by Tony Veneziano
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Terry McCarl had been knocking on the door of his first Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win of the season for quite a while, and on Wednesday night he broke through at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York, leading flag to flag in the 25-lap event, which was postponed by rain earlier this season.
The seventh A-Feature win of his career with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series was worth $10,000. It also was the first career victory for McCarl in the state of New York. He has now won at least one World of Outlaws A-Feature event in each of the last three seasons and four of the last five.
“We had a great car all night long and we needed a win,” said McCarl. “The motor was taking off really great and I have to thank Don Ott for that. The car was working really well tonight. We switched to Maxim (Chassis) a while back and are very happy with them. My guys are working very hard and we are getting very consistent and that is the key out here on the road to run in the Top-10. Every once in a while things will go your way, like they did for us tonight.”
McCarl started on the pole in the Big Game Treestands Maxim and beat Lucas Wolfe into the first turn and quickly jumped to a comfortable lead at the blazing fast 5/8-mile, which is the largest track on the World of Outlaws circuit. He endured a late caution with seven laps remaining that bunched the field up and gave Jason Meyers one final shot at him. A strong restart saw McCarl quickly jump to a five car length advantage, which helped him to win by over a full second when the checkered flag waved.
“The starts are always important with the Outlaws, when you have guys like Jason Meyers behind you,” noted the winner. “Lucas (Wolfe) really gets around this place good as well. Everyone is so strong that you want to jump out to the lead as soon as you can and make them catch you, especially on a fast track like this.”
Meyers caught McCarl near the middle of the race in lapped traffic, as he continually was able to gain ground in the turns, with McCarl pulling back away on the long straightaways at Orange County Fair Speedway. Just prior to the late caution, Meyers nearly pulled even with McCarl as they went three-wide into turn one with a lapped machine. Meyers wasn’t quite able to pass McCarl and the latter powered his way down the back straightaway to open a lead again.
“I saw Jason (Meyers) knocking on the door and that got me back up in the seat a little more,” said the native of Altoona, Iowa. “We got through traffic pretty well and the car was working pretty good. We were getting us to the faster lapped guys and the faster they are, the harder they are to pass. At first I wasn’t happy to see the caution, but after we took off (on the restart) and we were in clean air, I knew it would be tough for Jason (Meyers) to catch us.”
McCarl, who is currently ninth in points on the strength of 25 Top-10 finishes, has endured a number of personnel changes on his crew this season and also turned over ownership of the team, which has helped him focus entirely on driving and car set-up and not have to worry about the business side of the sport.
“Tod Quiring and Big Game Treestands has taken over ownership of this thing, and it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me,” shared McCarl. “We’re really putting a good team together for next season. He is building a new shop up in Minnesota. DeBerg Concrete and AmericashAdvance.com have been very supportive this year and we have had a tough year. It’s tough when you are a competitive person and not win. We were used to winning a lot of races locally and to come out here and win only a couple a year is tough on us. I think we are putting the right package together. You can’t have a weak spot with the Outlaws or its going to show.”
Meyers earned his second consecutive runner-up finish in New York, as he lined up fourth and passed Brooke Tatnell on the opening lap to move into third. He then got around Lucas Wolfe on the second lap to move into second, where he would run for the remainder of the 25-lap contest. The California native leads the World of Outlaws with 43 Top-Five finishes as he chases his first series title aboard the GLR Investments KPC.
“It was a great run for us,” said Meyers. “To come from sixth in the dash and four there in the feature, these guys did a great job. We worked on the car all night and got it better and better as the night went on. Congratulations to Terry (McCarl) and his team. He did a great job tonight. I was a little better than him in the middle of the race and late in the race he got better. We are looking forward to Williams Grove this weekend and have some good momentum going in there.”
Wolfe picked up his best finish of the season with the World of Outlaws as he was third in the Allebach Racing Maxim. He started on the outside of the front row, after a strong run in the second heat and the Crane Cams Dash. He held off a challenge from Joey Saldana early in the race and one by 20-time series champion Steve Kinser late in the race en route to picking up his second Top-Five of the season.
“It was a good result and probably the best one that we have had this year so far,” noted Wolfe. “Hopefully we’ll be able to carry this on. We had a good run in the middle of the race and I got caught up by a few lapped cars. We lost a little bit on the start. Terry (McCarl) got a real good start on the bottom and was able to beat me to (turn) one and that was going to be the deciding factor in the race. It’s disappointing to be in the right spot and give that up. It’s still a good finish.”
Steve Kinser wound up fourth in the Q Oil Maxim, after starting seventh. He gained a spot on the opening lap getting around Chad Hillier, before battling Brooke Tatnell for a number of laps. On the 10th lap, he was able to around both Tatnell and Kerry Madsen to move into the Top-Five. He snagged the fourth spot from Joey Saldana on the late restart.
Donny Schatz, the two-time defending World of Outlaws champion finished fifth in the Armor All J&J to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. He was the second fastest in time trials to earn four bonus points as he continues to chase his third consecutive series title.
Joey Saldana, who began the night by setting a new track record in time trials, wound up sixth in the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI, with Kerry Madsen behind him in the TK Concrete Maxim. Daryn Pittman was eighth in the Titan Garages Maxim, with Brooke Tatnell ninth in the Snap-on Tools Maxim, as he continues to fill in for the injured Craig Dollansky. Chad Kemenah rounded out the Top-10 in the Kantor Oil Company Maxim.
Kraig Kinser finished the night in 14th place.
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Friday, September 26 and Saturday, September 27 with the Morgan Hughes National Open at Williams Grove Speedway, with the finale to air live on SPEED on Saturday night beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern.
