Sweet Homecoming Victory for Shane Stewart at Salina
Stewart was joined on the podium by fellow Oklahome-native Daryn Pittman
SALINA, Okla. – May 1, 2015 – What a sweet homecoming it was for Bixby, Okla.-native Shane Stewart on Friday night as he stood in victory lane at Salina Highbanks Speedway with his third World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win of the season.
“This was one of the tracks that I really, really wanted to win at this year,” Stewart said. “It’s really, really good to win in front of my fans and all my friends and family. I’ve got Jenn and Nixon here with me. It’s a good night.”
Stewart battled past Brad Sweet and Aaron Reutzel, and through several restarts throughout the 25-lap feature.
“I just wasn’t sure what was going to happen on the restarts,” Stewart said. “Sometimes they help you, sometimes they don’t. We were able to get a pretty good jump on Brad and then a couple of yellows came out and I wasn’t really sure where to go. And that’s how the restarts work out here. Some of them work and some of them don’t.”
Stewart’s third World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory of the season puts him second only to Donny Schatz in total wins. Schatz’s lead in the championship standings is down to six points over Stewart.
Sweet led the field to the green flag but it was Reutzel, in his first ever World of Outlaws start, who led the first five laps of the night after a red flag and then caution flew in the opening laps. Sweet had his sights set on the lead though and by lap five, he found his way around Reutzel.
Two laps later, as the leaders began working their way through lapped traffic, Stewart, who started third and was running in that position in his Larson Marks Racing car, battled past Reutzel to take over the second position.
Kraig Kinser spun on the backstretch just as the field completed lap 9. The subsequent restart proved pivotal.
Stewart battled past Sweet for the lead as 2013 series champion Daryn Pittman got around Reutzel to take over the third position.
Caution flags flew in the waning laps and each time, Sweet tried to regain his spot. Stewart held tough though and built up a sizable lead. He took the checkered flag in first followed by Sweet and Pittman.
“I just didn’t choose the right line on the restart,” Sweet said. “We just didn’t take off good enough. I don’t know what I did wrong. It just didn’t work out in our favor. We’ll just try to keep working hard. We had a fast car all night so that’s something to stay positive about.”
Pittman, a native of Owasso, Okla., said he is feeling better following a crash at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway last month that sidelined him for a weekend with a broken collarbone, but still had some work to do. Like Stewart, Pittman said a win in Oklahoma is one he really wanted.
“Man, I’ve been coming here and been in all four of these races and wanted to win this one bad,” Pittman said. “If I couldn’t do it, I’m pretty proud of Shane to be able to do it and for us to have two Okie boys up here on the front row – I’m pretty proud of that. We grew up racing together and it’s a lot of fun to come back and race. We’ve got some big races this weekend and I’ve got some confidence going into those.”