Brian Brown Passes Shane Stewart Tuesday Night In Closing Laps At I-70 For All Star Sprint Win

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ODESSA, MO – “Blackjack” Brian Brown scored a touchdown for the home team on Tuesday night, passing Bixby, Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart in the closing laps for a FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory at the revamped I-70 Motorsports Park in Odessa, Missouri.

The victory, occurring a mere-15 minutes from Brown’s headquarters in Grain Valley, Missouri, earned the defending Knoxville Raceway track champion a $7,000 payday, as well as a third-ever All Star victory. Impressive, nonetheless, Brown was forced to do things the hard way during his homecoming, working ahead a total of four spots while battling by KCP Racing’s Gio Scelzi and Shane Stewart. Brown took command on lap 29, stalking race-long leader Stewart before sliding by the former Outlaw turned track promoter in turns three and four.

Stewart held on to finish second, followed by Gio Scelzi, current All Star championship points leader, Tyler Courtney, and the “Madman” Kerry Madsen.

“To win a race with my Grandpa George here with us, my Uncle Danny, and my dad…it doesn’t get any better than that, I can tell ya that,” an elated Brian Brown said in I-70 victory lane, driver of the Casey’s General Store, FVP, Rowdy Energy, No. 21 sprint car. “When you have a crew like I do that tells you that ‘you’re one of the best race car drivers here with one of the best cars,’ it gives you a lot of confidence.

“And it’s getting close…Go Chiefs!”

Starting fifth on the grid, Brown’s initial jump was good enough to power the No. 21 to third, now in pursuit of Scelzi and race leader, Stewart. Besides a hiccup by Brown just after a caution on lap 12 to let Justin Peck move into third briefly, the top-three remained basically unchanged for the first 21 circuits. There were three cautions during that time period, but neither Scelzi nor Brown were able to capitalize.

Despite Stewart’s ability to sail smoothly around I-70’s halfmile, things heated up quickly when the frontrunners found the back of the field on lap 21. With lappers maneuvering in Stewart’s preferred line, the driver of the Indy Race Parts No. 71 struggled to get through, thus allowing Scelzi and Brown to close the gap in a hurry. By lap 22, the top-three were on top of each other, battling nearly three-wide through turns three and four. The jumble allowed Brown to get by Scelzi, now setting aim on Stewart. A red flag incident on lap 24, ultimately leading to a fuel stop, gave Stewart a breather, but that’s exactly what Brown needed.

The ensuing restart allowed Brown to stalk Stewart in clean air. Lap after lap, Brown made progress, making up most of his time in turn three. Brown made his winning move on lap 29, pulling even with Stewart on the bottom as the pair raced through turns three and four; Brown completed the pass, officially, the following corner, once again on the bottom.

Although a final caution would force a green-white-checkered finish, and an extra lap to race, Brown hung tough.

“Danny (Lasoski) is the best in the world at running the bottom,” Brown continued. “So, if I can learn just a little bit from him, it’s going to do a lot of great things for my career.”

“I’m tired,” laughed Shane Stewart during a post-race interview, who has not been in a sprint car in almost ten months. “Driving a grader doesn’t keep you in very good shape like driving a sprint car. Coming into tonight, if we were going to be a top-five car, I was going to be happy.”

“America’s Series” will hit high speed yet again, this time for their final Missouri appearance of 2021. Dubbed the Ron Ditzfield Memorial, the Thursday, July 29, program will award a whopping $10,000 share, welcoming the All Stars back to Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri, for the first time since August 18, 2002. Gary Wright was the victor during the Series’ most recent visit, one of two All Star victories owned by The Texan at the sprawling half-mile.

