This time for the restart Nason chose the outside with DeAngelis on the inside. Nason retained his lead with Jacob Goede, Ryan Farrell, DeAngelis and Casey Johnson making up the top five.
On lap 74 Goede looked to the inside of Nason but was unable to make the pass. Four laps later Goede and Nason made contact coming out of turn one causing Nason’s car to spin and bringing out the caution flag. For their roles in the incident, both Goede and Nason would go to the tail end of the lead lap cars.
For the restart Casey Johnson started on the inside of DeAngelis with Farrell in third Andrew Morrissey in fourth and Jason Weinkauf in fifth. DeAngelis was able to jumpe back out in front before the caution flag came out for a spin on lap 93.
This caution flag resulted in nearly everyone coming into the pits their final stops as the drivers were preparing for the final 100 laps.
Once again DeAngelis chose the outside for the restart with Johnson on the inside followed by Morrissey and Farrell in the second row. This time Johnson would gain the advantage and take the point. DeAngelis was able to wrestle back the lead from Johnson on lap 113 while Nason, Goede, and Morrissey were third through fifth. DeAngelis appeared to be getting stronger with each lap as he settled in out front.
A spin in turn two on lap 129 brought out the caution and took away some of the advantage DeAngelis had built over Johnson and the rest of the field.
When the green flag waved again there would be 10 cars still on the lead lap. DeAngelis jumped back out to the lead followed by Johnson and Nason. However, the man on the move was Pollard who was up to challenge both Johnson and Nason. Nason would take second from Johnson with Pollard moving up to third and then overtaking Nason for second on lap 143.
Despite being in the earlier pile up in turn three, Bickle worked his way up to fourth ahead of Johnson before the caution flag came out on lap 147 when the car of Baker experienced mechanical issues.
The front row coming to the green would be Pollard on the inside with DeAngelis on the outside. DeAngelis took the lead back for a lap before Pollard motored by to take over the top spot on lap 159. Bickle was moving up fast as he took the second spot and began to chase down the leader.
Pollard and Bickle separated themselves from the rest of the field while Nason, Nick Murgic and Johnson were battling for third.
With 25 laps to go Pollard’s lead was 1.4 seconds over Bickle. With 10 laps to go Pollard had increased his lead to more than two seconds. Despite Bickle’s best efforts, he wouldn’t be able to catch Pollard who cruised to victory lane. Nason, Johnson and Murgic rounded out the top five.
“This means a lot,” said Pollard. “I’ve been wanting to win up here and I have a lot of respect for these guys in the Midwest Tour. I have a lot of respect for the great fans up here too. These are hard-working racers and you don’t find that too much anymore so that’s why I like coming up here to race.
“We made a change after qualifying and it was game on,” added Pollard. “We decided to take our tires late and it paid off.”
“I wanted to win this race for Joe,” said Bickle. “We raced together for 100 laps here back in 1985 with him right on my bumper. I’m probably the only one who raced with Joe who’s racing here today. I just want everyone to know I’m back.”
The finish:
Bubba Pollard, Rich Bickle Jr., Austin Nason, Casey Johnson, Nick Murgic, John DeAngelis Jr., Billy Mohn, Dean LaPointe, Paul Shafer Jr., Justin Mondiek, Jason Weinkauf, Ryan Farrell, Brandon Hill, John Beale, Ricky Baker, Bobby Kendall, Andrew Morrissey, Jacob Goede, Dale Nottestad, Rick Corso, Ty Majeski, Gabe Sommers, Carson Kvapil, Dan Fredrickson, Jeff Van Oudenhoven, Chris Weinkauf, Joe Vinachi.