Faas Continues Perris Domination In Oval Nationals Opener

Nic Faas Celebrates Oval Nationals Opener Win. Photo Ed Hollowell

PERRIS, CA -RIS- “I'd rather run second tonight and win tomorrow.” said Nic Faas after his wire-to-wire victory in the first night of the 2013 Perris Oval Nationals USAC Sprint Car race. The win was Nic's fourth of the year at Perris but was special because this was a national event with all the tough guys from the midwest out to finish their season in California.

Fifty three cars took to the track with Dave Darland winning qualifying fast time at 16.126 seconds besting Michael Spencer's 16.329 and National points leader Bryan Clauson's 16.376 second runs. Darland still is within striking distance of Clauson for the season title.

After a consey race, five heat races and a 24 car semi, won by Faas' Alexander Racing teammate Damion Gardner the field had been whittled down to 26 starters with Chase Stockon on pole and Nic on the preferred outside front row spot. That was all Faas needed as he took the lead from Stockon and ran off in the early laps.

Darland and Brady Bacon fought over third until lap five when David Cardey, Austin Williams, Rip Williams and Jon Stanbrough were involved in a crash on the front straight that included flips by Austin and Cardey. That halted the race while the track was cleared. Jon Stanbrough able to continue but Cardey and both of the Williams cars were done.

The front of the field for the restart was Faas, Stockon, Bacon, Darland and Clauson. On lap six Clauson got his Tony Stewart Racing number 20 past Darland for fourth place which he held for the rest of the event to pad his points lead over Darland. The track was getting slicker and Darland appeared to be suffering for it. The front of the field would remain the same but the Darland would fall to seventh, being passed by Michael Spencer and Damion Gardner before the end.

The only thrill that the leader, Faas had came on lap 16 when he was lapping Ronnie Gardner and bumped him. “I thought I had Ronnie Gardner cleared and we got together. Something definitely was going to mess up the front of the car I though. Something was going to break on me but I held it off. (The track) started taking rubber and I knew that if I just kept in the rubber I'd be alright.” Said Faas.

The final night program includes a provision for the top six in points to be excused from qualifying. The first race is slated for six forty PM.

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USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 1, 2013 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway – 18th “Budweiser Oval Nationals” presented by All-Coast Construction

        QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips-16.126; 2. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-16.329; 3. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-16.376; 4. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.398; 5. Nic Faas, 4x, Alexander-16.518; 6. Damion Gardner, 4A, Alexander-16.555; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-16.615; 8. Ronnie Gardner, 93, Gardner-16.754; 9. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-16.773; 10. David Cardey, 92, Tredder-16.776; 11. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher/RW/TriStar-16.790; 12. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-16.796; 13. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-16.822; 14. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.828; 15. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-16.833; 16. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-16.843; 17. Danny Faria, Jr., 17v, Faria-16.843; 18. Bud Kaeding, 29, BZE-16.865; 19. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-16.866; 20. Verne Sweeney, 98, Tracy-16.869; 21. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-16.908; 22. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney/BRaT-16.995; 23. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-17.018; 24. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.034; 25. Jon Stanbrough, 73, Ford-17.138; 26. Markus Niemela, 81, Watt-17.148; 27. Jake Swanson, 14, Springstead-17.152; 28. Wes McIntyre, 21B, Duinkerken-17.152; 29. Landon Hurst, 179, Hurst-17.156; 30. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.161; 31. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-17.176; 32. Austin Stone, 29x, Coffman-17.190; 33. D.J. Johnson, 33, Johnson-17.202; 34. Charles Davis, Jr., 4G, Cook-17.222; 35. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-17.233; 36. Cody Swanson, 14J, Springstead-17.255; 37. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.259; 38. John Aden, 7A, Aden-17.309; 39. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-17.314; 40. Seth Wilson, 1x, Wilson-17.336; 41. Johnny Bluntach, 58, Bluntach-17.398; 42. Billy Blinn, 26, Blinn-17.432; 43. David Bezio, 37x, Bezio-17.432; 44. Chris Gansen, 4c, Gansen-17.533; 45. Trent Williams, 52, Williams-17.559; 46. Johnathon Henry, 39, Cal-Sun-17.618; 47. Kenny Perkins, 0, Perkins-17.626; 48. Andrew Reinbold, 19, Underwood-17.900; 49. Bruce St. James, 7K, St. James-17.999; 50. Greg Alexander, 72, Tyler-NT; 51. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-NT; 52. Cory Kruseman, 7, Priestley-NT; 53. Shon Deskins, 20s, SDR-NT. (NOTE: J.J. Ercse also in car #14)

        C MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Bezio, 2. Blinn, 3. Bluntach, 4. T.Williams, 5. Perkins, 6. Henry, 7. Alexander, 8. Reinbold, 9. St. James, 10. Gansen. 2:58.17

        FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Thomas, 3. Darland, 4. Hines, 5. D.Gardner, 6. Roa, 7. Niemela, 8. C.Swanson. 2:53.38

        SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Spencer, 3. Grant, 4. Faria, 5. Courtney, 6. Bender, 7. Stone, 8. J.Swanson. 2:53.89

        THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Mitchell, 3. Kaeding, 4. Drake, 5. R.Gardner, 6. Aden, 7. McIntyre, 8. D.J. Johnson. 2:56.04

        FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Bacon, 3. Leary, 4. Bernal, 5. Hurst, 6. Davis, 7. C.Williams, 8. R.J. Johnson. 2:57.36

        FIFTH HEAT: (12 laps) 1. Faas, 2. R.Williams, 3. Sweeney, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Cardey, 6. Wilson, 7. A.Williams, 8. J.Vander Weerd. 2:54.78

        SEMI: (12 laps) 1. D.Gardner, 2. A.Williams, 3. Roa, 4. Cardey, 5. R.Gardner, 6. R.J. Johnson, 7. C.Williams, 8. J.Swanson, 9. Hurst, 10. Davis, 11. Bezio, 12. Courtney, 13. McIntyre, 14. J.Vander Weerd, 15. D.J. Johnson, 16. T.Williams, 17. Wilson, 18. Stone, 19. Niemela, 20. Bender, 21. C.Swanson, 22. Blinn, 23. Bluntach, 24. Aden. NT

        FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Nic Faas, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Mike Spencer, 6. Damion Gardner, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Matt Mitchell, 9. Tracy Hines, 10. Justin Grant, 11. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 12. Bud Kaeding, 13. Jon Stanbrough, 14. C.J. Leary, 15. Cody Williams, 16. Danny Faria, Jr., 17. R.J. Johnson, 18. Brody Roa, 19. Chris Windom, 20. Nick Drake, 21. Verne Sweeney, 22. Ronnie Gardner, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Austin Williams, 25. David Cardey, 26. Rip Williams. NT
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**Niemela flipped during the semi. A.Williams & Cardey flipped on lap 5 of the Feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Faas.

NEW USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Clauson-1,891; 2-Darland-1,825; 3-Bacon-1,722; 4-Stockon-1,647; 5-Thomas-1,612; 6-Hines-1,505; 7-Ballou-1,434; 8-Windom-1,178; 9-Courtney-1,028; 10-Hunter Schuerenberg-1,000.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-D.Gardner-1,258, 2-Faas-1,138, 3-Spencer-1,113, 4-Mitchell-849, 5-Kaeding-788, 6-A.Williams-767, 7-C.Williams-757, 8-Roa-678, 9-Bernal-556, 10-R.Williams-490.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 2 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway – 18th “Budweiser Oval Nationals” presented by All-Coast Construction

Results Courtesy USAC