Tony Bruce, Jr. Takes Winter Nationals Preliminary Checkers

Winning the preliminary night of the 2014 Devil's Bowl Spring Nationals, Tony Bruce, Jr. added the preliminary night of the 2014 Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals to his list of victories at the Mesquite, Texas oval, bringing his win count to three with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real at the Devil's Bowl Speedway.

"First let me start off by saying my thoughts and prayers go out to Jason [Johnson]," said Bruce after scoring his third win of the season. "No one ever wants to win a race like that; we had a second place car that ended up getting a win to his unfortunate situation and like I said, my thoughts and prayers go out to him. I hope nothing's serious and he's out here tomorrow."

"We're happy to have a win. I mean, anytime you can get a win on this thing, it's tough to do and so I've got to thank everybody that's a part of this crew."

Giving chase to Jason Johnson from the start, Bruce took over the top spot on Lap 21 as the red flag flew for Johnson who saw his night end with a broken driveline in the MVT No. 41. Removed by Paramedics, Johnson did complain of pain in his legs but was not transported. No updates have been given as to his condition at this time.

Dusty Zomer raced from seventh to second. Capitalizing on the Lap 21 restart, Zomer shot under Matt Covington for the runner up spot.

"I pulled by wing back a little bit there. You have to run top four to get locked in here, so you're in a security blanket but we're here to make some money and do what we have to do, but the car stuck. It did push just a little on me, so I did check with Matt [Covington] to make sure I didn't do him dirty - First time back in 10 years, and I'm happy to be back."

Holding off Aaron Reutzel in the closing laps, Matt Covington recorded his fifth podium finish of the season, "The last national race we had at Wheatland, I had a hard time. Just some bad luck and didn't do the best job I could do but man, I love being here at the Devil's Bowl. This is my favorite track and had a lot of fun out there. Had fun racing with Tony and Dusty, he just caught me sleeping there in turn-two."

Aaron Reutzel earned the final transfer into Saturday's championship event for his eighth top five finish of the season. Brad Loyet came from ninth to complete the top five, putting 77 points between himself and Jeff Swindell who shot from fifth to second in tour standings.

Swindell from eleventh grabbed sixth with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. earning the KSE Hard Charger Award with an impressive driver from twenty-second to seventh after a crash in his Heat Race forced the No. 15h into the night's second B-Feature. Sam is now 80 points from the lead in third.

Equally impressive was Johnny Herrera's run from twenty-third to eight. Forced to take a provisional into the night's A-Feature, Herrera now sits fourth only 81 points back from Loyet. Jack Dover crossed ninth with Wayne Johnson coming from twentieth to complete the top-ten.

Bringing 47 drivers to the Devil's Bowl, six Heat Races went to Kris Miller, J.J. Simmons, Brad Loyet, Aaron Reutzel, Jeff Swindell, and Jason Johnson. Making the redraw, Miller was unable to continue as the engine expired on the No. 33 just after taking the checkered flag.

Danny Jennings and Brandon Long each won B-Features. Along with Herrera, Seth Bergman also took a provisional into the A-Feature but was unable to finish due to engine problems.

Paired with the Smiley's Racing Products Lone Star Region, high points went to Kevin Ramey, followed by Michael Lang, Patrick Stasa, Danny Jennings, and Martin Edwards.

The 41st annual Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals continues on Saturday, October 18 with races getting underway at 8:00 P.M. (CT).

For continued updates on the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.