Britten Takes the “Crocodile” on Night 2 of DIRTcar Nationals & Pit Notes

  Peter Britten went through the “Baja jumps” and used the high side on the final 3 laps to move from 3^rd to take his first DIRTcar Nationals win and his first “Crocodile”.   Jimmy Phelps led 29 laps but encountered lapped traffic on the final 3 laps and lost the lead on lap 30 by .025 of a second.

Peter Britten has been the car to beat from the start qualifying on night 1.  Britten has been the most consistent car on the grounds with a 2^nd and win in the first two nights of racing.

Britten reflected in victory lane “Early in the feature I didn’t feel the car was that good and it was bouncing too much.  Sometimes you just have to wait it out a bit and this time lapped the traffic played into my hands.   In the final laps I made a bit of an all or nothing move through the Baja jumps and it worked.  We got a gator……yeah.”

“We have had a lot of 2^nds and 3rds over the years down here at the Nationals and I didn’t know if I’d ever get one of these baby gators who is now officially dubbed a crocodile now.”

Both Jimmy Phelps and Jack Lehner were in contention for their first Gator and ended up with podium finishes.  Jimmy Phelps has been dialed in for both days with strong qualifying, heats and a 4^th place finish on night 1 and 2^nd place finish tonight after leading 29 of 30 laps.

Jack Lehner had better luck on night 2 and started out as quick qualifier.  He continued his strong run with a heat race win and a strong 3^rd place finish in the feature that he was in contention for the win until the final checkered flag. 

Lehner also had a strong car on night one but was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the heat race and received heavy damage and was towed off after heat race contact with Max McLaughlin.  Lehner made it back for the last chance race thanks to help from the teams of McLaughlin, Britten, and Sheppard among others.  Jack qualified in the 28^th and last starting position but was able to finish 16^th in a one caution feature race.   

Kyle Coffey had a strong outing with a 4^th place finish from his 9^th starting position.  Coffey qualified well and was one place out of the redraw which was a complete turnaround from a night 1 DNQ due to mechanical issues ending his night after the heat race.

Kyle reflected “Our car wasn’t the greatest on Tuesday night and after the heat we thought it was best to just park it for the night and figure some things out.  The adjustments we made from night 1 really paid off for us tonight.  We had a real good car with speed and was able to stay up front throughout the night.”   

Max McLaughlin got off to a good start on night 1 with a 3^rd place finish.  A good qualifying run tonight placed Max in a 3^rd starting position in his heat race but the motor went up in smoke on lap 1 and the team opted to the backup car for the last chance race.  Despite starting from 11^th and last in the last chance race; McLaughlin proceeded to tear through the field and pass 10 cars including Matt Sheppard to take the win in the last chance consolation.   In the feature McLaughlin continued his back to front runs and finished 8^th from his 20^th and probably has passed more cars so far this week than any modified on the grounds.

Matt Sheppard has been off in qualifying and for two nights in a row has gone to go to the last chance race to make the feature.  Sheppard’s has finished out of the top ten with an 11^th and 14^th finish in the first two nights of racing as the team searches to get their big block program dialed in for the 2022 season.

Jimmy Britt has made the trip from Newtown Square, PA worthwhile with a last chance race win on day 1 and a 9^th place finish on day 2.  Britt has qualified for both features with 42 modifieds on the grounds. 

Stewart Friesen started his DIRTcar Nationals off with an opening night win.  Night 2 started with another strong qualifying effort; heat race win and front row starting position in the feature.  But mud packing in the left side wheels gave Friesen an ill handling car and he fell back to a 7^th place finish in the night 2 feature.  After some NASCAR truck qualifying tomorrow Friesen will return for night 3 and look for his second win at the DIRTcar Nationals.

Erik Rudolph was running strong on Monday night when a stuck throttle sent him into the wall which resulted in heavy damage ending his DIRTcar Nationals on night 1.

UP NEXT
The Super DIRTcar Series continues Thursday, Feb. 17, at Volusia Speedway Park for the Series’ third day of DIRTcar Nationals action.