WHEATLAND, Mo. — Tyler Courtney roared from 12th starting position to take the lead with five laps remaining and held on for an impressive victory Thursday night as the 16th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial opened at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Courtney was the fourth and final leader of the 30-lapper as the Interstate Batteries High Limit/POWRi 410 Sprints came together for the first time in the winged portion of the Hockett-McMillin. The Indianapolis native earned $10,000.
The Hockett-McMillin Memorial pays tribute to the legacy of Jesse Hockett, from Warsaw, Mo., who was a national star in both the winged and non-winged 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.
“I felt great all day, we just did not time in well and that has really been the story of our season,” Courtney said. “I felt really good and I felt really good in the heat race.
“Obviously starting 12th wasn’t ideal. We had a forgettable weekend last weekend at Port Royal and for (the crew) to go to the shop and get a different car together and come here swinging like we did … it shows they never quit and I never quit either.”
After three cautions in the first half, the feature was a thriller the rest of the way under green conditions as Courtney picked his way to the front. He overtook Justin Peck on lap 25 after it appeared Peck was in command.
Giovanni Scelzi led the first two laps before fellow front-row starter Rico Abreu took over with caution slowing the action for the first time, on lap four. Scelzi went around the outside of Abreu in turn four after the restart to regain the lead.
Third-starting Peck grabbed second on lap seven but Scelzi opened a 1.3-second lead by lap 11. Meanwhile, Courtney caught and passed Abreu for third on lap 12.
Peck shot to the lead after the restart with Courtney second and Scelzi slipping to third. Just one lap later, caution No. 3 appeared at the halfway mark of the race. Peck had a clean restart and opened a 1.5-second lead by lap 21, appearing to be in control. But Courtney started to close in as the leaders entered lapped traffic and he wheeled into the lead on lap 26.
Winning his third High Limit feature at Lucas Oil Speedway, Courtney said determination was a huge part of his rally.
“We got into traffic there and I didn’t even go to the middle until probably one or two laps too late,” Courtney said. “I moved down after I got my him and I found (grip). You just never give up, right? That’s what you’re thinking with five to go.
“These wins are hard to come by. We have two more nights here to try and build on tonight.”
Despite Peck’s repeated attempts to slide Courtney in the closing laps, Courtney was up to the challenge and held off Peck by .781 seconds. It was a bit frustrating for Peck, who turned 28 on Thursday.
“I felt like we kind of threw that one away. I feel like we had the car to beat,” Peck said. “I might have got a little impatient there in traffic. I could smell the rubber and I could feel it, like I needed to do something right away. I had those lapped cars running two-wide and I couldn’t make much of a run on them.
“It just didn’t work out, but all in all I’m really happy with our race car and our engine program right now and hopefully we can translate that into some wins here.”
Scelzi was third with Ashton Torgerson fourth and Tanner Thorson fifth.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[12]; 2. 26-Justin Peck[3]; 3. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 4. 45X-Ashton Torgerson[4]; 5. 88-Tanner Thorson[11]; 6. 19-Brent Marks[8]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 8. 1X-Scott Bogucki[16]; 9. 24D-Danny Sams III[9]; 10. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek[5]; 11. 9-Daison Pursley[24]; 12. 55-Brady Bacon[6]; 13. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 14. 13-Tanner Holmes[14]; 15. 31-Scotty Thiel[15]; 16. 42-Sye Lynch[13]; 17. 11-Roger Crockett[22]; 18. 74-Xavier Doney[10]; 19. 57-Cam Sorrels[21]; 20. 66-Ryan Newton[19]; 21. 40-Howard Moore[18]; 22. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[23]; 23. 9R-Chase Randall[17]; 24. 52-Blake Hahn[20]
