WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa — In 2022, Paul Nienhiser lost count of the number of second-place finishes he had. He began the 22nd Sprint Invaders season with a victory Sunday at 34 Raceway.
The Chapin, Illinois, driver hopes his $2,000 win aboard the Scott Bonar No. 50 has set a new trend.
Nienhiser led the 25-lap feature from the outset. Josh Higday spun two laps in, setting up a restart that had Nienhiser leading Cody Wehrle, Luke Verardi, Bret Tripplett and Colton Fisher back to green. While Nienhiser pulled away Verardi battled by Wehrle in a good battle for second on lap four.
Nienhiser dominated the action, but a furious battle for second, third, fourth and fifth places broke out. As Nienhiser entered traffic, Verardi, Tripplett and Wehrle could have had a blanket thrown over them as they swapped spots. Fisher entered the fray as well, and gained fourth from Wehrle on lap 15.
Two cirucits later, Wehrle returned the favor. Meanwhile, Tripplett was bidding for second. With five laps to go, he tried a slider on Verardi, but didn’t have the room to clear him. Verardi went over the turn two berm to avoid him and caught the tires entering the pit area.
The restart erased over a half lap lead for Nienhiser and set up a restart for him ahead of Tripplett, Wehrle, Fisher and Ryan Bunton. Tyler Lee had a top ten run going, but spun with two laps to go. Unfortunately, on the restart, he turned over in turn two.
Nienhiser closed out the win the final two laps, followed by Tripplett, Wehrle, Fisher and Devin Wignall.
“You kind of have an idea when you’re making pretty good laps,” Nienhiser said. “Plenty of guys behind me have laps here just like me, so I knew if I wasted enough time in lapped traffic, it may be a matter of time before they caught up. I was keeping an eye out for patchy rubber where I would maybe move off the top a little bit. I just used that to my advantage late in the race.”
“I felt like we had a good car,” said Tripplett. “The dash redraw didn’t go great (five). I knew when I was running with the front group that we had a good car. I was hoping for the race to stay green. When I was passing for second, I was hoping Verardi saw me underneath there. I don’t think we ever touched, but I think I scared him quite a bit, so I hope he’s not to upset about that. I had nothing for Nienhiser on the restarts. As we got to racing, the track was pretty racy.”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (1) 2. 99, Bret Tripplett, Lincoln, IL (5) 3. 40, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (3) 4. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (7) 5. 21, Devin Wignall, Altoona, IA (10) 6. 6R, Ryan Bunton, Morton, IL (6) 7. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (15) 8. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (4) 9. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (13) 10. 4x, Chase Richards, Burlington, IA (9) 11. 1E, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (14) 12. 2A, Austin Archdale, Brimfield, IL (11) 13. 41, Noah Samuel, Burlington, IA (16) 14. 31, McCain Richards, Burlington, IA (17) 15. 70, Eric Shelton, Decatur, IL (21) 16. 25, Kelly Graham, Hedrick, IA (18) 17. 78, Dillan Roth, Burlington, IA (20) 18. 11T, Dugan Thye, Burlington, IA (8) 19. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (12) 20. 28, Luke Verardi, Taylorville, IL (2) 21. 7B, Nick Guernsey, Burlington, IA (19) 22. 357, Ryan Edwards, Waverly, IL (22).