CONCORDIA, Kan. – Jeremy Huish not only won Sunday night’s battle as Sprint Cars took to the cozy confines of the quarter-mile Concordia Raceway clay oval for the first time ever but also won the war that was the United Rebel Sprint Series 2022 season by coming away with the series championship.
Entering the night 12 points in arrears to points leader Steven Richardson and four points behind Luke Cranston, Huish’s third series win of the season aboard the Whitetail Properties Real Estate/Gunderson Racing Inc. No. 88J Sprint Car coupled with finishes of seventh and eighth for Richardson and Cranton, respectively, was enough to escape with the series crown by a slim two-point margin over Richardson.
“We were all kind of scratching our heads after hot laps, we weren’t really sure what to expect,” Huish commented afterward. “But they did a great job of prepping the track during the night and gave us a great track for the feature. But I may be partial since we won.”
Needing things to break his way to make up the 12-point deficit to Richardson, the night worked out in storybook fashion for Huish.
After winning his heat race from the pole position, Huish redrew the outside front row for the 20-lap season finale and found himself out front exiting turn two on the opening round when pole starter Zach Blurton stumbled getting into turn one on the opening corner and fell back to fifth.
With Huish in command, a flurry of cautions hindered the initial half-dozen circuits, the last of which proved most consequential when Richardson spun to a stop in turn two while holding down fourth and was relegated to the tail of the field.
“I knew then we could win the championship if I could hold on for the win and Steven (Richardson) didn’t finish any better than seventh,” Huish explained. “But I was trying not to think too much about that.”
That’s exactly how it played out, as Huish kept the battling duo of Lee Goos, Jr., and a resurgent Blurton at bay over the final 14 non-stop circuits to race on to victory lane with Richardson only able to climb back up to seventh.
As Huish worked the topside out front, Goos, Jr., ultimately got the nod for runner-up honors with Blurton settling for the show position as Jake Martens and Jon Freeman rounded out the top five.
Jake Martens crossed the stripe in fourth with Jon Freeman rounding out the top five.
The Finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 88J-Jeremy Huish[2]; 2. 17-Lee Goos Jr[3]; 3. 2J-Zach Blurton[1]; 4. 17X-Jake Martens[6]; 5. 81-Jon Freeman[7]; 6. 5-Stu Snyder[11]; 7. 8J-Steven Richardson[4]; 8. 20C-Luke Cranston[12]; 9. 45-Monty Ferriera[5]; 10. 57B-Boyd Peterson[10]; 11. 11C-Cole Cloud[8]; 12. 17S-Chad Salem[9]