 8-30, Daryn Pittman 31-40; KSE Hard Charger Award: 19-Brent Marks[+12]

 

A part of the recurring “The Wheatley Chronicles” series of articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, the Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.

The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2018 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings.  Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.