Tristan Swanson of Elko, Minnesota, made the most of his first-ever appearance at Madison International Speedway by winning the 36 lap main event for the Midwest Truck Series.
James Lynch and Chester Ace started on the front row of the twenty-seven truck main event. Ace jumped out the early lead with Tristan Swanson up to second followed by Lynch, James Swan, and Bryce Miller. While Lynch and Swan were battling it out for third, Ace and Swanson started to pull away from the field. On lap 7 Swan won the race for third but still had a lot of ground to catch the top two. A stalled truck on the front stretch brought out the first caution flag on lap 10.
Ace chose to line up on the inside with Swanson going outside along with Swan. Swanson powered to the lead when the green flag waved followed by Ace, Swan, and Miller. On lap 13 Kody Hubred moved past Lynch to join the top five. Ace was in position to retake the lead, but the caution flag came out when a truck spun in turn two.
Swanson retained his lead on the restart quickly opening up a three truck length lead over Ace. But the race didn’t stay green for long when two trucks tangled in turn two on lap 16. Swanson continued to lead following the single file restart and built up a three length advantage over Ace before a stalled truck in turn two brought out the yellow flag.
The restart was good for Swanson who quickly jumped out to a six length lead over Ace who had his hands full with Swan. On lap 25 Swan pulled to the outside of Ace and the two raced side by side which allowed Swanson to build his lead. But with seven laps to go the trucks of Evan Hassler and Rock Christiansen made heavy contact on the backstretch bringing out another caution and negating Swanson’s lead.
Swanson paced the single file field back to the green flag. He was able to maintain his lead and raced his way to victory lane holding off Swan and Ace to take home his first win in the Midwest Trucks.
“This was awesome. It’s only my second time in the truck,” noted Swanson.
The 8 lap heat races were won by Trevor Raskie, Alex Braseth, and Danielle Behn. AJ Kreager set fast time with a lap of 18.799 (95.750 mph).
Feature: (1-10) Tristan Swanson, James Swan, Chester Ace, Bryce Miller, AJ Kreager, Kody Hubred, Alex Braseth, Brad Kossow, James Lynch, Kevin Zielezinski
(11-20) Dan Church Jr, John Ovadal Jr.,Derek Doerr, Russ Hansen, Ross Christiansen, Steve Henke, Tyler Noble, Trevor Raskie, Danny Darnell, Evan Hassler
(21-27) Rock Christiansen, Kenny Joosten, Danielle Behn, Jerry Brickner, Brad Gajewski, Brent Kirchner, Phillip Wuestfoff
Heat #1: Trevor Raskie, Kenny Joosten, Brent Kirchner, Evan Hassler, Danny Darnell, Ross Christiansen, Tyler Noble, Steve Henke, Brad Gajewski
Heat #2: Alex Braseth, Phillip Wuesthoff, Russ Hansen, Jerry Brickner, Brad Kossow, Rock Christiansen, John Ovadal Jr., Derek Doerr, Kevin Zielezinski
Heat #3: Danielle Behn, Kody Hubred, James Lynch, Bryce Miller, James Swan, Danny Church, Tristan Swanson, Chester Ace, AJ Kreager
Qualifying: (1-10) AJ Kreager, Tristan Swanson, Bryce Miller, Chester Ace, James Lynch, James Swan, Kody Hubred, Dan Church Jr., Danielle Behn, Kevin Zielezinski
(11-20) John Ovadal Jr., Derek Doerr, Rock Christiansen, Brad Kossow, Jerry Brickner, Russ Hansen, Phillip Wuesthoff, Alex Braseth, Danny Darnell, Brent Kirchner
(21-27) Evan Hassler, Kenny Joosten, Brad Gajewski, Trevor Raskie, Ross Christiansen, Steve Henke, Tyler Noble