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Lanigana
Phoenix was a perfect setting as the top four battled it out for the championship. At one point in the race all four lead the field. Over the course of the race Chase Elliott and Joey Logano proved their cars to be the most dominant. Brad Keselowski, whom I feel has been the most underrated driver this season, finished second. This is Elliott’s first championship as he has emerged as the poster child for the sport. We will discuss the race and the in more detail next week.
Sunday was the final race for #48 seven time champion Jimmie Johnson. He was the dominate driver early in the decade along with his crew chief Chad Knaus. Johnson will move next year to run an Indycar schedule either part time just on road courses or full. Final decision has not been made yet.
Darrell Lanigan from Union, Kentucky was recently named as a member of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame Class of 2021. Lanigan is a three time champion in the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series capturing the title in 2008, 2012, and 2014. He has 73 career feature wins putting him second in series history behind Josh Richards. Lanigan still enjoys getting out to the track and racing so I would expect the career win total to keep growing. He has some big wins to his name including the Dream at Eldora and a Late Model National at Iowa.
Another name going into the hall of fame many older dirt fans will recognize is Audie Swartz as a chassis builder. Audie was seen as a pioneer in the sport by trying new options and ideas on the chassis he built looking for speed and handling. I remember seeing his son Charlie (Grayson, KY) race at K-C near Chillicothe, Ohio coming down the straight stretch flipping on his side and sliding about a hundred feet along the wall in front of me. He was definitely a wild man on the track.
The eNASCAR Coca Cola series on iracing.com had their championship race for $100,000 last week with Nick Ottinger, who drives for William Byron eSports getting the win. The race was ran at the Homestead Miami track. Ottinger was racing race favorite Ryan Luza, who was looking for back to back championships, for the lead with three laps to go. The two collided which sent Luza spinning into the outside wall and Ottinger to the checkered flag.