He may not have scored a victory, but James McFadden still made a big impact during Tuesday night’s Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville Speedway.
SARVER, Pa. – He may not have scored his second-career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory, but James McFadden still made a big impact during Tuesday night’s Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville Speedway.
The Australian led the first 14 laps of the 40-lap, $25,000-to-win feature before giving way to eventual winner David Gravel, who passed for the lead down the backstretch on the 15th revolution of the four-tenths-mile oval and never looked back after that.
RELATED: Gravel Banks $25,000 In Lernerville’s Silver Cup
However, McFadden held onto a podium position at the end of the night, after a thrilling second-half duel with Kyle Larson and then Brad Sweet in the closing laps.
McFadden finished third in the Kasey Kahne Racing-owned, Wicked Energy Gum-backed No. 9 sprinter, his best run with the World of Outlaws since a runner-up finish in May during the inaugural Patriot Nationals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C.
Of benefit to McFadden was his third-quick lap in qualifying, a run that set him up in a strong position for the remainder of the evening.
“The (No.) 9 car had a lot of speed here,” McFadden noted. “I have to thank all the guys who have worked so hard and put in a huge effort to make this all work. The car was really fast all night, even though we struggled off of (turn) two and couldn’t keep up too well with the 41 (Gravel). We could kind of stay with the 57 (Kyle Larson), but we all know he isn’t going to make too many mistakes – that’s why he is where he is on Sundays.
“All in all though, I’m happy we got this car to the front,” McFadden added. “It makes it easier when you time trial well, and we certainly improved on that tonight.”
– Kyle Larson had an interested onlooker in his pit area during Tuesday night’s race, as his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team owner Chip Ganassi was in attendance at Lernerville.
Ganassi posed for a picture with Larson beside the Paul Silva-prepared No. 57 in the pits prior to the racing action kicking into high gear for the Silver Cup feature.
Finished 2nd last night @Lernerville. @DavidGravel was checked out towards the end of it. Was nice to have the boss @GanassiChip come out and watch some dirt racing! ud83dudc4dud83cudffc pic.twitter.com/AegYIBuIWV
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) July 24, 2019
– Brad Sweet and Donny Schatz’s back-and-forth struggle for supremacy in the World of Outlaws point standings continued on Tuesday, with Schatz running in front of Sweet for most of the night but Sweet picking his way through the top seven at the end.
Sweet ended up fourth, while Schatz was fifth, giving Sweet a two-point edge in total points earned for the night. Sweet now leads the standings by 22 markers.
– Meanwhile, Gravel has made up 48 points on Sweet in the last 11 races, putting him just 112 markers out of the top spot approaching the Ironman 55 and Knoxville Nationals.
However, Gravel’s focus isn’t on points right now. He’s worried about padding his and his team’s season earnings as the Month of Money heats up heading into August.
“There‘s more money on the line the rest of the year, so hopefully we can keep this rolling and win some more big races,” Gravel said.
– Tuesday night’s KSE Hard Charger was Sheldon Haudenschild, who raced his way into the feature out of the Last Chance Showdown, started 21st and finished 10th.