Inside Line Promotions – STOCKTON, Calif. (March 24, 2021) – Dominic Scelzi salvaged a podium finish despite misfortune on Saturday night during the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series season opener.
Scelzi put himself in a great position to contend for the victory at the Stockton Dirt Track. He qualified fourth quickest and finished where he started – third – in a heat race to garner enough points to make the dash.
“We went out late in qualifying and we qualified well, which was important,” he said. “We ran well in the heat race and that put us in the dash.”
Scelzi drew the No. 2 during the dash draw to line up on the outside of the front row for the dash. He maintained that position to start the feature on the front row. Unfortunately, the nose wing came loose on the opening lap.
Scelzi held onto the runner-up position for most of the race and even challenged the leader in traffic as well as during a restart. However, a late-race restart dropped Scelzi to a third-place finish. It marked his fifth top five of the season.
“It’s definitely a Catch-22,” he said. “On one hand I feel we gave away a great chance to win a race. To be as good as we were without the nose wing – it really hindered us – shows how great of a car we had. On the other hand that’s the first NARC points race. To win the points championship you have to take bad nights and turn them into as good of nights as you can.”
Five top fives in his first nine races this year ties Scelzi’s best start to a season with his opening nine races in 2018. He placed 10th in the 10th race that year so his next race can offer the greatest start to a season in his sprint car career.
Scelzi plans on competing this Friday and Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., with the Kings of Thunder 360 Sprint Cars.
“I haven’t been to Tulare since 2019,” he said. “I feel like it was going in the right direction so we’re excited to get back there. It will be a good two-day weekend.”