Tony “Smoked ‘Em” Saturday; Stewart Dominates Final All Stars Night At Bubba Raceway Park

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – OCALA, FL – Despite an early afternoon rain shower nearly terminating the third and final night of Winter Nationals competition featuring the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1, the show went on and so did Tony Stewart, eventually dominating the entire program for a fourth-ever All Star main event win, as well as a $5,000 top prize. It was Stewart’s first-ever All Star victory at Bubba Raceway Park.

Stewart, driver of the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing/Rush Truck Centers/Curb Records/Sage Fruit/No. 14 sprint car, started from the pole position and led all 30 circuits around Bubba Raceway Park, lapping nearly half of the 24 feature starters. On top of a dominating feature performance, Smoke kicked off the evening program with a heat race victory and a dash victory, ultimately setting up his main event starting position.

“This definitely feels great. We have our friends from Sage Fruit and Rush Truck Centers watching so to get a win for those guys is really special. I felt like I let one get away the other night. I’m still not sure what I did wrong, but we let that one get away,” Tony Stewart said in Bubba Raceway Park victory lane. “This thing has been fast all weekend. We really didn’t qualify that well tonight, but it put us on the pole of a heat race and that’s where you need to be for these races. I have a lot of great help and I wouldn’t be able to do this without them.”

Not even lapped traffic gave Stewart a stir, actually separating himself from second place running Lucas Wolfe by nearly eight seconds through the midpoint of the main event. Unfortunately for Stewart, the second and final caution, appearing on lap 25, ended his commanding lead, eventually setting up a six lap dash to the checkers. Despite a slight slip off of turn four, nothing was stopping the former three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from attaining his first sprint car win of the season.

“We were actually a little too tight, believe it or not, which made things a little difficult for us,” Tony Stewart continued. “That’s the thing about Bubba Raceway Park; you won’t find another race track in the world that is shaped like this, which sets up a lot of unique passing opportunities. You kinda have to watch traffic for a few laps before you get to those guys so you know how to get around them.”

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania’s Lucas Wolfe finished second to close out the weekend in Ocala, followed by Paul McMahan, Mark Smith, and the winner of the Thursday and Friday programs, Tim Shaffer.

All Star teams will now make their way east across Route 40 and visit Volusia Speedway Park for DIRTcar Nationals competition on Wednesday and Thursday, February 6 & 7. The pair of Volusia visits will award $5,000 top prizes, as well as conclude action in the Sunshine State for America’s Series.

Those seeking additional news and notes regarding the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park should visit the event online at www.dirtcarnationals.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Bubba Raceway Park -February 2, 2019:
Event: Bubba Army Winter Nationals
Entries: 26 entries
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Mark Smith – 13.846
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Tim Shaffer – 12.594
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tony Stewart
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Lucas Wolfe
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Anthony Fiore
JE Pistons Dash: Tony Stewart
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Tony Stewart
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Jim Shuster (+7)
(Lincoln Electric & MSD Performance: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 12.759; 2. M1-Mark Smith, 12.854; 3. 33-Max Stambaugh, 12.920; 4. 14-Tony Stewart, 12.952; 5. 5-Shane Stewart, 13.122; 6. 40-George Hobaugh, 13.366; 7. 55-Gary Kriess, 13.958; 8. J4-John Garvin, NT; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen, NT

Group (B)
1. 17W-Shane Golobic, 12.876; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.048; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 13.181; 4. 49H-Bradley Howard, 13.181; 5. 21-Carson Short, 13.430; 6. 13M-Brandon Matus, 13.446; 7. 49-Mallie Shuster, 13.622; 8. 11S-Jim Shuster, 14.276; 9. K4-Chad Kemenah, NT

Group (C)
1. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 12.594; 2. 7K-Cale Conley, 12.626; 3. 91-Anthony Fiore, 12.921; 4. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.069; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.205; 6. 4-Danny Smith, 13.305; 7. 91S-Colby Womer, 13.327; 8. 14H-Jeremy Hill, 14.958

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 8 Transfer
1. 14-Tony Stewart [1]; 2. M1-Mark Smith [3]; 3. 70-Brock Zearfoss [4]; 4. 5-Shane Stewart [5]; 5. 33-Max Stambaugh [2]; 6. 55-Gary Kriess [7]; 7. 40-George Hobaugh [6]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 8 Transfer
1. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [2]; 2. 49H-Bradley Howard [1]; 3. 17W-Shane Golobic [4]; 4. 21-Carson Short [5]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 6. 13M-Brandon Matus [6]; 7. 49-Mallie Shuster [7]; 8. 11S-Jim Shuster [8]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 8 Transfer
1. 91-Anthony Fiore [2]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [1]; 3. 7K-Cale Conley [3]; 4. 4-Danny Smith [6]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 6. 91S-Colby Womer [7]; 7. 14H-Jeremy Hill [8]

Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 14-Tony Stewart [2]; 2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [1]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 49H-Bradley Howard [5]; 6. M1-Mark Smith [6]; 7. 7K-Cale Conley [8]; 8. 91-Anthony Fiore [7]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 14-Tony Stewart [1]; 2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [2]; 3. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 4. M1-Mark Smith [6]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 6. 70-Brock Zearfoss [9]; 7. 21-Carson Short [13]; 8. 7K-Cale Conley [7]; 9. 49H-Bradley Howard [5]; 10. 4-Danny Smith [12]; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich [14]; 12. 91-Anthony Fiore [8]; 13. 55-Gary Kriess [17]; 14. 40-George Hobaugh [18]; 15. 11S-Jim Shuster [22]; 16. 49-Mallie Shuster [19]; 17. 91S-Colby Womer [21]; 18. 5-Shane Stewart [11]; 19. 17W-Shane Golobic [10]; 20. 13M-Brandon Matus [16]; 21. 14H-Jeremy Hill [20]; 22. 33-Max Stambaugh [15]; 23. 1S-Logan Schuchart [23]; 24. 1A-Jacob Allen [24] Lap Leaders: Tony Stewart (1-30)