Shane Stewart Earns First Gator During All Star Sprints DIRTcar Nationals Opener

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – BARBERVILLE, FL – It took Bixby, Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart eight laps to track down race leader, Daryn Pittman, from the inside of row three, but once he found the back bumper of the Roth Motorsports entry, it was the end of the road for Daryn Pittman, as well as the rest of the field.

Stewart, driver of the CJB Motorsports/GoMuddy.com/Big Game Treestands/High Performance Lubricants/Weikert’s Livestock/No. 5 sprint car, opened the 48th Annual DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park with an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 triumph; a tenth-career victory for the Oklahoma-native against the traveling All Stars, collecting $5,000 in the process.
For Stewart, the signature Gator Trophy was extra special, as it was his first during a long and storied career.

“This is my first gator,” Shane Stewart expressed with excitement in victory lane. “After coming here for all of these years, I’ve never actually won a race here. This win means a lot to me and this team means a lot to me. I left the ‘2 car’ thinking ‘this is probably the end of my career’ because I’m getting a little older. Then the phone rings. It has been a real pleasure working with Barry [Jackson] and the crew.”

Although forced to start fifth on the feature grid, Stewart was on the hunt early, actually climbing his way into a podium spot by the completion of lap three. Less than a circuit later, Stewart was in a tight battle for second, eventually working his way around Nashville, Tennessee’s Paul McMahan before setting his aim for the Roth Motorsports entry driven by Daryn Pittman. Fortunately for Stewart, the main event’s first and only caution appeared just one lap later, thus erasing Pittman’s near-two second command over the field.

Green flag action soon returned giving Stewart a clear shot at racing his away around Pittman. Although Pittman escaped in clean air, Stewart was able to track down his fellow Oklahoma native to less than a car length by lap eight.

Utilizing the bottom groove of the speedway, Stewart set up his winning pass as the lead pair entered turn three on lap nine. His momentum on the bottom of the speedway proved beneficial as Stewart was able to power his way across the track, slide in front of Pittman and take command by the exit of turn four.

Although Pittman kept pace with Stewart until the midpoint of the 30-lapper, actually executing two attempts to regain the top spot as the lead duo raced through traffic, Stewart’s momentum on the topside soon took over and he eventually pulled away. In fact, Stewart’s command grew as the laps counted down, ultimately crossing under the final checkers by a margin of victory equalling 3.8 seconds.

Daryn Pittman held on to finish second, followed by David Gravel, a hard charging Donny Schatz from 22nd, and Logan Schuchart.

“This says a lot about all of the work then went on over the winter months,” Stewart continued, who made just his fourth start aboard the CJB Motorsports entry. “Barry is always thinking. Even today at lunch, we were sitting around watching sports and the next sentence out of Barry’s mouth was about the car and how he could have made me better during last night’s practice. That makes me feel really good as a driver. This whole deal revolves around confidence. I’m hoping this early boost of confidence produces more wins throughout the season. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year.”

The Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will conclude their winter vacation in the Sunshine State with one final visit to Volusia Speedway Park on Thursday, February 7. Tony Stewart’s All Stars will headline DIRTcar Nationals competition once again, chasing yet another $5,000 payday.

Allowing Mother Nature to make the transition into more seasonable temperatures, the All Star Circuit of Champions will not return to competition until Thursday, April 11, when the Series makes the trip to southern Virginia for a one-night stand at Virginia Motor Speedway.

As the first point-accumulating event of the 2019 season, the trip to Virginia will award a $10,000 top prize, also kicking off a four-race sweep through the Mid-Atlantic that also includes trips to Williams Grove Speedway (4/12), Port Royal Speedway (4/13), and Bedford Speedway (4/14).

