Brian Brown captures Lucas Oil ASCS season opener



TUCSON, Ariz. (February 22, 2013) On a very cool Arizona night, Grain Valley, Mo. native Brian Brown parked the Casey’s General Store, FVP, Searsboro Telephone No. 21 in victory lane on night one of the Old Pueblo Classic presented by Print Place at the Tucson International Raceway with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real.

Charging from tenth, Brown commented on the drastic change in the track from the start of the night to the A-Feature saying “it was awesome”. 

Highlighting his drive from tenth to win, Brown admitted his start was not as good as it could have been and in fact put him behind the eight ball, “I fell to about fifteenth or sixteenth” commented Brown. “I messed up on the start and got high but I just need to thank everyone with this Casey’s General Store, FVP entry. This has a Charlie Garrett engine that Don Long provided from Searsboro Telephone and we really want to thank him because we’ve really got some power now and that’s what it’s going to take to out run these guys’ night in, and night out.”

Riding eighth on a Lap 7 red for the No. 21k of Kyle Sager who was running seventh before sailing over the wall in turn three, following contact with a lapped car, Brown’s restart would propel the No. 21 into the top six with a pass on Justyn Cox and Jeff Swindell while the MVT No. 45x of Johnny Herrera led the field with Brad Loyet and Christopher Bell in tow. 

Working on Lap 11, Brown advanced into fifth with Roger Crockett and Christopher Bell in sight in the fourth and third positions. Entering turns one and two, the Print Place No. 4x of Bell would slow suddenly before spinning entering turn three with flat left side tires following a run in with one of the large tractor tires that line the infield of the Tucson International Raceway. 

Utilizing the inside line of the Arizona oval, Brian Brown worked into third with a slide job on Crockett before taking over the running up spot from Loyet with ten laps to run. 

Pacing the bottom as Herrera began working into slower traffic; Brown closed the gap to a side by side race for the lead on lap eighteen before taking the front spot on the nineteenth circuit. 

Brown would go unchallenged in the Casey’s General Store No. 21 with Herrera crossing the line second. Roget Crockett advanced from eighth to round out the podium followed by Jeff Swindell from seventh, and Wayne Johnson from thirteenth. 

After a broken lower shock pin relegated the Oil Medics No. 18 of Tony Bruce, Jr. to the tail of the field, the Liberal, Kan. racer advanced to a sixth place finish. Brad Loyet, after running second for the better part of the feature, faded to seventh with Jason Johnson earning the PitstopUSA.com Hard Charger of the Night after engine troubles forced the Roush/Yates No. 41 to take a provisional and start twenty-third. Twelfth starting Seth Bergman improved to ninth with Lucas Wolfe able to fight back to round out the top ten after begin caught up in the Lap 7 incident involving Kyle Sager. 

Heat Race victories went to Christopher Bell in BMRS Heat One with Herrera taking Wesmar Heat Two. The Saldana Racing Products Heat Three was won by Dustin Morgan with the Ti22 Heat Four victory going to Justyn Cox. Rod End Supply Heat Five completed the early qualifiers with Lucas Wolfe grabbing the win. 

Aaron Retuzel grabbed the SBI Fuel Bladder first B-Feature with Logan Forler taking the second B-Feature presented by the Joie of Seating. 
photo credit: Tim Aylwin Photography


Car Count: 36

BMRS Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4X-Christopher Bell[4]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[8]; 3. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 4. 77X-Wayne Johnson[7]; 5. 17W-Cole Wood[3]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 7. 8AZ-Jordan Stetson[6]; DNS 22-Mike Rux Jr

Wesmar Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[3]; 2. 21K-Kyle Sager[4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 4. 23N-Brock Lemley[7]; 5. 94X-Ronnie Clark[2]; 6. 99-Shawn Petersen[6]; DNF 18L-Lorne Wofford[1]

Saldana Racing Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan[1]; 2. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 3. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[4]; 4. 2L-Logan Forler[5]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman[2]; 6. 27-Mitch Olson[6]; 7. 01-Kaylene Verville[7]

Ti22 Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 5H-Justyn Cox[1]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[4]; 3. 81-Danny Wood[2]; 4. 74X-Joshua Hodges[7]; 5. 41W-Joshua Williams[3]; 6. 41C-Billy Chester III[6]; DNS 29W-Willie Croft

Rod End Supply Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 82-Lucas Wolfe[1]; 2. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[3]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[6]; 4. 41-Jason Johnson[2]; 5. 77-Dalten Gabbard[7]; 6. 5H-Justyn Cox; 7. 90-Lance Norick[5]

SBI Bladders “B” Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 2. 81-Danny Wood[1]; 3. 41W-Joshua Williams[4]; 4. 27-Mitch Olson[6]; 5. 90-Lance Norick[9]; 6. 01-Kaylene Verville[8]; DNF 18L-Lorne Wofford[10]; DNF 29-Brandon Hahn[2]; DNS 17-Josh Baughman; DNS 41-Jason Johnson

The Joie of Seating “B” Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 2L-Logan Forler[1]; 2. 41C-Billy Chester III[6]; 3. 94X-Ronnie Clark[4]; 4. 77-Dalten Gabbard[2]; 5. 17W-Cole Wood[3]; 6. 29W-Willie Croft[8]; 7. 99-Shawn Petersen[5]; 8. 8AZ-Jordan Stetson[9]; DNF 5-Kyle McCutcheon[7]; DNS 22-Mike Rux Jr.

Lucas Oil “A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown[10]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[1]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett[8]; 4. 94-Jeff Swindell[7]; 5. 77X-Wayne Johnson[13]; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[16]; 7. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 8. 41-Jason Johnson[23]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[12]; 10. 82-Lucas Wolfe[9]; 11. 2L-Logan Forler[18]; 12. 93-Dustin Morgan[3]; 13. 81-Danny Wood[19]; 14. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[11]; 15. 41W-Joshua Williams[21]; 16. 41C-Billy Chester III[20]; 17. 74X-Joshua Hodges[15]; 18. 23N-Brock Lemley[14]; 19. 94X-Ronnie Clark[22]; DNF 5H-Justyn Cox[4]; DNF 4X-Christopher Bell[5]; DNF 21K-Kyle Sager[6]; DNF 99-Shawn Petersen[24]; DNF 87-Aaron Reutzel[17]



Lap Leaders : Johnny Herrera (1-18), Brian Brown (19-25)
PitstopUSA.com Hard Charger: Jason Johnson +15
FSR High Points of the Night: Jeff Swindell
Provisionals: Jason Jonson (P1 - Full Point), Shawn Petersen (Promoter)



2013 “A” Feature Winners: Brian Brown -1



Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Points (Top 10): 1. Brian Brown 150; 2. Johnny Herrera 142; 3. Roger Crockett 135; 4. Jeff Swindell 130; 5. Wayne Johnson 125; 6. Tony Bruce, Jr. 122; 7. Brad Loyet 119; 8. Jason Johnson 116; 9. Seth Bergman; 113; 10. Lucas Wolfe 110
Brian Brown captures Lucas Oil ASCS season opener Brian Brown captures Lucas Oil ASCS season opener Reviewed by Dirt Racing News on Saturday, February 23, 2013 Rating: 5