Tony Stewart Scores $12,000 Thursday Night Thunder Victory with Last Corner Pass at Virginia Motor Speedway, Daniel Parker Takes Sri Dirt Cup Challenge Ump Modified Win

Just as then-leader Justin Peck was about to secure a second consecutive FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory, disaster struck, in the form of a flat right rear tire. A mere 100 yards from Virginia Motor Speedway’s Flagstad, forcing him to surrender the point to three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart.

The victory, Stewart’s first with “America’s Series” in 2021 and his first at the Virginia speedplant, earned the Columbus, Indiana-native a $12,000 payday; his first Series triumph since his $26,000 Rayce Rudeen Foundation Race score at 34 Raceway in 2019.

“We weren’t the fastest car by any means. We figured out early that it would be a tricky surface and ultimately a challenge for tires. I just tried to run my car straighter than those guys ahead of me,” commented Tony Stewart in WhosYourDriver.org Victory Lane.

Stewart added, “We could see that (Justin Peck’s) tire was getting pretty worn. I could see the cords, so I told myself if he can run the car that hard and make it work, good for him. Being second while trying to save tires was going to be a good night for us.”

Stewart, who started eighth, took advantage of Peck’s misfortune by being in the right place at the right time, but the pilot of the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 14 sprint car also survived a 30-lap battle with tire wear. Adding to the last lap drama, All Star officials conducted the race’s final lap in green-checkered fashion as a caution on the final circuit forced the field to restack for a final lunge toward the finish.

Kerry Madsen, who started 12th, followed Stewart by Peck to secure the runner-up spot just before the flag stand. Peck ultimately limped across the line to finish third, his blown tire still intact, followed by Chase Dietz and Paul McMahan, who each advanced 12 positions over the 30-lap contest.

Heat race winners were Tony Stewart, Bill Balog, and Justin Peck. B-Main winner was CJ Leary, and Cory Eliason won the dash. Danny Dietrich was the Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier with a lap of 15.299 seconds.

In other action, Daniel Parker of Raeford, NC, took the lead from Motoaca, VA’s Chris Arnold on Lap 26 of the 40-lap feature to go on and take the $3000 win.

Chris Arnold and defending track Champion Hunter McClendon led the field to green, with Arnold taking the point as he two raced out of turn 4. As Arnold pulled away from the battle for second between McClendon, Jimmy Jesmer, Daniel Parker, Austin Holcombe, and Tyler Bare heated up.

Parker secured second by lap 18 and set out to reel in Arnold. On lap 23, Parker got inside Arnold in turn 2, and the two raced side by side until Parker took the spot for good on lap 26. A late caution on lap 31 tightened the field on Parker’s bumper. Arnold made one last charge on the restart by getting under him in turn four only to see Parker sweep the outside to maintain the lead and go on to the win.

Rounding out the top five were Chris Arnold, Hunter McClendon, Austin Holcombe, and Jimmy Jesmer.

The speedway will return to racing Saturday, April 24, to host week 2 of Dirt Series Championship racing. The night will feature the Victory Lap Pro Late Model, Truckin Thunder Sportsman, Budweiser Modified, and Collision One Limited Stock car divisions in action.

Competitor gates for Thursday, April 24, open at 3 PM with spectator gates opening at 5 PM. On track, activities will begin at 6:30 PM with hot laps.

Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway is a ½ mile dirt oval track located on U.S. Route 17, eight miles north of Saluda, VA, and 25 miles south of Tappahannock, VA in Jamaica, VA. The speedway is just a short drive from Richmond, Fredericksburg, Southern Maryland, and the Hampton Roads area.

Race fans can go to www.vamotorspeedway.com to view the complete schedule Virginia Motor Speedway’s 2021 season, find detailed event information, get the latest news, and get entire ticket and camping information. Also, fans can get social with Virginia Motor Speedway by following @vamotorspeedway on Twitter, clicking “Like” at www.facebook.com/VaMotorSpeedway , and on www.youtube.com/VaMotorSpeedway.