More news and information pertaining to the 2019 All Star Circuit of Champions schedule can be found online at www.allstarsprint.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Volusia Speedway Park -February 6, 2019:
Event: DIRTcar Nationals
Entries: 39
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Daryn Pittman – 13.599 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Paul McMahan – 13.169 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tony Stewart
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Aaron Reutzel
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Shane Stewart
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Daryn Pittman
JE Pistons Dash #1: Daryn Pittman
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Paul McMahan
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: Sheldon Haudenschild
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Shane Stewart
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Donny Schatz (+18)
(Lincoln Electric & MSD Performance: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.169; 2. 2-Carson Macedo, 13.211; 3. 9-Kasey Kahne, 13.213; 4. 14-Tony Stewart, 13.279; 5. 1k-Kyle Larson, 13.337; 6. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 13.338; 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.339; 8. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.388; 9. 40-George Hobaugh, 13.717; 10. 91S-Rob Siegel, NT

Group (B)
1. 21-Brian Brown, 13.347; 2. 39-Christopher Bell, 13.379; 3. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.384; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.390; 5. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.469; 6. 17W-Shane Golobic, 13.522; 7. 33M-Mason Daniel, 13.639; 8. J4-John Garvin, 13.831; 9. 40B-David Byrne, NT; 10. 7K-Cale Conley, NT

Group (C)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.267; 2. 71-Parker Price-Miller, 13.356; 3. 18-Ian Madsen, 13.360; 4. 5-Shane Stewart, 13.388; 5. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 13.476; 6. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.517; 7. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.584; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.718; 9. M1-Mark Smith, 13.729; 10. 70X-Spencer Bayston, 13.786

Group (D)
1. 41-David Gravel, 13.242; 2. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 13.337; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.365; 4. 83-Daryn Pittman, 13.409; 5. 97-Caleb Helms, 13.894; 6. K4-Chad Kemenah, 13.904; 7. 84-Tom Harris, 13.937; 8. 19-Brent Marks, 14.054; 9. 47-Brant O’Banion, 14.428

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 14-Tony Stewart [1]; 2. 9-Kasey Kahne [2]; 3. 2-Carson Macedo [3]; 4. 1K-Kyle Larson [5]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [7]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [8]; 8. 40-George Hobaugh [9]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 2. 21-Brian Brown [4]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 4. 17W-Shane Golobic [6]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [5]; 6. 33M-Mason Daniel [7]; 7. 39-Christopher Bell [3]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 5-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 18-Ian Madsen [2]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [7]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich [6]; 6. 70-Brock Zearfoss [5]; 7. 71-Parker Price-Miller [3]; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser [8]; 9. 70X-Spencer Bayston [10]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 83-Daryn Pittman [1]; 2. 41-David Gravel [4]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen [2]; 5. K4-Chad Kemenah [6]; 6. 19-Brent Marks [8]; 7. 97-Caleb Helms [5]; 8. 84-Tom Harris [7]; 9. 47-Brant O’Banion [9]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 83-Daryn Pittman [2]; 2. 18-Ian Madsen [1]; 3. 5-Shane Stewart [5]; 4. 41-David Gravel [3]; 5. 21-Brian Brown [4]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 13-Paul McMahan [1]; 2. 14-Tony Stewart [3]; 3. 2-Carson Macedo [5]; 4. 9-Kasey Kahne [4]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [7]; 3. 19-Brent Marks [5]; 4. 71-Parker Price-Miller [2]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [10]; 6. 70-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 7. 33M-Mason Daniel [4]; 8. 97-Caleb Helms [8]; 9. 39-Christopher Bell [6]; 10. 84-Tom Harris [11]; 11. 40-George Hobaugh [9]; 12. 47-Brant O’Banion [13]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 5-Shane Stewart [5]; 2. 83-Daryn Pittman [1]; 3. 41-David Gravel [7]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [22]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [11]; 6. 1K-Kyle Larson [14]; 7. 49X-Tim Shaffer [12]; 8. 2-Carson Macedo [6]; 9. 87-Aaron Reutzel [10]; 10. 13-Paul McMahan [2]; 11. 49-Brad Sweet [18]; 12. 18-Ian Madsen [3]; 13. 14-Tony Stewart [4]; 14. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [21]; 15. 9-Kasey Kahne [8]; 16. K4-Chad Kemenah [20]; 17. 21-Brian Brown [9]; 18. 19-Brent Marks [23]; 19. 26-Cory Eliason [17]; 20. 7S-Jason Sides [13]; 21. 17W-Shane Golobic [16]; 22. 71-Parker Price-Miller [24]; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen [15]; 24. 48-Danny Dietrich [19]

Lap Leaders: Daryn Pittman (1-8), Shane Stewart (9-30)