WHEATLAND, Mo. — Night two of the 11th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial once again was the Derek Hagar Show.
Hagar earned the 25-lap Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series feature win for the second straight night. He picked up $3,000 and earned the pole for Saturday night’s finale.
The event pays tribute to the legacy of Jesse Hockett, who was a star in both the winged and non-wing sprint divisions when he lost his life in a shop accident in 2010. His cousin and crew chief, Daniel McMillin, was killed in an automobile accident in 2006.
Hagar has shown he’s the man to beat entering the 40-lapper on Saturday night. Just as he did a night before, he dominated the feature as drivers accumulated points to help set the lineup for the final night.
“Man, we just have to seal the deal,” Hagar said. “I was worried. Everybody’s good when the track has moisture.
“I just love this place,” third-starting Hagar said of Lucas Oil Speedway and his ability to roll through the corners. “It’s nothing special we don’t do at any other race track. This place, I guess it fits my driving style.”
Dylan Westbrook started on the pole and held a two-car-length lead over Hagar through the early going when a caution slowed things on lap three as Thursday’s feature runner-up Scott Bogucki slowed to a halt.
Hagar slid past Westbrook and into the lead as the race returned to green. Hagar quickly opened a 3.2-second lead by lap 10, as Westbrook ran second, J.J. Hickle third and ASCS national tour points leader Blake Hahn in fourth.
Tyler Blank and Jason Martin tangled in turn three to bring out a lap-16 caution as those two were fighting for ninth place. Hagar held a 2.8-second lead over Westbrook at the time, that wiped out by the caution.
It didn’t take Hagar long to again stretch out his lead, pushing it to four seconds between he and Westbrook by lap 20. But things again ground to a half when Hahn, running third, hit a tractor tire in turn two to bring out another yellow with three laps remaining.
For Hagar, it was no problem. He went on to prevail by 1.8 seconds over Roger Crockett, who slipped past Westbrook coming to the white flag. For Hagar, it was his fifth career ASCS national-tour triumph.
“We weren’t any good in the feature last night. We were the fastest car up until the feature and we were horrible in the feature,” said Crockett, who started seventh “We made the right changes today. I can’t wait for the feature tomorrow night.
“Obviously, Hagar is really good at these kind of race tracks, but I look forward to battling him tomorrow.”
Dover wound up fourth with Hickle in fifth.
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[3]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[7]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[1]; 4. 53-Jack Dover[6]; 5. 63-JJ Hickle[2]; 6. 24-Garet Williamson[8]; 7. 51B-Joe B Miller[9]; 8. 2C-Chase Porter[5]; 9. 3M-Howard Moore[15]; 10. 14-Jordon Mallett[22]; 11. 98P-Miles Paulus[18]; 12. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 13. 4-Evan Martin[19]; 14. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[17]; 15. 1X-Tim Crawley[14]; 16. 21-Gunner Ramey[12]; 17. 9-Chase Randall[21]; 18. 94-Jeff Swindell[20]; 19. 11A-Austin O’Neal[25]; 20. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[16]; 21. 17B-Ryan Bickett[24]; 22. 36-Jason Martin[13]; 23. 75-Tyler Blank[10]; 24. 95-Matt Covington[23]; 25. 55B-Brandon Anderson[26]; 26. 28-Scott Bogucki[11]