KTJ Wins 4-Crown Pole in Dyson Debut
Rossburg, Ohio (September 27, 2019)………So far, so good. Kevin Thomas, Jr.’s debut in the Chris Dyson Racing USAC Silver Crown car went as smoothly as he could have planned for by winning the pole for Saturday night’s season finale 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv at Eldora Speedway.
Thomas drew the final pill in the draw and, thus, was the final car to make a qualifying attempt in Friday’s Fatheadz Eyewear time trial session. After a lengthy rain delay prior to practice, the Cullman, Ala. driver laid down the best lap of the night at 16.054 seconds, the fastest lap by a Silver Crown pole winner at Eldora since Mat Neely in 2006.
Thomas has yet to win a Silver Crown race in his career, finishing 2nd in last year’s event at Eldora behind winner C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) who will start 10th on Saturday. Jason McDougal will start from the outside of the front row in the same Foxco Racing car that Thomas drove in last year’s race. McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) finished 4th a year ago in Dyson’s car.
Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) qualified 3rd and will clinch an unprecedented fifth USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series title by presenting at Saturday’s main event. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) qualified 4th and will start alongside Swanson in the second row. Bacon’s Klatt Enterprises team and Swanson’s Nolen Racing team are involved in a tight series owner title race that is separated by only 15 points. A 4th place finish or better by Bacon in the Klatt car on Saturday will secure the owner’s title.
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.), a 2016 Silver Crown champ and 4-Crown Silver Crown winner, will start 6th. Six-time Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions titlist Chad Kemenah (Alvada, Ohio) will lineup 7th. Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), a 2017 4-Crown Silver Crown winner, is slotted in 11th. Last year’s pole winner Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) will start from the 24th spot in the 27-car field.
On Saturday, September 28, Silver Crown teams will again have a practice session leading into their 50-lap main event which will also feature complete shows for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions.
On Saturday, pits open at 11am Eastern, spectator gates open at noon, autograph session from 3-4pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and cars on track at 5:30pm. General admission tickets are $34 for ages 13 & up and free for ages 12 & under. Reserved tickets are $39 for ages 13 & up and $9 for ages 12 & under.
The USAC portion of the 4-Crown can be watched LIVE and on-demand on FloRacing, listened to via live audio on the USAC app as well as live timing and scoring on both the USAC app and the Race-Monitor app.
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING RESULTS: September 27, 2019 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv
STARTING LINEUP
ROW 1:
1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9, Dyson-16.054
2. Jason McDougal, 56, Foxco-16.070
ROW 2:
3. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-16.176
4. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-16.250
ROW 3:
5. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.321
6. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight/Byrd-16.366
ROW 4:
7. Chad Kemenah, 15, Hampshire/Kemenah-16.445
8. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-16.483
ROW 5:
9. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 33, Wuerdeman-16.523
10. C.J. Leary, 10, DMW-16.548
ROW 6:
11. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-16.562
12. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-16.992
ROW 7:
13. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-17.048
14. Jimmy Light, 123, Two-Three-17.074
ROW 8:
15. Steve Buckwalter, 53, Five Three-17.078
16. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-17.094
ROW 9:
17. Dallas Hewitt, 57, Hewitt-17.138
18. Austin Mundie, 47, Butler-17.143
ROW 10:
19. Eric Gordon, 78, Armstrong/Slinkard-17.192
20. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.272
ROW 11:
21. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-17.279
22. Terry Babb, 34, Morford-17.378
ROW 12:
23. John Heydenreich, 43, Felker-17.448
24. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-17.456
ROW 13:
25. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.569
26. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-18.941
ROW 14:
27. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall/Marshall-NT
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-577, 2-Justin Grant-514, 3-David Byrne-456, 4-Kyle Hamilton-381, 5-Bobby Santos-378, 6-Eric Gordon-375, 7-Chris Windom-342, 8-Mike Haggenbottom-328, 9-Kyle Robbins-320, 10-Austin Nemire-315.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: September 28, 2019 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv
LINKS
Visit USAC’s official website at www.USACracing.com.
Follow USAC on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usacnation.
Like USAC on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usacracing.
Be sure to follow USAC on Instagram at www.instagram.com/usacnation.
Subscribe to FloRacing.com – http://bit.ly/2TVlkHe to watch USAC racing live and on-demand all year long.
Sources: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kevin Thomas, Jr. will start from the pole in Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown season finale at Eldora Speedway’s 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv. (Rich Forman Photo)