MALTA, N.Y. — Jessey Mueller notched his second DIRTcar big-block modified triumph of the season Friday night at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
He was joined in celebration by Ronnie Johnson, who led the DIRTcar 358 modified finale flag to flag for his first score of the season.
Mueller took the green from inside the third row but immediately worked his way to the high side and began picking off cars one by one. By lap eight he stood second after throwing a wicked slider on Kolby Schroeder. By that point, polesitter Robert Bublak had built up a small lead but it soon vanished and on lap 13, Mueller dove to the low side in turns three and four and hit the frontstretch with a lead he would hold easily.
Just as he got to the back markers, a yellow flew for a car stalled at the pit gate on lap 16, putting Mueller back out in the open. From there, the 35-lapper ran non-stop to the checkers with Mueller steadily pulling way from Schroeder and the rest of the field.
Behind the leaders, Peter Britten was making a crowd-pleasing charge from 16th on the grid, finally hitting the top five in the mid-20s. But that was as far as he got and at the checkers, it was Matt DeLorenzo behind Mueller and Schroeder with Demetrious Drellos fourth. Britten was fifth, trailed by David Schilling, Bublak, 20th-starting Jack Lehner, Justin Stone and Mike Mahaney.
“I had a good starting spot and the track was awesome, so it worked out for us,” declared Mueller. “This one is for Dale Planck, who helped us out a lot, and my baby girl, who is at her first race tonight.”
Planck, a longtime modified star and a shock specialist and driving coach since his retirement, passed away recently after suffering an apparent heart attack on his way home from a race at the Brewerton Speedway.
Ronnie Johnson, who has been having a miserable campaign with his big block, started outside the front row of the 358 finale and led flag to flag to give himself and his crew a notable boost.
Third-starting Walt Hammond Jr. got even with the Albany-Saratoga regular once but that was as close to the lead as he got. A single yellow for a stalled car slowed Johnson’s run to victory lane but only briefly, as he jumped out to a small lead on the restart, then padded it considerably when he shot under two lapped cars racing each other side by side while Hammond was held up by the errant duo.
Hammond, in turn, had to fight off challenger Marc Johnson, up from seventh. In the end, they finished that way with DeLorenzo fourth ahead of Walter J. Hammond, Mahaney and Schilling.
Tim Hartman Jr. garnered a $1,500 win in the wild and wooly Sportsman finale, leading Pat Jones and Mike Benson to the stripe. In the equally crash-marred Pro Stock feature, Brandon Emigh notched his fifth win of the season by a few feet over Pete Stefanski, who travels the width of New York from the Buffalo area to compete at Albany-Saratoga.