THE CAJUN AND THE FORTY-ONE TEAM BOUNCE BACK AND PUT TOGETHER A SOLID NIGHT OF RACING TO EARN A SIXTH-PLACE FINISH ON NIGHT #2 OF THE 55TH ANNUAL WILLIAMS GROVE NATIONAL OPEN

MECHANICSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (September 29, 2017) – Taking the lessons learned from a tough first night at the 55th Annual Champion Racing Oil National Open at Williams Grove Speedway, Jason and the JJR Marshall Racing #41 team were back at ‘The Grove’ for the second night of competition at the famous half-mile oval. On this night, there were 46 cars signed in and ready to compete as the fans enjoyed the pre-race festivities outside in preparation for a night of entertainment World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series style.

The number of cars warranted splitting the field into two flights, Flight A and Flight B, for each of the driver’s two laps against the clock. The Priority Aviation Services, LLC/Jonestown KOA #41 drew a low pill number, so they were the third car out on the track in Flight A. The Louisiana-born native buckled into his Crow Enterprizes safety belts and locked his Max Papis Innovations (MPI) steering wheel into place. The Kistler Engines power came to life under the hood as he mashed the accelerator and came up to speed down the backstretch and under the featured blue bridge. With the air flowing over his Vortex wing, the downforce planted his car into the track’s surface as he took the green. Smooth and methodically he hit his marks and turned in a good first lap at 17.185 seconds. The determined driver stayed focused and carried his speed through turns one and two and came off the bottom and rocketed down the back straightaway in to the final set of turns. When he blasted through the timing light, he tripped the stopwatch at 17.038 seconds, which ended up being third quick in Flight A and overall on the night, just a tick off of quick timer Jason Sides and runner-up Lance Dewease.

Sitting on the front row with Jason Sides for the first 8-lap heat race, Philip and the crew made some final adjustments and rolled the Fischer Body Shop/CCC #41 back from the trailer onto the bumper of a push truck. It was time to go racing at Williams Grove Speedway! When the field was all positioned into their starting spots, the competitors paced two-by-two down the backstretch as the pace truck pulled in off turn three. That quick the lights illuminated green and the flagman unfurled the flag. Jason’s Hoosier Racing Tires dug in as he drove into the top spot with Sides, Brad Sweet and Danny Dietrich chasing the Ragin’ Cajun. He ran hard and clean as he led the entire distance to take the heat race win over Sweet, Sides, Dietrich and Ryan Smith.

The driver of the Waco Metal/Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution #41 earned a spot in the World of Outlaws Craftsman Club Dash for an impressive 46th time this season and sat on the pole in the pre-Dash starting order. An inversion pill of ‘4’ was pulled putting him back to the outside of row two to start the 6-lap event. The front row of Greg Hodnett and James McFadden brought the field to the green as Jason moved into third spot in the running order ahead of fellow second row starter Lucas Wolfe. McFadden was on point with Hodnett and Jason a little further back. Donny Schatz had made his way up to fourth, but there was some distance between each of the top four positions in the running order when McFadden took the win over Hodnett, Jason, Schatz, Shane Stewart, Brad Sweet, Wolfe and Ian Madsen. Those eight would make up the first four rows of the starting lineup for the feature.

With the 24 car field set, with the field expanded to 27 as three drivers taking provisionals, it was time to go racing. Mother Nature had other plans thought as a light rain began and picked up interrupting the start and brining the cars back to the pits until the rain halted. It soon stopped and the cars were back on the track where Jason would start on the inside of row two aboard the Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)/KSE Racing Products #41 with Donny Schatz to his outside. James McFadden used his pole position starting spot to lead lap one as Schatz used the outside lane at the start to drive into third behind Hodnett. Jason was running comfortably in fourth, but Brad Sweet and Shane Stewart were stalking close behind with Sweet making the pass for position on the high side with only a few laps in the books. Racing was halted again, this time because of a red flag that was thrown when Danny Dietrich spun in turn three and collected Brian Montieth and Trey Starks before Jac Haudenschild came in and flipped wildly over the group. All of the drivers were uninjured. Restarting from the inside of row three with Shane Stewart to his outside, the leader brought the field back up to speed and Stewart slid ahead of Jason taking over the fifth position. The running order at the front of the field would stay that was for the remaining distance with James McFadden collecting his first ever World of Outlaws victory over Hodnett, Schatz, Sweet and Stewart as Jason brought the forty-one home with a very respectable sixth-place finish. A good run for the team as the rebounded and showed their resiliency on the second night of the 55th Annual Champion Oil National Open. They sit 16th in the accumulated National Open format point standings and will be back at it on Saturday night at Williams Grove Speedway.