JASON CLAWS HIS WAY BACK TO A SEVENTH PLACE FINISH AT THE DIAMOND OF DIRT TRACKS IN THE LUCAS OIL ASCS SIZZLIN’ SUMMER SPEEDWEEK FINALE

WHEATLAND, MISSOURI (June 21, 2014) – Jason and the JJR/Stenhouse Jr. Racing team were one of an impressive 53 cars in the pit area at the beautiful Lucas Oil Speedway for the finale of the five race series known as the Lucas Oil ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek for the National Tour competitors. This facility is fantastic and always produces quite a show for the fans. And, Jason and the rest of the drivers were excited to get their wheels rolling around Lucas Oil Speedway.

There were six heat races scheduled for the night, with Jason and the Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)/ISC Racers Tape #41 Maxim sitting on the pole for the second one. After he buckled and secured his Crow Enterprizes safety belts and pulled on his Oakley racing gloves, he pushed off and took his position at the front of the field. Liking the view, when the flagman dropped the green flag Jason pounded the accelerator and took off ahead of the field. He would not look back over the entire distance as he captured the win and moved onto the feature event.

The heat race win alone was not enough to get him into the top eight redraw because he could not generate any passing points to go along with his finishing position points. So, when the lineup for the sixteen locked in drivers was set on the board, he was scheduled to start on the outside of row six from the twelfth starting spot in the Waco Metal/CURB Records speed machine. Throughout the night, the track had built up a really nice cushion to lean on around the top of the fast and racy 3/8th mile, semi-banked oval. After the fireworks stopped erupting over the speedway during the driver’s salute to the fans, the drivers and cars settled back into alignment as polesitter, Matt Covington, brought the field up to speed as they screamed down the front straightway. The Ragin’ Cajun was on the move early and racing four-wide with Johnny Herrera, Seth Bergman and Jeff Swindell for position when the red flag came out for Harli White’s #17W on lap one. When the race resumed, the Louisiana gasser was again on the move as he made his way into the top ten only to get turned around on lap five in turns one and two. Restarting and tagging the back of the field in the twentieth position, Jason nestled down comfortably into his ButlerBuilt Professional Seat System and got back to work inside the cockpit. As the field got up to speed, he got his elbows up and pounded the cushion as he charged his way back up the order on the scoring charts. One car at a time he stole positions and before you knew it he was back in the top ten and looking for more. He was hungry and he was focused. His forward progress was relentless as he clawed his way all the way back up to the seventh spot when he crossed under the checkers behind race winner Christopher Bell, Tim Crawley, Brad Loyet, Matt Covington, Johnny Herrera, and Jonathan Cornell. His determined efforts throughout Speedweek, netted him five top eight finishes with a 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th place, yielding him the runner-up spot in the overall week long point standings with 637 points, just two points shy of Brad Loyet’s Speedweek Championship 639 points.

A terrific week of racing ASCS National Tour style, and a great and consistent week of racing for the JJR/Stenhouse Jr. Racing team.