LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — Luck was in Brady Bacon’s corner Saturday night as he won the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series season finale at Lawrenceburg Speedway and collected his third series championship.
Bacon finished second to clinch the championship behind Tyler Courtney in the 30-lap season finale, but Courtney’s car was 15 pounds light during post-race inspection and Bacon inherited the $10,000 feature victory.
“I saw (Courtney) having some issues at the scales when we weighed, so I figured they were probably quite a ways off,” Bacon recalled. “It takes away a little bit of it, but it pays the same, so we’ll take it. Obviously, we’re very happy to win the championship, first and foremost, but winning the race is icing on the cake. I’ve only won one other USAC race here and it’s the home of the Hoffmans, kind of a local track for them. So, it makes it even more special.”
Bacon, who previously won USAC Sprint titles with Hoffman Auto Racing / Dynamics, Inc. in 2014 and ’16, brought home the Ohio-based team’s 12th USAC sprint car entrant title Saturday night.
But it was certainly not how Bacon could’ve drawn it up after a furious hard-fought battle down the stretch with Courtney which resulted in Bacon’s second victory at Lawrenceburg.
A 30-point lead was the margin Bacon began the night with over Chris Windom while Chase Stockon stood 40 points back in third.
Bacon had been in this position before as the winner of two previous titles, but he admitted the nerves were still in effect when it came down to crunch time.
“It’s almost more nerve wracking coming into a race having to just not mess up than it is to have to meet a certain bar,” Bacon explained. “Once we got through the heat races and stuff, the nerves kind of went away. Once we got the lead, it was just about trying to win the race. I felt like I kind of gave it away there. But obviously, we were able to get it back after the race, unfortunately for (Courtney).”
Bacon grabbed the early advantage on the start from his outside front row starting position, gliding around Windom to lead the opening 13 laps, and it quickly became evident that this wasn’t going to be a cruise-around effort for Bacon who, with a finish of 13th or better, would clinch the title regardless of whatever else transpired.
“You don’t want to do anything too stupid, but you’re here to race and here to win,” Bacon adamantly stated. “I might take a little bit less of a chance, but when you can smell the win, it’s hard not to go for it.”
By the 13th lap, Bacon had built his lead up to three-quarters of a straightaway around the three-eighths-mile, high-banked dirt oval, and was working traffic 2.2 seconds ahead of Windom who was clinging to second and withstanding the challenges of Courtney for the runner-up spot.
A yellow on that 13th lap for the stopped car of 21st running Logan Seavey in turn four brought out the first caution period, which bunched up the lead pack, taking the lappers out of the equation for the time being.
A one-lap sprint proceeded on the following circuit which Courtney utilized to slide by Windom for second on the bottom of turn four, before clearing him completely for the position in turn two.
With the 13th lap complete, 17th running Mario Clouser came to a halt atop turn three to force another yellow, which closed up Courtney on the tail of Bacon for the restart. Courtney didn’t take long to get rolling and powered under Bacon at the exit of turn four on lap 14, pointing the wheels up to the sky at the flag stand in the process.
Shortly thereafter, Courtney’s car began to billow smoke, draining water from the radiator lap-after-lap, but showing no ill effects as far as speed. Bacon managed to tighten up the gap on Courtney, however, and with eight to go, Courtney went full sail into turn one, getting out of shape and sideways on entry, a misstep which Bacon used to reclaim the lead.
Two laps later, Courtney had regathered it to track down and drape himself over Bacon’s machine for the lead. Using the momentum up top, while Bacon rode the low line, Courtney ripped by Bacon around the outside of turn four to take over the lead.
After the victory lane photos were taken and the celebration carried on into the pits, Courtney’s car was brought to the scales for the standard post-race technical inspection and weighed 1,360 pounds, which is 15 pounds under the minimum requirement of 1,375. By rule, Courtney was repositioned to 22nd place and the balance of the field was bumped up one position.
Thus, Bacon earned his 35th USAC sprint car victory. Kevin Thomas Jr. earned a season-best second-place result with Windom third, C.J. Leary fourth and Robert Ballou fifth after starting 19th.
To see full results, turn to the next page.