ANDERSON, Ind. — Lapped traffic played a significant role in Bobby Santos III second victory in the Tony Elliott Classic at Anderson Speedway.
Santos had a fast car throughout Saturday’s running of the yourBigPlans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour event and posted the second fastest time during qualifying to Tyler Roahrig.
The inversion put Dakoda Armstrong on the front row for the 11th running of the Elliott Classic with point leader Kody Swanson on the outside.
Swanson grabbed the lead at the start with Kyle O’Gara moving into the second spot after 13 circuits with a pass of Armstrong while the front runners contended with slower cars.
O’Gara claimed the point on lap 31 with a pass of Swanson in lapped traffic and just eight laps later Roahrig pulled out of contention.
The first caution flag waved on lap 46 when Tony Main made contact with the turn four wall with O’Gara maintaining the lead on the restart chased by Swanson, Armstrong, Santos and Jackson Macenko.
Santos took the lead from O’Gara on lap 77 with an inside pass on the front straight in lapped traffic.
The final caution flag waved on lap 79 when the leaders tried to put Nathan Bryd a lap down. O’Gara made contact with the outside retaining wall in turn four with Armstrong also suffering damage, ending the night for both competitors.
From there Santos went on to claim his second Tony Elliott Classic victory and first at Anderson Speedway since 2021, Swanson, Macenko, Brian Vaughn and Donnie Adams Jr. rounded out the top five.
“We had a good car tonight,” Santos said in the Hoosier Lottery Victory Lane. “The car was awesome coming off the trailer. We haven’t had a car this good at this place in a long time. When the car is right you can pass in this place.”
Santos said when the race named for Tony Elliott was special.
“I raced with Tony and got to know is family and wife,” he said. “The whole family is awesome and does a lot for racing.”
Swanson said he didn’t have the car to contend with Santos, but was pleased with the second place finish.
“The car came together, but Bobby was just a little bit better,” he said.
Macenko battled a brake problem during practice but qualified sixth and started fifth following the redraw.
“We had come brake issues in practice,” he said. “I felt we had a pretty good car and during the race at times it was three-wide and backed out.
“The team did a good job today getting us back into contention,” Macenko said.
The finish:
1) Bobby Santos III; 2) Kody Swanson; 3) Jackson Macenko; 4) Brian Vaughn; 5) Donnie Adams Jr.; 6) Matt Dimit; 7) Billy Wease; 8) Nathan Byrd; 9) Timmy Creech; 10) Travis Welpott; 11) Tony McVey; 12) Kyle O’Gara; 13) Dakoda Armstrong; 14) Rylan Gray; 15) Tony Main; 16) Tyler Roahrig; 17) Chris Jagger; 18) Race Bible; 19) Justin Harper; 20) Chris Neuschwander; 21) Olivis Shelbo