Contingency Awards/Results: I-70 Motorsports Park | Tuesday, July 27, 2021:
Entries: 29
C&R Racing Hot Laps: Shane Stewart | 13.505
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Lynton Jeffrey | 13.542
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Justin Peck
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Sawyer Phillips
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Tyler Courtney
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Winner: Shane Stewart
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: Kyle Reinhardt
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Jake Bubak
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Brian Brown
Hercules Tires A-Main Hard Charger: Paul McMahan (+7)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 83-Lynton Jeffrey, 13.542; 2. 14-Kerry Madsen, 13.562; 3. 21-Brian Brown, 13.566; 4. 18-Gio Scelzi, 13.578; 5. 71-Shane Stewart, 13.612; 6. 11-Spencer Bayston, 13.669; 7. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.733; 8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 13.761; 9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.775; 10. 13-Justin Peck, 13.782; 11. 3p-Sawyer Phillips, 13.796; 12. 4-Cap Henry, 13.820; 13. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.840; 14. 5-Paul McMahan, 13.845; 15. 25-Austin McCarl, 13.898; 16. 22-Riley Goodno, 13.901; 17. 20G-Noah Gass, 13.933; 18. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 13.942; 19. 18T-Tanner Holmes, 13.945; 20. 7TZ-Tasker Phillips, 13.956; 21. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.964; 22. O7-Skylar Gee, 13.977; 23. 1X-Jake Bubak, 13.989; 24. 7B-Ben Brown, 14.029; 25. 47N-Marcus Dumesny, 14.116; 26. 10-Zeb Wise, 14.165; 27. 22s-Slater Helt, 14.249; 28. 33-Austin Alumbaugh, 15.038; 29. 13R-Brad Ryun, 99.999

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 13-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi [3]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 4. 83-Lynton Jeffrey [4]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog [5]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno [6]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes [7]; 8. O7-Skylar Gee [8]; 9. 47N-Marcus Dumesny [9]; 10. 33-Austin Alumbaugh [10]

Heat #2 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [1]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [3]; 3. 3-Ayrton Gennetten [2]; 4. 14-Kerry Madsen [4]; 5. 7TZ-Tasker Phillips [7]; 6. 5-Paul McMahan [5]; 7. 10-Zeb Wise [9]; 8. 20G-Noah Gass [6]; 9. 1X-Jake Bubak [8]; 10. 13R-Brad Ryun [10]

Heat #3 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [2]; 2. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [4]; 4. 11-Spencer Bayston [3]; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 6. 25-Austin McCarl [5]; 7. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [6]; 8. 7B-Ben Brown [8]; 9. 22S-Slater Helt [9]

Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 71-Shane Stewart [2]; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi [3]; 3. 83-Lynton Jeffrey [1]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 5. 21-Brian Brown [8]; 6. 13-Justin Peck [6]; 7. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [5]; 8. 14-Kerry Madsen [7]

B-Main (10 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [2]; 2. 18T-Tanner Holmes [3]; 3. 10-Zeb Wise [4]; 4. 20G-Noah Gass [1]; 5. O7-Skylar Gee [5]; 6. 47N-Marcus Dumesny [8]; 7. 1X-Jake Bubak [7]; 8. 22S-Slater Helt [9]; 9. 7B-Ben Brown [6]; 10. 33-Austin Alumbaugh [10]; 11. 13R-Brad Ryun [11]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 21-Brian Brown [5]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [1]; 3. 18-Gio Scelzi [2]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 5. 14-Kerry Madsen [8]; 6. 13-Justin Peck [6]; 7. 26-Cory Eliason [10]; 8. 4-Cap Henry [9]; 9. 5-Paul McMahan [16]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog [13]; 11. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [15]; 12. 3-Ayrton Gennetten [11]; 13. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [19]; 14. 25-Austin McCarl [17]; 15. 20G-Noah Gass [22]; 16. 11-Spencer Bayston [12]; 17. 7TZ-Tasker Phillips [14]; 18. 10-Zeb Wise [21]; 19. 18T-Tanner Holmes [20]; 20. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [7]; 21. 22-Riley Goodno [18]; 22. 83-Lynton Jeffrey [3]; 23. 47N-Marcus Dumesny [24]; 24. O7-Skylar Gee [23] Lap Leaders: Shane Stewart (1-28), Brian Brown (29-31) *Green/White/Checkered Finish