 

RACE RESULTS FOR THURSDAY NIGHT THUNDER  APRIL 15, 2021:

 

ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS

A Feature (30 Laps) – 1. 14-Tony Stewart[8]; 2. 24-Kerry Madsen[12]; 3. 13-Justin Peck[6]; 4. 39-Chase Dietz[16]; 5. 23-Paul McMahan[17]; 6. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[21]; 7. 4-Cap Henry[18]; 8. 10-Zeb Wise[7]; 9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[9]; 10. 5-Brent Marks[13]; 11. 07-Lucas Wolfe[10]; 12. 1X-Chad Trout[14]; 13. 35-Tyler Esh[24]; 14. (DNF) 35H-Zach Hampton[15]; 15. (DNF) 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[11]; 16. (DNF) 24R-Rico Abreu[22]; 17. (DNF) 11-Ian Madsen[2]; 18. (DNF) 55V-CJ Leary[19]; 19. (DNF) 26-Cory Eliason[1]; 20. (DNF) 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 21. (DNF) 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 22. (DNF) 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 23. (DNF) 15B-Lynton Jeffrey[20]; 24. (DNF) 91F-Anthony Fiore[23]

B Feature (10 Laps) – 1. 55V-CJ Leary[1]; 2. 15B-Lynton Jeffrey[2]; 3. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[3]; 4. 24R-Rico Abreu[4]; 5. 91F-Anthony Fiore[5]; 6. 35-Tyler Esh[9]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael[8]; 8. 95-Hunter Mackison[7]; 9. 1080-Jordan Mackison[6]

Dash (6 Laps) – 1. 26-Cory Eliason[1]; 2. 11-Ian Madsen[2]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[3]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 6. 13-Justin Peck[6]; 7. 10-Zeb Wise[7]; 8. 14-Tony Stewart[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps) – 1. 14-Tony Stewart[1]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[5]; 5. 35H-Zach Hampton[6]; 6. 4-Cap Henry[9]; 7. 55V-CJ Leary[2]; 8. 15B-Lynton Jeffrey[7]; 9. 35-Tyler Esh[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps) – 1. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason[4]; 3. 07-Lucas Wolfe[1]; 4. 10-Zeb Wise[3]; 5. 1X-Chad Trout[5]; 6. 23-Paul McMahan[6]; 7. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[8]; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison[9]; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps) – 1. 13-Justin Peck[1]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 3. 11-Ian Madsen[4]; 4. 24-Kerry Madsen[6]; 5. 5-Brent Marks[3]; 6. 39-Chase Dietz[5]; 7. 24R-Rico Abreu[9]; 8. 91F-Anthony Fiore[8]; 9. 8M-TJ Michael[7]

DIXIE Vodka Fast Qualifier – Danny Dietrich, 15.299 seconds

 

SRI DIRT CUP CHALLENGE UMP MODIFIEDS

WhosYourDriver.org A Feature (40 Laps) – 1. 10-Daniel Parker[3]; 2. 99W-Chris Arnold[1]; 3. 33-Hunter McClendon[2]; 4. 8A-Austin Holcombe[4]; 5. 747-Jimmy Jesmer[5]; 6. 00-Tyler Bare[6]; 7. 7D-TJ DeHaven[13]; 8. 48-Lance Grady[12]; 9. 90-Ray Kable[11]; 10. 1ST-Bret Hamilton[9]; 11. 40-Brent Bordeaux[15]; 12. 94-Paul Washington[16]; 13. 55-Jason Sage[14]; 14. 75-Kelly Barricks[20]; 15. 43-Josh Harris[10]; 16. 11-Chase Butler[7]; 17. 21J-Curtis Mason[19]; 18. 51-Joey Polevoy[8]; 19. 7+7-Jeff Solinger[17]; 20. 14-Samuel Lamborgini[18]; 21. 45-Will Long[21]

Heat 1 (10 Laps) – 1. 99W-Chris Arnold[1]; 2. 8A-Austin Holcombe[2]; 3. 11-Chase Butler[3]; 4. 43-Josh Harris[5]; 5. 7D-TJ DeHaven[4]; 6. 94-Paul Washington[7]; 7. 21J-Curtis Mason[6]

Heat 2 (10 Laps) – 1. 33-Hunter McClendon[1]; 2. 747-Jimmy Jesmer[2]; 3. 51-Joey Polevoy[3]; 4. 90-Ray Kable[4]; 5. 55-Jason Sage[7]; 6. 7+7-Jeff Solinger[5]; 7. 75-Kelly Barricks[6]

Heat 3 (10 Laps) – 1. 10-Daniel Parker[1]; 2. 00-Tyler Bare[2]; 3. 1ST-Bret Hamilton[3]; 4. 48-Lance Grady[4]; 5. 40-Brent Bordeaux[5]; 6. 14-Samuel Lamborgini[7]; 7. (DNS) 45-Will Long

Virginia is for Racing Lovers Fast Qualifier – Chris Arnold, 19.311 seconds

VA Motor Speedway PR