Dustin Strand in victory lane with his Dad Brian, and crew Tim and Nate after his win at River Cities.
Speedway Shots photo.
Speedway Shots photo.
Dustin Strand, driver of the No. 71 Keewatin Truck Service Millenium SRT, spent a majority of the race in the second spot, but lead the final few feet of the 25 lap event at the River Cities Speedway, winning his second consecutive series feature. The win was also his twenty-fourth with the series, tying Ricky Weiss for fourth all-time on the series wins list.
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Dustin Bluhm and Lance Schill lead the field to the drop of the green at the start of the feature, with Schill putting the No. 17 Schill Construction MB Custom up front through the first set of turns.
Tom Corcoran, in his No. T1 D&B Motors MB Custom, and Jeff Hapala, in his No. 16S City Parcel Delivery MasterSbilt, went door-to-door for the third spot as the pair of Dustin's paced the field in the opening circuits. Shortly thereafter, Dustin Strand moved past Corcoran and Hapala to move on to the podium, as he then began to chase down the lead duo with five laps complete. Strand then ducked to the bottom of the quarter-mile "Bullring" to run down Bluhm for the second spot. The first caution of the race came on the tenth lap of the race, bunching the field back up for a Delaware double-file restart. The following restart was not to be, however, as a multi-car pileup caused another caution on the front stretch on the ensuing restart. After the accident was cleaned up, the field came back to green, with Schill getting a great restart, re-building his advantage lost due to the pair of cautions. |
Dustin Strand barely beat Lance Schill back to the line in heavy lapped traffic for the victory. Speedway Shots photo.
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Tom Corcoran moved to Bluhm's inside to take the final place on the podium as Strand began to stalk Schill for the lead.
For a majority of the remainder of the race, Strand was able to pull even to Schill's inside on the entrances of turns one and three, but was unable to take the lead, as Schill powered off the corners to remain the leader.
The lead duo caught up to the end of the field in the waning laps, allowing Strand a few final opportunities to steal the victory from Schill.
The pair switched lanes with three laps remaining, as Strand began to attack the cushion, with Schill using the bottom to his advantage.
For a majority of the remainder of the race, Strand was able to pull even to Schill's inside on the entrances of turns one and three, but was unable to take the lead, as Schill powered off the corners to remain the leader.
The lead duo caught up to the end of the field in the waning laps, allowing Strand a few final opportunities to steal the victory from Schill.
The pair switched lanes with three laps remaining, as Strand began to attack the cushion, with Schill using the bottom to his advantage.
Strand was able to get the run off of turn four on the final lap, nearly slapping the front stretch wall, using lapped traffic as a pick, to steal the victory from Schill by .033 of a second.
Tom Corcoran finished third, with Brad Seng finishing fourth in the No. 12S S&S Transport MB Custom, with Dustin Bluhm completing the top five.
"Before that last caution, I thought we had a pretty good run going," Strand said postrace."Then the yellow came out, and I thought "that's just what we need." But [Lance] was doing a good job the whole race, and the lapped car kinda played into my favor coming to the checkered there. Sometimes it's better to be in the second place drivers seat than to be leading, cause you can kinda see where going. and where the lapped cars are. I knew my only prayer was to go to the top, and the car stuck. It was pretty awesome. It was tight at the line."
Bluhm, Seng, and Schill were the heat winners. 21 cars were in attendance at River Cities. NLRA action continues Saturday night at the Jamestown Speedway in Jamestown, ND, with racing action beginning at seven.
The NLRA would like to thank Tour Sponsors: Wes’ Plumbing, S & S Transport, Performance Auto, Adams Automotive and Machine, White Water Truck Wash, DayDreams Specialties, Grand Forks Subaru/Kia, Boss Signs, Storbakken & Sons Construction, Millar Engines, Gateway Cenex, Fastlane Racing Equipment, Q & Z Plumbing, Fargo Forum, On The Edge Graphics, Hugo’s Family Marketplace, EGF American Legion Post 157, EZ Open Garage Door, Schill Construction, and Greg’s Lawn Care, and Contingency Sponsors: CMD Shocks, Hoosier Tire North, Mars Race Cars, Performance Auto, Speedway International Fuel, Schaeffer's Oil & Lubricants, for their continued support.
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