LAS VEGAS – Once again, no one could touch Chris Clyne at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Las Vegas native fought off a hard-charging Jim Wulfenstein by .719 of a second on Saturday night to claim his fifth NASCAR Super Late Models win of the season and seventh triumph in the last nine races at the short track. Clyne added to his points lead in the division as he chases his first track title, earning his 18th career victory at The Bullring.
“This is a lot of fun, and I’d like to thank everyone for coming out tonight,” Clyne said. “I’ve got a great team, and they’re literally at the shop every night after they work their eight-hour jobs. I couldn’t do it without Thompson Motorsports and Foxy Construction, and those guys have been believing in me since I was a little kid racing Legend cars.
“We’ve got to keep short track racing going, because this is the best.”
Sam Jacks also stayed red-hot, running his NASCAR Super Stocks winning streak to seven races. He overcame formidable efforts by Camden Larsen and Ethan DeGuevara to claim his 22nd career Bullring win and eighth triumph in the last nine races.
“The car’s been phenomenal, and I can’t say enough about it,” Jacks said. “Every weekend, it’s been right there where we need it to be. It’s been really fun, that’s all I can say.”
Five-time track champion Doug Hamm survived a crash-plagued NASCAR 602 Modifieds feature to win his 54th career race at the three-eighths-mile paved oval, breaking a tie with Justin Johnson for fourth place on the all-time wins list. Hamm edged Brian Reed by .379 of a second in a race that featured eight Bullring track champions.
“I’d like to dedicate this win to my mom, who comes to every race and sits out in the Stockyard with my family,” Hamm said. “Everything on this car was borrowed but somehow (Chris Bray) figures out a way to get me back on the race track. I was just hoping they’d stop wrecking, because I’m and old guy and it takes me a while to get going.”
NASCAR Bombers points leader Vinny Raucci Jr. won for the third time in four races, finishing more than seven seconds ahead of runner-up Jacob Quartaro. It was the 16th Bullring win of the 20-year-old’s career.
“Everyone back in the shop put in a lot of hours on this car during the break, and it helped a lot,” Raucci Jr. said. “I couldn’t ask for a better car for tonight. I’m just sticking to the game plan, hitting my marks and working on the car to make it faster. Hopefully, it pays off in the end.”
USLCI Legends points leader Jaron Giannini won his second consecutive race after surviving some early race contact. He finished 2.393 seconds clear of John Hans for the checkered flag in the 18-car field and was all smiles in Victory Lane.
“It was a little rough at the beginning,” Giannini said. “I got whacked on my left side, and it screwed the car up a little, but we got through it.”
Jaden Walbridge picked up his second Jr. Late Models victory of the season and increased his divisional points lead over R.J. Smotherman – who finished 14 laps down after having engine problems – in the process.
“The car was just perfect,” Walbridge said. “It’s too bad that (Smotherman) blew up, and that’s not the way I wanted to do it. I think we had him covered there though, and it was a good race.”
John Petsco won the 15-lap Skid Plate Cars feature, a race where fans voted for drivers to go clockwise instead of the customary counter-clockwise pattern. Petsco passed Larry Dowell with five laps remaining to earn his second career win in the division.
In USLCI Bandolero action, Hank Hall ran his winning streak to four races in the Bandits class, while Haylee Morris earned her first career Bullring win by taking the 12-lap Outlaws race by .133 of a second over points leader Chloe Lynch. On Friday night, Doug Germano got his first Thunder Cars victory of the year after out-dueling three-time track champion Chris Bosley.