ANDERSON, Ind. — Veteran driver Kody Swanson led all 100 laps to capture the opening event for the yourBigplan.com 500 Sprint Car Tour.
Defending race winner Dakoda Armstrong set fast time during qualifying Saturday at Anderson Speedway besting Tyler Roahrig by one hundreth of a second with Swanson, Derek Bischak and Colton Bettis rounding out the top five.
The redraw put Swanson and Armstrong on the front row for the start with Swanson claiming the point.
Armstrong’s night ended on lap 4 when he lost the right front tire entering turn three and made contact with the outside retaining wall.
The caution flag would wave twice more before lap 15 for incidents involving Rylan Gray and Colin Grissom.
During the long field run that followed Swanson pulled away from the field with Bischak holding down the second spot until lap 52 when Roahrig got inside entering turn three.
Bischak lost three more positions by lap 70 to Bettis, Bobby Santos III and Jackson Macenko.
Swanson had built up a 7-second lead over Roahrig when the caution flag waved on lap 77 when Kyle O’Gara spun on the back straight while trying to keep from being lapped.
On the restart Swanson again pulled away from Roahrig and had to maintain the lead after the final caution flag waved on lap 89.
Swanson went on to win by 2.4 seconds over Roahrig with Bettis, Santos and Macenko rounding out the top five.
It was a race of attrition with only nine of the 23 starters running at the finish.
“My crew gave me a great car,” Swanson said. “I’m thankful I have the opportunity to run for the 500 Tour championship.
“It was a good tune-up for the Little 500,” he said. “I was a little concerned about lapped traffic and I’m sorry what happened with Kyle (O’Gara).
Swanson said of course he didn’t want to see the caution flags because the restarts can be unpredictable.
Roahrig said he didn’t think he had a car to challenge for the win after working his way from the fifth starting spot.
“I think we would have finished second either way, even if we started in the front,” he said. “Kody was really fast and Dakoda would have been right up there too.”
Bettis said his car was good on the longer runs, but following an early caution the handling went away and the car got free.
“I knew if I made a mistake that I was going to get passed for third in a good battle (Santos and Macenko),” he said. “We learned some things about the car and get ready for the Little 500.”
The finish:
1) Kody Swanson; 2) Tyler Roahrig; 3) Colton Bettis; 4) Bobby Santos III; 5) Jackson Macenko; 6) Derek Bischak; 7) Travis Welpott; 8) Brady Allum; 9) Chris Schmelzle; 10) Donnie Adams Jr.; 11) Kyle O’Gara; 12) Brian Vauhghn; 13) Timmy Creech; 14) Tony McVey; 15) Colin Grissom; 16) Rylan Gray; 17) Mario Clouser; 18) Olivia Shelbo; 19) Dakoda Armstrong; 20) Billy Wease; 21) Landon Butler; 22) Justin Harper; 23) Tyler Fitzpatrick.
