LOXLEY, Ala. — Defending United Sprint Car Series champion Dale Howard won the 25-lap feature for the Hoosier Racing Tire USCS on Friday night at Deep South Speedway.
Howard outran Terry Easum, who finished second.
The victory was Howard’s second of the season and the 42nd of his USCS career. The 16-time USCS National Champion and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee Terry Gray was awarded the third spot after apparent third-place finisher Hayden Wise missed the post-race technical inspection and was disqualified.
Dustin Burtron finished fourth and Van Gurley Jr. was fifth.
Howard took the lead at the start of the race, but Lance Moss, who started on the outside of the front row spun in turn two to bring out the caution flag and necessitate a complete restart. Howard led Easum, Gray, Burtron and Gurley after the first lap, but the field was slowed by caution when Paul Craddock spun in turn one on the second lap.
Wise passed Gurley for fifth on lap three. Craddock executed his second spin of the race on lap seven in turn two to light the yellow caution bulb up for the third time. When the field went back to green flag action, Wise passed Burtron for the fourth position on lap 10. At the halfway point of the race, Howard held a .557 second lead over Easum,
With five laps to go, Howard had opened a 1.743 second lead over Easum, and Wise passed Gray for the third spot on lap 23. Just after the leaders had taken the white flag, Terry Witherspoon spun and collected Hadley Morgan to bring out the final caution flag and set up a green-white-checkered finish.
Howard was able to take a .521 second victory over Easum under the checkered flag in a race that took 30 minutes and 8.483 seconds to complete. The win moves Howard up to the third spot in the USCS National point standings behind Willingham and Gray.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 47 Dale Howard, Byhalia, MS (1); 2. 88e Terry Easum, Broken Arrow, OK (3); 3. 10 Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN (4); 4. 51 Dustin Burtron, Seminole, FL (5); 5. 13 Van Gurley Jr., Valparaiso, IN (6); 6. 1a Lee Moore, Moundville, AL (12); 7. 28 Jeff Willingham, Ripley, MS (8); 8. 3 Cole Schroeder, Bozeman, MT (11); 9. 88 Brandon Blenden, Gulfport, MS (10); 10. 18r Tityn Roberts, Bennet, NE (19); 11. 23 Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC (2); 12. 9 Steve Diamond Jr., Brooksville, FL (9); 13. 33 Joe Larkin, Suwanee, GA (13); 14. 43 Terry Witherspoon, Jacksonville, FL (17); 15. 16 Hannah Merritt, Nesbit, MS (18); 16. 01h Hadley Morgan, Beaumont, TX (16); 17. 1 Paul Craddock, Summerdale, AL (15); 18. 29 Arron Smith, Gulfport, MS (14); 19. 94 Hayden Wise, Huntersville, NC (7) DQ/Missed Post-Race Tech.
