LINCOLN, Ill. — Less than 12 hours ago, Paul Nienhiser was sitting in Cancun. Following a day filled with travel, the three-time Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series champion ended his night in victory lane.
Nienhiser started from the inside of row three, quickly found his way to the front, moving past polesitter Jake Blackhurst in turns three and four on the second lap. After taking over the top spot, Nienhiser put his No. 9x machine on the top side of the speedway and raced towards the checkered flag while action continued to heat up behind him.
Blackhurst and third-starting Jake Neuman fought for the runner up spot through the remainder of the race after a mid-race caution slowed the field after John Barnard made contact with a mine tire on the outside of the frontstretch.
Nienhiser led the field back to the green flag, with no pressure behind him as he cruised to victory for his 30th-career victory and sixth at Lincoln Speedway.
Blackhurst crossed the line in second with Jake Neuman, Mario Clouser and Colton Fisher rounding out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[5]; 2. 96-Jake Blackhurst[1]; 3. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 4. 6-Mario Clouser[7]; 5. 5H-Colton Fisher[6]; 6. 77-Jack Wagner[13]; 7. 73-Samuel Wagner[8]; 8. 12-Corbin Gurley[11]; 9. 2-Brandon Anderson[21]; 10. 52F-Logan Faucon[12]; 11. 29X-Brayton Lynch[16]; 12. 10S-Jeremy Standridge[20]; 13. 3B-Shelby Bosie[9]; 14. 9-Tyler Duff[18]; 15. 01-Justin Standridge[14]; 16. 28K-Korbin Keith[19]; 17. 70-Eric Shelton[23]; 18. B8-John Barnard[4]; 19. 44-Cory Bruns[17]; 20. (DNF) 7A-Will Armitage[2]; 21. (DNF) 1JR-Steven Russell[10]; 22. (DNF) 2A-Austin Archdale[22]; 23. (DNF) 31-Joey Moughan[15]
