BEDFORD, Pa. – Max Blair shelved his primary Viper Motorsports machine at the conclusion of Saturday’s Keystone Cup dash at Bedford Speedway and ended up cashing in on the largest payday of his seven-year super late model career.
An unusual combination of events gave Blair the opportunity to bank the $25,000 prize with a backup car from the sixth-starting spot at Pennsylvania’s oldest active dirt track.
It was an eight-second victory over polesitter Jeff Rine that left no doubt within the course of action but, at the same time, left many people confused.
First, the two-day show didn’t enact an impound rule, meaning teams could change cars from Friday to Saturday without penalty.
Friday’s six-car, six-lap dash ran Saturday instead because opening night was cut short due to weather, and that created the loophole Blair inadvertently took advantage of. Usually, changing cars during the race program results in a penalty of starting the following event at the rear.
Rules aside, there was little dispute over the fastest car throughout the 60-lap main event.
“It’s really awesome to get [Viper Motorsports] a big one,” said Blair, who picked up his 20th win of the year. “Hopefully it’s the first of many. It’s been a good year. We aren’t done yet. We still have another three to four weekends left. Hopefully we can carry some momentum here and get some good finishes to finish her off.”
Blair and his team opted for the backup car when a mud clot dislodged the water pump belt during the dash. When Blair staged for the main event, he was under the impression he’d start at the rear of the field.
But track officials told Blair he could keep his position. When the 2022 World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series competitor reached victory lane, he was briefed on the situation.
“The dash was supposed to be last night, and the rules are, if you change cars between the two days, you still get to maintain your starting spot,” Blair said. “The reason for that is if you aren’t staying at the race track and you drove home, but you brought a different car back the next day and it looked identical, nobody would have any idea you did that.
“If it’s a two-day show, there’s no impound rule,” Blair added. “You’re allowed to change cars between the two days. That was the explanation I got in victory lane.”
“It’s an unsanctioned race. It’s in the rules. It is what it is,” Rine, the runner-up finisher, said.
Rine started from the pole when he bested Mason Zeigler in the dash. The Bedford champion did what he needed to do early on, taking an eight-car lead 10 laps into the running.
Blair, meanwhile, already began his march forward when he slid into second on lap 11.
On lap 22, Blair noticed Rine slip out of the groove in turns one and two, which opened the door for the go-ahead pass.
Blair throttled underneath Rine down the backstretch and completed the race-winning move on the other end.
“We were in that lapped traffic, it was pretty tight lapped traffic, and it was really hard to get around them,” Rine said. “I overheated the tires, and it got really slimy there. Like the car got real free on me. My dad was giving me signals, and he showed me he closed on me hard.”
Five laps later, Blair built a three-second lead.
Rine did everything to recuperate, but the caution-free event that spanned just 21 minutes, 14 seconds whisked away.
“I just didn’t have enough time to get the tires cooled down once I got by the lapped cars,” Rine said. “Once I did, the car came back a little bit, but he was long gone.”
Matt Cosner rounded out the podium from the 12th-starting spot. Gregg Satterlee earned hard-charger honors with his fourth-place finish from the 21st-starting position.
Kyle Lee completed the top five, doing so from the 17th-starting spot.
Scott Bloomquist started third and finished 25th, the victim of a broken camshaft in the opening laps.