DUQUOIN, Ill. – Joe B. Miller charged past Brady Bacon early, then held off a determined Chad Elliott late to capture the micro sprint portion of Saturday’s Shamrock Classic inside the Southern Illinois Center.
Miller used a textbook slide job on a lap-six restart to wrest the lead from Bacon, who started on the pole, and never looked back after that despite a spate of cautions through the 30-lap distance.
The final yellow flag, which waved with five laps left for a spin by Michael Brummitt, eliminated the concern of traffic for Miller and allowed the Millersville, Mo., native to cruise to victory after that.
“Man, the cautions came out exactly when we needed them to,” Miller said in victory lane. “I didn’t want to get back into traffic there at the end, and we were just getting there when the yellow came out. This car was bad fast, though. I can’t thank my crew enough for getting us here tonight.”
Elliott threw everything he had at Miller, including a bump in turns three and four on the final lap, but couldn’t make the winning pass and had to settle for second.
“I was doing everything I could there at the end,” said Elliott. “The track was just starting to take rubber and it looked like Joe B. was starting to slow up there a bit in the final laps. We got close there on that last lap, I just didn’t have quite enough to get him. It’s still a solid night for us, overall.”
Emerson Axsom finished third, followed by Matt Carr and James Morris.
After spinning from second to avoid a stopped Ayrton Gennetten and having to go to the rear of the field, Bacon rallied back to 11th at the checkered flag.
The finish:
Joe B. Miller, Chad Elliott, Emerson Axsom, Matt Carr, James Morris, Cole Bodine, Daison Pursley, Jessee Holt, Jake Cheatham, Nate McMillin, Brady Bacon, BJ Gatewood, Kaylee Bryson, Michael Brummitt, Andy Bishop, Scott Sawyer, Brad Thompson, Joe Faloon, Ayrton Gennetten, Zach Hubbard.