WHEATLAND, Mo. — The bounty has been collected.
Johnny Fennewald led all 20 laps to capture the Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Model feature Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway. Fennewald ended Justin Wells’ feature win streak at six and claimed a $500 bounty in beating the reigning track champion.
Wells was involved in a lap-six incident and had to restart at the rear of the field. He wound up seventh — but the way Fennewald was on a rail throughout it probably would not have mattered. While the bounty money was nice, Fennewald said he wishes he could have won it by outrunning Wells.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t even care if they paid me that bounty after this week; I want to race door-to-door and outrun him,” Fennewald said of Wells.
Other feature winner on the Big Adventure RV Weekly Championship Series Midseason Championships program Presented by the Bolivar Herald-Free Press included: Jon Sheets (Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods), Mason Beck (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Tyler Wolff (Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds) and Derek Brown (guest class POWRi Super Stocks).
Wells did claim the midseason championship, along with J.C. Morton (USRA B-Mods), Ryan Middaugh (USRA Modifieds) and Jaylen Wettengel (USRA Stock Cars).
Along with the midseason title, the night was far from a total loss for Wells. He captured the late model race to begin the program, a makeup from a rainout on Show-Me 100 weekend. He claimed $2,000 for that win, his sixth without a loss at the speedway in 2024.
But Wells was unable to make it 7-for-7 in the regular main event.
“Congratulations to Johnny, he ran a good race,” Wells said.
Fennewald rolled to a 2.1-second lead over Kaeden Cornell just five laps into the race with Morton in third and the sixth-starting Wells in fourth. Just one lap later, a caution for debris bunched the field and took away Fennewald’s lead.
One lap after the restart, third-running Cornell took a wild ride when he and Wells made contact entering turn one. Cornell’s car went up and over in mid-air before landing on all four wheels. Cornell was not injured, but the car suffered major damage.
Wells, as one of the car involved in the red-flag incident, restarted 17th with 14 laps remaining.
“We just didn’t get it done tonight and I feel bad for Kaeden,” Wells said. “I don’t even think he knew I was there when we went into the corner. I’m more worried about him than anything, I don’t care about winning the race. I hate it for him.”
When action resumed, Fennewald sprinted to a two-second advantage over Morton at the halfway point. He kept building on the margin from there as Sawyer Crigler passed Morton for second on lap 14.
Fennewald remained in command as the race went without another stoppage and he finished 3.4 seconds in front of Crigler. Morton finished third, Tucker Cox was fourth and Andy Bryant took fifth.
“We’ve been struggling a little bit down here,” Fennewald said in victory lane. “New tires and new dirt, it’s not the same as what it was last year. We were just a few clicks off.
Wells was able to rally for seventh, but saw his winning streak end on Night One of the bounty hunt.
Wells started the night by winning the $2,000, 30-lap makeup feature that was rained out on Show-Me 100 weekend. Wells took the lead on lap six, built a sizable cushion and then held off Andy Bryant at the finish.
Tucker Cox outgunned fellow front-row starter Wells on the start and led the reigning champ through the first four laps, when the event’s first caution flew. Two laps after the restart, Wells roared by Cox on the inside of turn four.
Wells sailed from there to a two-second lead by lap 15, when he encountered lapped traffic for the first time. Behind him, Bryant got around Cox for second at the halfway mark.
With the action remaining green to the finish, Wells gradually kept lengthening his lead as he used the high groove. Bryant mounted a late charge after moving to the low line, but Wells was able to hang on by four-tenths of a second for his sixth feature win in six tries at the speedway in 2024.
Fennewald was 2.6 seconds behind to grab third with Tyler Kuykendall fourth and Cox fifth.
Feature Finish (20 Laps)
1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 2. 11-Sawyer Crigler[7]; 3. 72-JC Morton[3]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[5]; 5. 49B-Andy Bryant[4]; 6. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[11]; 7. 98-Justin Wells[6]; 8. 5-Tommy Cordray[8]; 9. 20-Alan Westling[24]; 10. 42-Kris Jackson[15]; 11. 13-Shawn Whitman[13]; 12. 13B-Brandon Baldridge[18]; 13. 3-Richard Kimberling[12]; 14. 21P-Darren Phillips[10]; 15. X15-Bobby Ruff II[17]; 16. 23-Chad Walter[19]; 17. 7J-Jake Morris[14]; 18. (DNF) 50-Kaeden Cornell[2]; 19. (DNF) 15K-Chris Kitch[20]; 20. (DNF) 28-Jim Greenway[25]; 21. (DNF) 12J-Justin Russell[16]; 22. (DNF) 1A-Bryon Allison[9]; 23. (DNS) 99-Larry Jones; 24. (DNS) 60-Cody Nivens; 25. (DNS) 88-Jimmy Dowell