TULSA, Okla. — Going back-to-back with Wednesday York Plumbing and Mechanical Qualifying Night wins, Emerson Axsom delivered big in traffic, while holding off the many challenges of Daison Pursley.
“I tried to show the good lapped cars and nose a couple times, and unfortunately, those guys wouldn’t budge, which is fair enough; you’ve got to run your own race,” stated Axsom.
On whether or not he could hear anyone closing in traffic, Axsom said, “I had no idea where they were, but I figured I was running slow enough that I knew my pace was really slowed down, and I didn’t really get to leg it out ever. I knew if there was a guy behind me hustling, he would have run me down pretty easily. I knew my pace was slow, but I didn’t really know where they were and I just kept my eye to outside the left side door making sure.”
Rolling to the lead on Lap 19, the laps leading up to that were controlled by Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Colby Copeland.
Slipping back at the start from the front row, Kevin Swindell’s Mountain Mechanical Contractors No. 39 was fourth on Lap 1. Working back to second on Lap 6, Copeland had already taken over the lead by that point.
Back to green after a Lap 5 caution, Axsom followed Copeland into traffic with the California shoe keeping Axsom at bay before slipping up on the cushion through the first and second turns.
Threading between Copeland and a lapped car, Axsom held command as the race for second heated up with Daison Pursley in the mix.
Mired in traffic through the closing laps, Pursley took more than one look at the lead, but there was no denying Axsom, who won by 1.052 seconds to lock into his fourth Saturday night JST Motorsports A-Feature in as many years.
Pursley, in second, will also take the green in his fourth championship feature event. Colby Copeland ended up third, with Thomas Meseraull and Thomas, Jr. would completing the top five.
Wednesday’s York Plumbing and Mechanical Qualifying Night included a field of 74 drivers to bring the week’s total so far to 222 drivers in attendance. The Flip Count over the first three nights has grown to 21.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 39A-Emerson Axsom[2]; 2. 86-Daison Pursley[3]; 3. 27W-Colby Copeland[4]; 4. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[5]; 5. 14K-Kevin Thomas Jr[1]; 6. 41-Corey Day[7]; 7. 19T-Mitchel Moles[6]; 8. 29-Tim Buckwalter[8]; 9. 4B-Chelby Hinton[10]; 10. 31B-Jake Swanson[18]; 11. 67K-Colton Robinson[22]; 12. 45B-Bradley Cox[17]; 13. 32W-Alex Bright[20]; 14. 7AU-Harry Stewart[12]; 15. 45S-Caleb Stelzig[21]; 16. 4KD-Kale Drake[11]; 17. 3N-Jake Neuman[9]; 18. 22X-Steven Shebester[13]; 19. 88A-Austin Torgerson[19]; 20. 1R-RJ Johnson[23]; 21. 8K-KJ Snow[16]; 22. 12C-Colby Stubblefield[24]; 23. 68T-TJ Smith[14]; 24. (DNF) 71X-Aiden Price[15]
